http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20050627%2F0158956425.htm&photoid=20050624DCGH105&ewp=ewp_news_0605plutonium&floc=NW_1-TU.S. to resume plutonium 238 production-report
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The newspaper quoted project managers as saying most, if not all, of the new plutonium was intended for secret missions. The officials would not disclose details, but the newspaper said the plutonium in the past powered espionage devices.
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The program, which the newspaper said had raised concerns among environmentalists, would produce 330 pounds (150 kg) over 30 years at the Idaho National Laboratory. The program could cost $1.5 billion and generate over 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste, federal officials told the Times.
Plutonium 238 is hundreds of times more radioactive than plutonium 239, which is used in nuclear arms, according to the newspaper. Medical experts say inhaling even a speck posed a serious risk of lung cancer, the Times said.
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The United States last made plutonium 238 in the 1980s and now relied on aging stockpiles or imports from Russia, the newspaper said. It added that under the agreement with Russia, the United States could not use the imports -- about 35 pounds (16 kg) since the end of the Cold War -- for military purposes.
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as a country, we are insane if we let this happen
what in hell would we do with 50,000 drums of radioactive waste. we don't know what to do with the waste we already have.