Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is dangerous, expensive and unnecessary

Dear Representative ,

I strongly urge you to oppose all efforts to fund a program to "reprocess" U.S. spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors. Reprocessing, which separates weapons-usable plutonium from the other nuclear waste contained in spent fuel, would be enormously expensive, make disposing of our nuclear waste more difficult, and encourage other nations to pursue this technology, which can be used for a nuclear weapons program.

Despite the significant dangers posed by reprocessing, the administration's new budget proposal is likely to contain a request for hundreds of millions of dollars for such a program. It is vital that this funding be stripped from the budget.

A number of disingenuous claims are being made about reprocessing, but the facts are clear:

• The creation of multiple reprocessing facilities linked by nuclear shipments would provide terrorists more opportunities to seize and use nuclear weapons materials;
• The plutonium extracted from reprocessing can be used to build nuclear weapons.
• Reprocessing produces more nuclear waste than is contained in the original spent fuel.

President Bush has stated that nuclear terrorism is the greatest threat we face today. Please keep dangerous nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists by opposing all funding for the reprocessing of U.S. nuclear fuel here and abroad.

I will continue to closely follow your actions on this important issue.