MOX UPDATE:
TWO NEW BIDDERS FOR MOX CONTRACTS
Several of the nuclear industry’s largest companies have announced formation of two new consortia that will seek to use plutonium-based MOX fuel in commercial nuclear reactors.
MOX-USA was announced on July 11. It consists of lead member British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), Babcock & Wilcox, Bechtel International and Westinghouse. According to a BNFL press release, BNFL "will provide the program management, overall design approach and technology intergration." It describes its new MOX plant in heavily-contaminated Sellafield as "a showcase for BNFL’s capabilities in the design and construction of a plant similar in production scale to that which DOE will require."
Babcock & Wilcox would handle licensing and operate the MOX fuel fabrication facility.
Bechtel would do construction and startup of the fabrication plant, while Westinghouse would be responsible for licensing the MOX fuel in pressurized water reactors and managing the supply of fuel to the reactors.
The second consortium is composed of Siemens Power Corp, which is under widespread criticism for its involvement in the construction of reactors in Russia and Eastern Europe, Battelle, Mason & Hanger Corp., Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, Entergy Operations (which owns Grand Gulf, Arkansas One-1 and 2, River Bend, and Waterford-3) and Washington Public Power Supply.
NAT’L MOX CONFERENCE SEPT. 27-28
NIRS is sponsoring a national conference on MOX September 27-28, 1997. This is your chance to learn more about the issue, and help strategize to stop MOX and the creation of a new military-industrial-utility complex.
The conference will be in Washington, DC, and there will be some funds available to help with travel costs. For more information, contact Mary Olson or Michael Mariotte at NIRS, 202-328-0002; fax: 202-462-2183; e-mail: nirsnet@igc.apc.org
GRANT MONEY FOR ANTI-MOX WORK
NIRS is making funds available for grassroots groups that want to work on anti-MOX issues.
Grants will range from $500-$2,000, and can be used for a variety of public education and organizing efforts on MOX (no lobbying, however).
To apply, just send a 1-2 page letter to Michael Mariotte at NIRS, outlining your ideas. Application deadline is September 15, 1997, the NIRS Board will consider grant requests at its October meeting.