Tritium rods sent to Savannah River Site The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has confirmed that the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has received it first shipment of nuclear rods containing tritium, a radioactive gas that is a key ingredient in nuclear weapons. The special Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rods (TPBARs) were irradiated in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s civilian Watts Bar reactor, thus demonstrating that commercial nuclear power reactors can be used as an integral part of a nuclear weapons program.
The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant resumed operation in October 2003 to produce tritium for weapons as well as electricity for homes and factories. (See PeaceMeal, Nov/Dec 2003) The dual-use operation transgresses more than half a century of strict separation of America’s commercial and military nuclear programs.
According to Tom Clements, an independent nuclear consultant, “This whole program sends out a dangerous signal internationally — that it’s acceptable to produce nuclear weapons materials in commercial reactors. At a time when concerns about proliferation of nuclear materials are rising, the U.S. should not be engaged in a program that affirms the nuclear weapons-nuclear power connection. While the U.S. wags a finger at Iran for the perceived risks of its nuclear power program, it is silently demonstrating that nuclear power programs do indeed present an obvious proliferation risk.”
The DOE anticipates extracting the tritium in July 2007, if the new Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) at SRS becomes operational. The half-billion-dollar TEF is now undergoing start-up testing. Existing tritium facilities at SRS receive and recharge tritium canisters removed from nuclear warheads.
Tritium boosts the explosive power of fission weapons and is essential in thermonuclear weapons. It’s half- life of 12.5 years results in a need for periodic replenishment. However, with recycling of tritium from dismantled warheads, there is no need for new tritium production. The existing U.S. inventory of tritium can supply a stockpile of 1,000 nuclear warheads until 2040 and a smaller stockpile until the end of the 21st century.
