Plan de Plutonio de Trump deja Estados Unidos sin reactores de óxido mixto

Trump’s plan to give plutonium from dismantled Cold War weapons to start‑ups has no operational U.S. reactors to use it.

Why U.S. Reactors Can’t Use Plutonium

U.S. nuclear plants run on a mix of uranium‑235 and uranium‑238. About 5 % of the fuel is U‑235, the rest U‑238, which cannot sustain a chain reaction on its own. Because of that balance, even if some fuel fell into the wrong hands, weaponizing it would be enormously difficult.

DOE’s Rationale and the Five Companies

The Department of Energy says private firms could unlock a vast, untapped energy resource. Assistant Secretary Ted Garrish called decommissioned fuel an “immense, untapped energy resource.” Five companies have been selected to receive the surplus plutonium, with the promise of spurring innovation in American recycling technologies.

Security, Cost, and Political Fallout

Experts like Scott Roecker warn that the U.S. has spent billions removing highly‑enriched uranium and separated plutonium from countries that don’t need it. David Speyer argues that storing pure plutonium is far beyond a small start‑up’s capabilities, and that separating it from uranium is trivial once you have the material. The plan also faces political pushback: Senator Edward Markey and two House members wrote a letter to President Trump in September, warning that transferring weapons‑usable plutonium to private industry would heighten proliferation risks.

Without mixed‑oxide reactors, the U.S. cannot make sense of this plutonium hand‑off. The economic and security costs outweigh the promised benefits, and the political backlash suggests the plan will stall. Until the country builds a reactor that can safely use the material, the idea remains a costly footnote in nuclear policy.

Source: Trump plan to give start-ups plutonium harvested from Cold War-era nuclear weapons is risky, experts say
Domain: scientificamerican.com