Kazakhstan plant to re-work nuke fuel

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced Wednesday a former nuclear weapons site in Kazakhstan will work with a government lab and private companies to create power plant fuel from uranium processing leftovers.

The Department of Energy has committed $1.2 million over three years to the project at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, which was a nuclear weapons facility in the former Soviet Union, Abraham said. Two U.S. nuclear power companies -- Global Nuclear Fuel in Wilmington, N.C., and RWE Nukem in Danbury, Conn. -- have put the same amount of money into the program.

"The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs in Kazakhstan for those with critical skills in handling nuclear materials and become a reliable source for U.S. fuel production," Abraham said. "(The program) will play an important new part in our global nonproliferation efforts."

The Ulba facility will become one piece in the security plan outlined by President Bush in Tuesday night's State of the Union speech, Abraham said. It's part of the country's renewed efforts to deny terrorists both the materials and expertise necessary for creating weapons of mass destruction. At least 50 former nuclear weapons scientists will find gainful employment at the plant, relieving the temptation to sell their skills on the world market.

"We begin today a new era in energy cooperation between our nations," Abraham told a gathering that included Kazakhstan's U.S. Ambassador, Kanat Saudabayev. "This is the first time that nuclear materials will be shipped ... under the recently signed Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy."

The project involves uranium "concentrates," material left over from the creation of nuclear power plant fuel. The concentrates contain a usable fraction of fuel-grade uranium, but until now recovering that fuel had been prohibitively expensive.

The Ulba plant has devised methods to separate the uranium from the concentrates, using chemical solvents. GNF and Nukem facilities will ship concentrates to the plant, and the fuel-grade uranium product will be returned to GNF and other nuclear power companies for use in regular reactors.

The U.S. Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., has helped the plant deal with environmental and transportation issues. The DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, which helped create the project, will continue to work with the companies involved, the department said in a statement.

Through an interpreter, Saudabayev said the deal marks the fruition of 10 years of intense negotiations between the countries. He said he was very optimistic about the project's commercial and international possibilities.

"Nonproliferation has new emphasis after Sept. 11," Saudabayev said. "This work is imperative to maintain the security of the entire world."

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who chairs the House Armed Services Military Procurement Subcommittee, said lawmakers understand the urgency needed in nonproliferation efforts.

"On behalf of the Congress, we're ready to move even more aggressively," Weldon said.

The relevant committees in both houses are eager to establish a dialogue with their Kazak counterparts to continue projects such as the Ulba plant, he said.