( By Carrington Dillon ) [Approx. Read Time: 3.5 minutes]
With all the attention that yesterday’s meeting between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev received, I thought that it was necessary to raise awareness of the “Megatons to Megawatts” program that turns former Russian nuclear warheads into nuclear energy fuel. This program wasn’t mentioned a single time in yesterday’s negotiation announcements. This is especially a shame since the “Megatons to Megawatts” program is such a great program that largely goes unnoticed on a public stage.
From the negotiations between the two countries came one agreement to negotiate, by the year’s end, a reduction in one another’s nuclear weapon arsenals. I felt that this may have left some people wondering, “where do these weapons go?”
I only recently learned of this private program that, at no cost to taxpayers, turns nuclear weapons into nuclear energy fuel. You may have heard of the phrase “10% of American lightbulbs are powered by a former Russian nuclear warhead.” Thanks to the “Megatons to Megawatts” program, that is true.
The goal of the program is to recycle 20,000 Russian nuclear warheads into nuclear energy fuel by 2013. As of June 30th, 2009, 14,686 Russian nuclear warheads have been eliminated and turned into nuclear fuel. Another relevant statistic from this program is that 367 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium has been recycled into 10,621 metric tons of nuclear energy fuel–a testament to the importance and effectiveness of this program.
With the recent and upcoming agreements between the Russian and American governments to reduce their nuclear weapon stockpiles, hopefully, this program will be expanded and brought to light on a larger stage.
You can learn more about the program here: http://www.usec.com/megatonstomegawatts.htm
It’s a shame that this doesn’t get more publicity than it does. So many people who are uninformed about nuclear power raise the concern that spent fuel will be stolen and turned into nuclear weapons. They are never made aware that, in fact, the nuclear industry is actually responsible for reducing the amount of nuclear weapons. Especially those weapons that may be far less secure than our own nuclear material.