Markey Statement on Plutonium Found in Soil at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources Committee and senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement today upon reports that plutonium has been found in soil samples near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The Unit 3 reactor, which is believed to have suffered damage to its radioactive core, used MOX fuel, which is a blend of plutonium and uranium. When present in the bloodstream either through ingestion or inhalation, plutonium can reach internal body organs and continue, for decades, to expose surrounding tissue to radiation that can lead to cancer. Once inside the body, plutonium is excreted very slowly with a biological half-life of 200 years. The three plutonium isotopes found in Japanese soil samples have environmental half-lives of 87 - 24,000 years.

"While the levels of plutonium present in Japanese soil have been found to be low, its presence at any level is cause for serious concern, and I await information regarding any air monitoring that may have been performed for this highly toxic material. I am calling for an immediate review of the safety issues associated with MOX fuel fabrication and use here in the United States, including whether it makes sense to move forward with plans to use the fuel in commercial nuclear power plants. MOX is dangerous, polluting and expensive. There are serious, long-term public health, environmental and non-proliferation implications for the continued conversion of weapons grade plutonium to MOX and use of MOX at commercial reactors, especially if America were to experience a nuclear meltdown similar to what is happening in Japan."

There are proposals for America to produce MOX fuel from plutonium recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons. In 1997, Rep. Markey wrote to then Department of Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary requesting information and expressing nonproliferation, cost and safety concerns regarding the Department's plans to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium by mixing it with uranium to produce MOX fuel and burn it in civilian nuclear reactors. That decision reversed a two-decade long policy of not allowing civilian use of military plutonium and undermined U.S. non-proliferation efforts.

In September 2000, the United States and the Russian Federation signed a Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement by which each nation agreed to dispose of 34 tons of weapon grade plutonium. In 2002, Rep. Markey wrote again to DOE expressing strong reservations about the Department's plan to dispose of all weapons grade plutonium before the end of 2019 by converting the plutonium to a MOX fuel to be used in commercial nuclear power reactors.

MOX is currently being evaluated for use at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama, the Sequoyah nuclear power plant in Tennessee, and at the Columbia Generating Station in seismically-active Washington State.

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