misinformed media, or just me being a n00b?

[cheme09]

First of all, I'd like to thank the NukeWorker team for bringing the news feed back to the home page.  What a great way to keep up with the happenings of the industry.

But on to my question - I was reading the news story about SRS opening a Biomass Cogen plant to provide power to their site.  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/03/12/savannah_river_site_debuts_new_green_power_plant/

What caught my eye was a paragraph talking about their MOX fuel fabrication:

One of the main roles for the new biomass power plant is to provide power for the site's new mixed-oxide fuel program, which officials hope to open in 2016. That plant will take the tritium in old nuclear bombs and covert it to be used to power nuclear power plants.

I imagine the reporter used some twisted logic/ made the wrong connections to arrive at the conclusion that tritium is used to make MOX fuel...something like:

• Nuclear bombs are being converted to new fuel
• There was an H-bomb which used tritium
• Therefore tritium is being converted to new fuel

But if this is correct, and tritium is in fact used in MOX fuel fabrication, I would welcome an explanation - I do still consider myself a n00b in the nuclear arena (after all, yesterday was my first time in containment).

[RDTroja]

Just another reporter that thinks they know what they are talking about. Get used to it. Mixed Oxide fuel uses Plutonium 239 and Uranium 235 as its 'active ingredients.' There will also be other heavy isotopes such as U-238 but that is more 'filler' (and activates to a bit more Pu-239.)

So... good instincts.

[MrHazmat]

Yea.... too bad we can not check there reports before they print them,  but atleast some of them do try to get it right!!

[Starkist]

-.-  Popular Science released a very poor, fear mongering, and extremely biased article on nuclear divers.


Basically worded a 16mrem dive as a guarantee for cancer, plants shutting down fast will damage the core causing melt down, and negated real world statistics.