In the weeks after 45,000 Union of Concerned Scientists activists sent letters to Congress opposing a new and dangerous plan to "reprocess" used fuel from commercial nuclear reactors, the House of Representatives cut the Bush administration's $250 million request for the plan by more than half.

"Reprocessing" separates weapons-usable plutonium from other nuclear waste contained in used, or "spent," fuel generated by U.S. nuclear power reactors. The administration's proposal would require the construction and operation of a vast array of nuclear facilities and makes disposing of nuclear waste more difficult, while costing a tremendous amount of money. Most significantly, it would encourage other countries to reprocess and make it easier for terrorists to acquire plutonium, which can be readily used to make a nuclear bomb.

The House provided only $120 million for the initiative and specified that no money could be spent to build the demonstration reprocessing facility that was the centerpiece of the administration's proposal. Instead, the House mandated a peer review of the proposed reprocessing technologies by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering before design of any demonstration plants can begin.

Unfortunately, the Senate provided full funding for the administration's initiative, so sometime this fall a conference committee will decide the final funding. If an appropriate time emerges, we will ask UCS activists to contact their senators to oppose this dangerous program. For more information about this issue, please see our most recent GNEP press release and fact sheet on reprocessing.

More recently, we asked UCS activists to urge their senators to cut funding for the ineffective, inherently flawed anti-missile system supported by the Bush administration. Unfortunately, although UCS activists sent more than 17,000 letters to their senators, the Senate provided full funding for the program. We will continue to oppose the premature deployment of the system and work to better inform Congress of its failings.