Atomic Pause

Back in 2006, when policy makers and advocates of all stripes were looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions, NRDC was pushing for the development of solar and wind. Meanwhile, the Bush administration was busy hatching the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), a program meant to develop an international community in which partner nations, including Russia and China, would share the technological secrets of nuclear reprocessing. Reprocessing separates plutonium from spent nuclear fuel; the plutonium is then used to power other nuclear energy plants. Sounds good in theory -- who doesn't want to recycle? -- but not in practice.

NRDC and other groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and Physicians for Social Responsibility, were quick to speak out against reprocessing. NRDC's nuclear scientists prepared a report, "Peddling Plutonium," explaining that reprocessing is uneconomical and increases the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation (nrdc.org/nuclear/gnep/agnep.asp).

At long last, some good news arrived in June: with little fanfare, an announcement in the Federal Register informed the public that the Department of Energy cancelled the completion of the GNEP program's environmental impact statement -- a move that will delay commercial deployment of U.S. nuclear reprocessing facilities for at least 10 years. For now, the department will research new technologies to make reprocessing less expensive and improve practices designed to reduce the proliferation risks. All in all, it's a quiet victory that's worth shouting about.