NEWS: The DOE wants to give nuclear startups weapons-grade plutonium…experts have concerns.

The agency is in talks with five SMR companies (including Oklo and Exodys Energy) for what could become the first-ever transfers of such plutonium to the private sector. 

The background: The agency has long sat on >50 tons of leftover plutonium from Cold War-era weapons—which it now sees as a prime fuel source to kick-start the US advanced nuclear industry. President Trump floated the idea in an executive order last year, which sparked plenty of backlash.

The risks: Some politicians and energy experts aren’t huge fans of the idea. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) worries “rogue states or terrorists” could get their hands on the plutonium and build nuclear weapons. That’s why the Biden administration had hoped to dilute and bury all that extra plutonium. Due to these risks, “the developers of commercial reactors should not be handling plutonium—period,” Dan Yurman, an energy consultant and nuclear expert, told Energy Central. 

The prognosis: It isn’t the most practical idea, either. For one, churning out fuel from this excess plutonium would likely take years longer (and cost far more) than producing HALEU. (The DOE is already beefing up the country’s HALEU supply chain.) Plus, the agency has already tried—and failed—at turning leftover plutonium into juice for traditional light-water reactors. 

Ultimately, Yurman said, these deals are tied to a “far-fetched idea that probably has little future.”