TIME EUROPE
September 18, 2000, Vol. 156 No. 12
MOX N' Roll
Nuclear power is cheap and clean, but what do you do with the leftovers?
By NICHOLAS LE QUESNE Paris
P O L L
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Alternative Energy
Which energy source do you think is the most promising alternative to fossil fuels?
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Europe's nuclear power plants may produce cheap electricity without CO2 emissions, but they also churn out something less desirable: large quantities of highly radioactive spent fuel. France alone produces 1,200 tons of it each year. Spent nuclear fuel contains plutonium-239, an intensely toxic substance with a half-life of 24,360 years.
Different countries have adopted different approaches to the problem. Spain and Italy have followed the U.S. example, leaving spent fuel to cool down for decades on site before consigning it to a permanent deep-storage center. France and Britain have developed technology to reprocess spent fuel into uranium, plutonium and other less toxic waste products. Reprocessing plants at La Hague and Sellafield accept spent fuel from French and British reactors, respectively, as well as from those in other European countries like Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
Reprocessing's future was looking uncertain even before Germany announced it would pull out of the program in 2005. The main reason for reprocessing was to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. With stocks far exceeding the needs of weapons producers, the reprocessing business had pinned its hopes on plutonium being used as fuel in a new generation of fast-breeder reactors. But Britain and France abandoned their fast-breeder programs because of safety problems and cost over-runs. The plutonium produced by reprocessing is now recombined with uranium to make a nuclear fuel called MOX — mixed oxide. But MOX gives out less energy than ordinary enriched uranium, cannot be reprocessed and must be left to cool for 150 years before it can be permanently stored. Thus reprocessing does little more than put off the day when a hard choice has to be made about nuclear waste.
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September 18, 2000
COVER STORY
The Energy Crunch
Soaring fuel prices set off protests and raise questions about Europe's sources of powe
Nuclear Power
It's cheap and clean, but what do you do with the leftovers?
Alternatives to Oil
The pros and cons of water, wind, sun and more traditional methods of power generation
EUROPE
Dirty Rotten Reactors
While the West phases out Nuclear Power, Russia refurbishes its old plants and builds new ones
Transmission Control
Putin makes a grab for the medium and the message
Decisive Danes
The rest of Europe will be watching with interest when Denmark votes on entrance to the euro club
Off the Hook
An E.U. report on Austria should end the sanctions
OLYMPICS
Soft Machine
After a decade of leading the sprint swimming pack, Alexander Popov is still refining his strategies and his stroke
Bicycle Belle
Despite her modesty, French sprint star Felicia Ballanger is far and away the gold-medal favorite
Magnetic Pole
Women's pole vaulting makes its Olympic debut in Sydney, and American Stacey Dragila is on track for the first gold
BUSINESS
Easy Does It
With a burgeoning business empire, Greek tycoon-in-training Stelios Haji-Ioannou makes success seem so simple
Trust Buster Hits Home
Giuseppe Tesauro wants Italy's cosseted firms to understand that fair competition is in their interest
THE ARTS
The Frank Gehry Experience
Will a groovy new Seattle museum and buildings worldwide make him the wave of the future?
Anti-Fascist Fiction
Based on a true incident in the U.S., 'The Wave' is now used in German schools as a teaching tool
Icelandic Exhibitionist
Sigurdur Hjartarson's unique museum offers visitors a chance to examine one of zoology's little secrets
DEPARTMENTS
On Your Own Time
World Watch
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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