Clinch River: a Breeder for Baker

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Indeed, Britain, West Germany, the Soviet Union and France are already operating breeders more advanced than the one not yet built at Clinch River. To critics this argues against a U.S. commitment to the expensive Tennessee project. "It's like the Concorde," "says Vanderbilt University Physicist John Barach. "Let the French do it. If we need it, we can get them to license a breeder to this country."

Breeders can be fueled by uranium or Plutonium, but they produce only the latter. Plutonium is a far handier substance for making bombs, and some skittish critics are afraid that Clinch River might become a target for terrorists seeking to cadge a few pounds of plutonium to make an atomic weapon. The reactor is designed to be cooled by liquid sodium, a highly volatile substance, and there are some doubts about the ability of the reactor to control a catastrophic leakage in the sodium ducts. "It is a much more dangerous and complex device than other reactors," says Vanderbilt's Barach.

Clinch River's proponents insist (hat breeders are the only means that the U.S. has to guarantee itself an unlimited domestic supply of atomic fuel. But even this advantage may not justify the costs. "There won't be a shortage of conventional uranium for at least 50 years," says Jan Beyea, a physicist on the staff of the Audubon Society. "Certainly there is no urgent rush to get into breeder technology." President Jimmy Carter, worried about the proliferation of plutonium, tried to stop Clinch River. Even Budget Director David Stockman, while he was a Michigan Congressman, opposed Clinch River, contending that the Government should not underwrite nuclear development for the private sector by building the reactor. He called the project "totally incompatible with our free-market approach to energy policy."

Stockman argued within the White House for denying Clinch River further funds, but was overruled. What sealed the Administration's commitment to the reactor was geography—and politics. The plant is to be built in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker. Already 458 Baker constituents work on the project, and there is the promise of 4,000 more jobs for the seven-year duration of construction. "In large measure," says one congressional aide, "the Reagan support is due to the fact that Baker is for it." Yet Baker barely had to enter the fray. Admits one of his aides: "This year we didn't have to save it ourselves. We didn't have to do that much." Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who worked to kill Clinch River in the House, insisted that his toughest opponent was Howard Baker. And who else? "Howard Baker," Gregg repeated. "After that, you don't need any other lobbyists."

—By Kurt Andersen. Reported by Gary Lee/Washington and Peter Staler/New York