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U.S. Nuclear Power Plant to Begin Tritium Production
A civilian nuclear power plant in Tennessee is scheduled this month to begin producing tritium, a hydrogen isotope used in nuclear weapons, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Oct. 9, 2002). Since early last month, Tennessee Valley authority workers have been installing tritium-producing fuel rods into the Watts Bar nuclear reactor during refueling, AP reported. The plant is scheduled to resume operation this month. TVA is set to receive about $10 million per year to produce up to 3 kilograms of tritium each year over the next 40 years, TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough said, adding that TVA will not make a profit through the agreement. “TVA is committed to a safe, secure nation,” McCullough said. “And the production of tritium will enhance national security,” he said. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), however, have tried to block tritium production at the Watts Bar plant, according to AP. They had argued that using a civilian nuclear facility to produce weapons components destroyed the nonproliferation principle of “separation between atoms for peace and atoms for war” (Duncan Mansfield, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 6).
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