DOE Plans to Recycle Military Plutonium for Advanced Reactors

The U.S. government is considering supplying military-grade plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads to American nuclear companies, according to Reuters. However, these companies would bear the cost of building and operating the facilities needed to process the material into nuclear fuel.

The U.S. administration is reportedly looking to make about 20 metric tons of military plutonium available to nuclear operators, Reuters reported on Friday, August 22. A source familiar with the matter told the news agency that the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to offer the industry plutonium from warheads built during the Cold War, which the United States committed to dismantle in 2000.

While the material itself would be inexpensive, interested companies would be responsible for the costs of transportation, design, construction, and decommissioning of the facilities required to recycle, process, and manufacture the fuel. The DOE neither confirmed nor denied the information, stating to Reuters that it “is evaluating a variety of strategies to build and strengthen the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, including plutonium.”

Background

This project follows executive orders signed by Donald Trump in May 2025, aimed at ending the storage of surplus plutonium stocks and instead using them as a fuel source for advanced reactors. During his first term as U.S. President, Donald Trump had in fact terminated the Savannah River plutonium MOX conversion project, which had been launched with Orano in 2007. At that time, the DOE opted instead for dilution and disposal of the plutonium, considering this solution far more economically viable. ■