U.S. Turns Cold War Plutonium Into Nuclear Fuel

The federal U.S. government has turned to plutonium from the Cold War era as an alternative to uranium in nuclear power generation, as supply of the default nuclear fuel runs short of demand. Washington has already selected five companies to supply the fuel to, as nuclear returns to the energy spotlight. The Energy Department said this month it would discuss the use of plutonium as nuclear fuel with five nuclear energy companies seeking to build new generation capacity in the country. The reason that the DoE is considering plutonium is the tight…