In the 1990's, in part under the auspices of the Clinton Administration, the "Megatons to Megawatts" program, the United States agreed to employ highly enriched uranium (HEU) from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons in American nuclear reactors.
From 1992 until 2010, according to EIA data nuclear energy production in the United States generated about 50 exajoules of pure electricity, which corresponds to about 150 exajoules of primary energy. For comparison, the United States in a typical year uses about 100 exajoules of primary energy, meaning that the energy produced in that period, almost half of this energy being derived from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons once aimed at our heads, eliminated the equivalent of a year and a half of US dangerous fossil fuel waste dumping.
The link to the milestones report, and an excerpt from the text appear below.
Another Megatons to Megawatts milestone
The Megatons to Megawatts program has now downblended 425 tonnes of high-enriched uranium (HEU), equivalent to 17,000 nuclear warheads, US uranium enrichment company USEC has announced. The 20-year program to downblend 500 tonnes of surplus weapons-grade Russian HEU into nuclear fuel for civil nuclear reactors will eliminate the equivalent of 20,0000 warheads by the time it comes to an end in 2013. The scheme is implemented by USEC and Russia's Techsnabexport (Tenex).
Megatons to Megawatts Milestones.
Have a nice day tomorrow.