Savannah River Site Near Augusta May Take in Additional Nuclear Fuels

The Savannah River Site near Augusta could take in additional nuclear fuel used by other countries for research.

The U.S. Department of Energy has been taking back the research fuels since the mid-1990s, much of it at the Savannah River Site.

It's part of a nonproliferation program to help reduce security threats.

"Some of it is U.S. origin fuel...the other is highly enriched uranium that does not have proper security measures to protect from use by terrorists and groups who pose a threat to the U.S. or its allies," says Jim Giusti, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy who is based at the Savannah River Site.

The DOE is currently authorized to take back 19 metric tons, although officials say they've taken in far less. It is now seeking to take an additional metric ton, which would otherwise be especially vulnerable to security risks in its current locations. Giusti says officials have not determined which country or countries the extra fuel would come from.

The extra fuel, some of which was provided by the U.S. decades ago, would be stored and eventually reprocessed for use in research in the U.S. or for commercial nuclear reactors.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, say they support nonproliferation, but worry about environmental impacts of storage at the site, and reprocessing of the fuels. They also worry about cost factors.

The Savannah River Site is a massive federal entity along the South Carolina-Georgia border that processes nuclear materials.