The utility is assessing options to use it By Dan Yurman The
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) could be one of the first
nuclear utilities to accept mixed oxide fuel (MOX) from the
Department of Energy (DOE) for use in its commercial nuclear
reactors. The government is building a $4.8 billion factory in
South Carolina that is scheduled to start producing MOX fuel
assemblies by 2016 by blending weapons grade plutonium with
uranium. The resulting fuel can be swapped out for regular
uranium fuel. The government’s nonproliferation objective is to
get 34 tonnes of surplus weapons-grade plutonium out of
circulation forever. TVA’s objective is to get nuclear fuel that
will work safely in its reactors and at a competitive price. TVA
is a public power provider for a seven-state region serving nine
million people. In 2010, 36 percent of its power generation came
from nuclear energy. One element of its charter, which dates
back to the New Deal programs between 1933 and 1936 of President
Franklin Roosevelt, is to support