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With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), what should we do if the United States is running out of electricity?

U.S. President Trump has thought about a trick: converting the uranium element in the Cold War nuclear warheads into nuclear fuel.

According to a Reuters report on August 22, a person familiar with the matter said that the Trump administration plans to dismantle about 20 metric tons of plutonium in Cold War-era nuclear warheads and provide it to U.S. power companies as potential fuel for nuclear reactors.

The plan has raised concerns among nuclear security experts. Some U.S. nuclear physics experts pointed out that the U.S. government had tried similar efforts before, but failed; and the excess plutonium was "very dangerous" and the idea of trying to convert it into reactor fuel was "crazy."

Elementary data map

According to the person and a draft memorandum outlining the plan, the move was implemented under an executive order signed by Trump in May that required the government to suspend most existing plutonium dilution and disposal programs and use it instead as fuel for advanced nuclear technology.

The anonymous said the U.S. Department of Energy plans to announce in the coming days that it will seek advice from the industry on the matter.At the same time, as the plan is still in the draft phase, the final details may change as further discussions take place.

The draft memo shows that the Trump administration will provide plutonium to companies on a very low or free basis, but on one condition: industry will bear the cost of transporting, designing, building, decommissioning and recycling related facilities, as well as processing and manufacturing fuel facilities.

Details about the amount of plutonium, the industry's responsibilities in the plan, and the timing of a possible U.S. announcement have not been reported.

According to Reuters, in 2000, the United States signed a non-proliferation agreement with Russia, which promised to dispose of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium. About 20 metric tons of plutonium mentioned in the report will be extracted from this stockpile.

The U.S. Department of Energy did not confirm or deny the content of the report, but only responded that according to Trump's order, the department was "evaluating various strategies to establish and strengthen the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, including plutonium".

Recently, the rise of AI has led to a surge in U.S. electricity consumption, and U.S. electricity demand has risen for the first time in twenty years. The Trump administration will boost U.S. electricity industry as a policy priority and has been trying to ease energy and environmental regulations. In April this year, Trump signed an executive order aimed at increasing coal production.

But Reuters noted that Trump¡¯s idea of using uranium as fuel has raised concerns among nuclear security experts.

Experts pointed out that the US government tried similar efforts, but they ended in failure. According to the agreement signed by the United States and Russia in 2000, plutonium was originally planned to be converted into mixed oxide fuel (MOX) for use in nuclear power plants. But in 2018, the Trump administration terminated the project, saying its cost would exceed $50 billion.

U.S. nuclear waste storage facility in Savannah River, South Carolina

Magnesium is a radioactive supermagnesium element with a half-life of 24,000 years, and the treatment requires the use of protective equipment.

According to reports, the US Department of Energy stores surplus plutonium at high-security weapons facilities such as Savannah River in South Carolina, Pantex in Texas, and Los Alamos in New Mexico.

Before Trump signed an executive order in May, U.S. disposal plans involved mixing it with inert materials and storing it at an experimental underground storage facility in New Mexico, the WIPP.

¡°Trying to convert this material into reactor fuel is crazy,¡± said Edwin Lehman, a member of the Coalition of Doomsday Scientists and a U.S. nuclear physicist, ¡°it¡¯s like trying to resume the disastrous MOX fuel program and expect different results.¡±

Lehman reminded: ¡°Excess uranium is dangerous waste and the U.S. Department of Energy should adhere to a safer, more reliable and much cheaper plan to dilute and directly dispose of it in the WIPP.¡±

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Comprehensive AFP and Reuters reported on the 22nd that the U.S. government ordered the same day to suspend all construction work on a large wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. The wind farm is currently 80% completed.

Reported by Reuters.

The project, called Revolutionary Wind Power, is being built by the Danish renewable energy company Orsted, which started the project last year after obtaining all necessary permits and invested $1.5 billion to power more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island.

But on the 22nd of this month, Matthew Giacona, acting director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), sent a letter asking the project to "cease all ongoing activities" to allow time for a review.

"In particular, BOEM is seeking to address concerns related to protecting U.S. national security interests. You may not resume activities until BOEM completes its review," the letter reads. The letter did not elaborate on what "national security interest concerns" are.

In a statement, Orsted said it was "evaluating all options to resolve the matter quickly", including "possible legal proceedings". According to the company, the wind farm is 80% complete, with 45 wind turbines already installed (65 planned) and hopes to complete the project by the end of next year.

Agence France-Presse said the incident was the latest in a series of orders from the Trump administration to block climate-friendly wind power. "Wind power doesn't work," Mr. Trump said on Thursday. The entire US wind industry has faced major challenges since Mr. Trump took office in January. Mr. Trump has frozen federal permits and loans for all offshore and onshore wind projects.