Group Withdraws Proposal To Use Reactor Privatization Plan Would Have Revived Hanford’s Fast Flux Test Facility

A group that proposed leasing a dormant Hanford Nuclear Reservation reactor to make bomb materials and medical isotopes says it is withdrawing the proposal.

Officials of Advanced Nuclear & Medical Systems said the U.S. Department of Energy isn’t giving their proposal to “privatize” the Fast Flux Test Facility reactor serious consideration.

“Our proposal no longer is on the table at the Department of Energy,” ANMS president Bill Stokes said recently.

The reactor is being studied to see if reviving its operation makes technical and economic sense. The analysis would determine whether additional environmental studies are needed, or whether FFTF will be permanently closed.

ANMS last year proposed raising its own money to lease the reactor from the government, at first to produce tritium for the nation’s nuclear weapons, then to make radioactive isotopes for cancer treatments and other medical purposes.

“It’s a missed opportunity for cost-savings and for lifesavings,” Stokes said.

But an official said privatization has not been dismissed by the Energy Department.

“Until they make a policy decision to start FFTF for tritium and isotopes, it’s premature to decide how that policy will be carried out,” said Al Farabee, the Energy Department’s FFTF program manager.

The Energy Department in July told ANMS that its proposal was premature.

Although he did not endorse any plan, Energy Secretary Federico Pena said during a visit to Hanford last week that he will review FFTF proposals objectively. Pena said he was “intrigued” with the prospect of producing medical isotopes in the reactor.

An Energy Department decision is expected sometime next year.

The prototype “breeder” reactor is currently on standby while the Energy Department studies the options. About 280 people are employed there.

Privatization and government operation of FFTF are two options being studied, but there are others. One would spend about $9 billion to build and operate a particle accelerator in South Carolina. Another would pay commercial operators to collect tritium at their plants.

Even FFTF supporters agree the plan is a long shot. “There are still hurdles to overcome, but we are working hard to make it happen,” said Sam Volpentest, executive vice president of the Tri-Cities Industrial Development Council.

Volpentest said he doubts the Energy Department would allow privatization of FFTF because production of tritium is a matter of national security.

The possibility of a new nuclear disarmament treaty between the United States and Russia could lessen the need for more tritium, an isotope of hydrogen needed to make nuclear bombs work properly.

That scenario could make FFTF even more viable, Farabee said, because the reactor alone could produce all of the nation’s tritium needs without the necessity of building an expensive new facility.