Turning Nuclear Warheads Into Electricity

(NAPSA)-What's one unexpected result of the Cold War? Electricity. Some Russian Cold War relics are making a major contribution to heating and powering American homes.

A unique program called "Megatons to Megawatts" is a 20-year, $8 billion initiative that's converting bomb-grade uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into power-plant fuel.

In Russia, the bomb-grade uranium is diluted into safe power plant fuel, which can no longer be used in weapons. Then, this fuel is purchased by USEC Inc., an executive agent of the U.S. government, which sells the fuel to electric power plants across America.

Since the program's inception in 1993, Russian bomb-grade uranium capable of making more than 6,000 nuclear warheads has been converted to fuel.

That's enough fuel to power a city the size of Boston or Seattle for about 230 years.

The uranium in 6,000 warheads contains the energy equivalent of:

• 3 billion barrels of oil (3,000 supertankers), or
• 900 million tons of coal (9 million coal cars), or
• 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (enough to meet the needs of all U.S. homes for more than three years).

By the time the program ends in 2013, bomb-grade material for 20,000 nuclear warheads will have been totally eliminated.

The program is completely funded by USEC, which has paid the Russians more than $2.5 billion to date for the uranium fuel. No taxpayer funds are required.

USEC used to be part of the U.S. government, but was privatized in 1998. Today, it's the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Experts consider the Megatons to Megawatts program a "win-win" idea: it helps eliminate stores of weapons-grade uranium, which is actively being sought by terrorist groups and nations seeking weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the program converts the warhead material into a valuable resource: fuel used to light and power America from coast to coast.

This is a unique example of how the private sector helps advance national and world security.

For more information, visit www.usec.com.

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