Making the best of a bad set of options, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson courageously saved American taxpayers at least $5 billion by choosing on December 22 to produce tritium in the cheapest and most flexible way.

The Secretary recommended the Watts Bar and Sequoyah nuclear power plants in Tennessee as the production sites for the material – a key ingredient in the creation and maintenance of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

A better option would be to reduce the need for tritium production by cutting the total number of U.S. nuclear weapons. Russia, our long-time foe in the nuclear arms race, is being forced to reduce its nuclear arsenal due a dismal economic climate. Progress in reducing our own nuclear arsenal would postpone the need to spend U.S. money on tritium production by more than a decade.

But the Energy Secretary wasn’t given that option. The law required Secretary Richardson to find a way for the U.S. to produce tritium for more nuclear weapons by December 31, 1998. The Secretary had four options:

Richardson defied tremendous political pressure for alternate sites with his recommendation of the Watts Bar and Sequoyah sites. This option would require no new capital investment or construction and would produce the tritium called for under current law at a cost of perhaps only tens of millions of dollars. Should the U.S. decide to reduce its nuclear arsenal, this option could easily be postponed.

In contrast, the construction and maintenance of a new accelerator at a Savannah, South Carolina site would cost a projected $9 billion over its life cycle, given current U.S. nuclear arms levels.

The completion of the Bellafore nuclear power plant in northern Alabama, another proposal, would require a $2 billion initial outlay to produce tritium and electricity. Combined savings from the site’s free tritium ($10 million per year or less) and electricity revenues would unlikely match Bellafore’s price tag anytime soon.

Secretary Richardson also rejected a proposal to use a currently inoperative Fast Flux Test Reactor (FFTF) in Hanford, Washington as an interim production site. FFTF is a breeder fuel-testing reactor whose old age and limited capacity fail to provide a long term solution for America’s perceived tritium need.

Until Congress finds the political will to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the corresponding need for tritium production, the Secretary’s recommendation is the best available option.