Failure to pursue a program for recycling spent nuclear fuel has
put the U.S. far behind other countries and represents a missed
opportunity to enhance the nation's energy security and
influence other countries, the former chairman of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said Sunday. Dale Klein, Ph.D., Associate
Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Texas System,
said largely unfounded concerns and "long-held myths" about the
reprocessing of spent fuel have prevented the U.S. from tapping
into an extremely valuable resource. Spent nuclear fuel, which
includes some plutonium, often is inaccurately referred to as
waste, Klein said. "It is not waste," he said. "The waste is in
our failure to tap into this valuable and abundant domestic
source of clean energy in a systematic way. That's something we
can ill-afford to do." Klein, who also serves as an associate
director at UT Austin's Energy Institute, made his remarks
Sunday morning at the American Association for the Advancement
of Science's (AAAS) annu