National nuclear operator explores taking over FFTF

This story was published Thu, May 16, 2002

By Annette Cary

Herald staff writer

One of the nation's largest nuclear operators is looking at the possibility of operating Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility.

A representative of Entergy Nuclear visiting the Tri-Cities this week said much more information is needed and no decision has been made about the future of the mothballed research reactor.

"But we do see the viability of FFTF," said Jeff Mahan, who does business development work for Entergy.

Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver said he expected to make an announcement about corporate interest in FFTF this week, but Oliver and Mahan declined to say if it involved Entergy.

Entergy, based in New Orleans, operates and owns nine nuclear power plants in the South and Northeast and is expected to soon begin operating a 10th, Vermont Yankee.

Supporters of FFTF have been looking for private companies interested in using the reactor to produce isotopes for medicine and other industrial uses, because the Republican and Democratic administrations said the government has no use for it. Both have ordered it permanently shut down.

A coalition of local governments led by Oliver, the Benton County Commission chairman, and Citizens for Medical Isotopes have been looking for private companies interested in the reactor. The two groups hope that if they put together a plan for commercial use of the reactor, the federal government essentially will declare it surplus and allow it to be used privately.

However, time is running out.

Backers have said they need to have the plan pulled together in June, because work to close down the reactor permanently already has begun.

"Many of the support systems have been shut down, but not the crucial ones," said Wanda Munn of Citizens for Medical Isotopes.

Once sodium is drained from the reactor's cooling system, the reactor probably never can be started again.

Its supporters also are continuing to push government officials to reconsider restarting the reactor.

Carolyn Oakley, regional representative for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will tour the reactor today. On Wednesday, she learned more about advances in the use of isotopes to treat cancer and other diseases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this spring approved using radioactive isotopes to treat breast cancer. After a tumor is removed, radioactive isotopes are inserted into the breast to kill any remaining cancer cells.

The procedure is less costly and does not cause the burns that conventional radiation treatment does. The process also takes five days instead of six weeks.

Such new medical uses increase demand for isotopes, which could be made at FFTF. Already, some isotopes are in short supply. They include both isotopes used for medical research into new cancer treatments and such isotopes as thallium 201, which is widely used to diagnose cardiac problems.

Most isotopes are imported into the United States, and shortages have grown worse since Sept. 11.

Oakley, who is Secretary Tommy Thompson's representative for the Northwest, said she would be sending a positive message about FFTF back to Washington, D.C.

"I know there is a real need, and I was disappointed the administration said it is time to wind down the program," she said.

She called medical isotopes "the wave of the future."

Supporters also are getting more support from organized labor.

Boeing aerospace machinists are lobbying the Washington congressional delegation this week to restart FFTF. Of particular concern is language in the Senate Energy Bill that would delay a restart. Union officials are asking that language be removed when House and Senate versions of the bill are reconciled.