U.S. Energy Policy and Nuclear Plants

The editorial on nuclear power (Dec. 10) asserts that technology has no solution for getting rid of the deadly spent fuels. That assertion is not entirely true.

A little over 20 years ago when I was a consultant to one of the AEC laboratories, I developed a process by which spent fuel could be separated into its isotopic components. The process is sufficiently powerful that the contamination of the remains can be reduced to an acceptable level. Although the process was only a laboratory scale operation, it worked.

The problems created by dangerous and wasteful long-term storage can be avoided by separating the radioactive byproducts and unburned fuel from the spent fuel and putting them back into the reactor where they produce useful energy and at the same time are permanently burned up.

However, separating spent fuel is a very touchy subject. The real problem is that any process that can separate spent fuel can also isolate the plutonium generated by the reactor. Although the plutonium is not high grade, it can still be used to make a very nasty bomb. It may be that the problem is not a lack of technology, but is a political one.

ARTHUR SMITH

Santa Monica