Evaluation of Federal support of the Barnwell reprocessing plant and the Department of Energy's spent fuel storage policy

Technical Report · Thu Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6596672· OSTI ID:6596672

Staats, E. B.

In April 1977 the President deferred indefinitely the commercial reprocessing of nuclear spent fuel to: (1) minimize the availability of plutonium and (2) reduce the risks of nuclear weapons proliferation. To carry out the policy, the President proposed that neither Federal funding nor support should be given to complete a large commercial reprocessing facility being constructed at Barnwell, South Carolina. Later in 1977 the Department of Energy announced that the Federal Government would, at some unspecified future date, begin accepting and taking title to spent nuclear fuel that previously was to be reprocessed. GAO concludes that: (1) Federal funding of short-term research activities at the Barnwell reprocessing plant should continue until the completion of a major international study of alternative fuel cycle technologies and (2) the Department of Energy should not build a Government financed spent fuel storage facility until other alternatives are fully explored and the work of an interagency task force on waste management is completed.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office (GAO), Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6596672
• Report Number(s): EMD-78-97; TRN: 79-000996
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
BARNWELL FUEL PROCESSING PLANT
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
EVALUATION
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
050800* - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
050900 - Nuclear Fuels- Transport
Handling
& Storage
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy