According to a draft memorandum of understanding and a source familiar with the issue, the Trump administration plans to provide about 20 tons of plutonium from the Cold War nuclear weapons stockpile to US energy companies, to fuel advanced nuclear technology.
Previously, President Trump signed a decree ending much of the surplus distillation and destruction of plutonium, allowing it to be used as fuel. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is expected to call for companies to submit proposals to implement the plan. However, the final details are still subject to change.
According to the draft, this amount of plutonium will be provided almost free of charge, but businesses must pay for the transportation, design, construction and dismantling of DOE-licensed facilities for fuel recycling, treatment and production. The plutonium is in a reserve of 34 tons of raw materials for weapons that the US had pledged to destroy under the nuclear non-proliferation deal signed with Russia in 2000.
The US has previously tested the conversion of plutonium into MOX fuel for reactors, but the project was canceled in 2018 due to an estimated cost of more than $50 billion. The DOE is still keeping plutonium in strict security facilities. The burying of plutonium at the WIPP underground storage facility in New Mexico is estimated to cost20 billion USD.
Nuclear safety experts warn that the new plan could repeat previous failures. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has prioritized strengthening the energy sector, especially as US electricity demand has increased again after two decades, largely due to the explosion of artificial intelligence data centers.
