Nuclear recycling--a thing of the past?

Nature.com is reporting President Barack Obama's administration quietly cancelled plans for a large-scale facility to recycle nuclear fuel. The move may prove a fatal blow to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) set up by previous President.

You may have to pay to read the entire Nature.com piece.

The move was posted in the "Federal Register" and it means there are now no plans to go ahead with construction of a nuclear fuel recycling plant in the U.S. The National Academy of Sciences had earlier said such a plant was not economically viable. The U.S. does remain a member of the GNEP with a couple dozen other countries.

There's over 140-million dollars in the federal budget earmarked for continued nuclear fuel and safety research.

Meanwhile, even South Korea is reticent on their plans to try nuclear recycling. Their concerns have to do with not looking like they wish to build nuclear weapons.