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5. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
This section looks at:
A. What is GNEP?
In a trip to North America in May 2006, the Prime Minister had discussions with US President George Bush about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). He was also briefed by the US Energy Secretary, Samual Bodman.
GNEP involves a small number of “supplier” nations enriching uranium, leasing the nuclear fuel to other nations eager to develop nuclear power and taking back the spent fuel for reprocessing and final disposal. GNEP advocates argue that yet-to-be developed reprocessing technology will prevent the reprocessed fuel being used for nuclear weapons: http://www.gnep.energy.gov/
The USA is considering only a small number of countries for the GNEP club: Russia, Japan, China, UK and France. However, on 17 August 2006, the assistant secretary for nuclear power at the US Department of Energy, Dennis Spurgeon, said Australia and Canada were likely to be given special consideration because they would play a pivotal role in a new nuclear suppliers club the US is trying to establish. See: http://www.news.com.au/story/...
Developing countries would build smaller scale nuclear power plants, about 5-10% of the average size of a nuclear power plant in developed countries today (1,000 MWe), ‘rent’ the nuclear fuel and then return the spent fuel to the nuclear fuel supplying nations (the GNEP club). The supply agreements would require a commitment from the fuel recipient countries that they would not seek to develop domestic nuclear fuel production capabilities (ie enrichment and reprocessing plants).
GNEP nations would then reprocess the fuel, using modified reprocessing technology, yet to be developed. Modified reprocessing would differ from current reprocessing in that plutonium would not be separated, but would remain mixed with uranium and highly radioactive fission products, arguably making it unsuitable for use in nuclear weapons. (Nuclear weapons require pure, separated plutonium). The Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) submission to UMPNER, promotes the non-proliferation benefits of this yet to be developed technology. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/umpner/submissions.cfm
The remaining high level waste would be transmuted into less long-lived waste. Currently high level waste remains dangerous for tens of thousands of years, but with the promised technology, waste would need to be isolated for only 300-500 years. According to ASNO, however, about 1% of the total fission products remaining after GNEP reprocessing would remain unchanged, such as technetium-99 and iodine-129. These isotopes would therefore need to be dealt with according to current high level waste timeframes (10,000+ yrs). According to ASNO, deep geologic disposal may be used to deal with these wastes, perhaps conditioning with Synroc and disposal by deep bore hole.
According to the World Nuclear Association, the new mixed fuel promised by GNEP means that fast neutron reactors will be needed to burn the fuel. (Dropping them into a conventional thermal reactor would result in relatively little fission.) GNEP envisages development of a new generation of fast neutron reactors under the Generation IV International Forum (GIF).
http://www.world-nuclear.org/news/nl_mar-apr2006.htm
http://gif.inel.gov/
B. The Real Reasons for GNEP
Critics of GNEP believe that the real reason the Bush Administration is promoting GNEP is due to the serious and growing domestic problem of high level nuclear waste in the US. Unless the waste problem is solved, utilities will not invest in new nuclear power plants, as they are already storing waste that they believed would be buried by now under Yucca Mountain.
Jack Edlow, CEO of Edlow International, a global company specializing in the management and transport of radioactive waste, said on an ABC Radio National Background Briefing program on 3 September 2006: “they [the Bush Administration] need to have a waste solution before people will order more [nuclear power] plants”.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/...
See also comments by George Perkovich, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on the Background Briefing program, Australian and the nuclear renaissance:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/...
The real domestic reason for GNEP was made transparent in the GNEP Strategic Plan, released by the US DOE in January 2007. The Plan states:
"To obtain a repository capacity increase ranging from one to two orders of magnitude and allow Yucca Mountain to satisfy our repository needs for the remainder of the 21st century it will be necessary to remove and fission through recycle the very long-lived minor actinides."
In other words, with GNEP, the US DOE hopes to avoid having to build a second national deep geological waste repository until the end of the 21st century.
C. Criticisms of GNEP
For a critique of why GNEP is likely to weaken global efforts to fight proliferation and increase terrorism threats, read The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership: will it advance non-proliferation or undermine it? by Edwin S. Lyman, Senior Staff Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, USA: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/....
Key points include:
- No-self respecting nation would be receptive to the idea that enrichment and reprocessing must remain off limits to all but a few privileged nations
- Nonation concerned about energy security and not considered a trusted ally of the US would be prepared to rely on the members of the GNEP to guarantee meeting their energy needs
- Blending plutonium, uranium and highly radioactive fission products to produce “proliferation-resistant” fuel would make the fuel so cumbersome and dangerous to handle that the cost and risk of generating nuclear power could increase dramatically.
D. Australia and GNEP
The Prime Minister John Howard announced on 6 September 2007 during the APEC summit that it was Australia's intention to join the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. It was also announced that Australia would participate in the next GNEP meeting in Vienna on 16 September. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2007/...
The Australian, (August 17, 2006), revealed that the Bush administration supports the idea of a uranium enrichment industry in Australia and Australia joining GNEP as a fuel supplier nation, because we are viewed as “totally reliable and trustworthy”.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/...
According to the Lyman paper referred to above: “Areva NC, the French national nuclear fuel cycle company, declared in mid-2006 its intention to develop a new generation of reprocessing plants for export to at least a dozen countries, including Australia.” http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/...
See the Prime Minister’s comments on GNEP at the beginning of this document.
