[PreciousLiberty]

Consider this, at 8 cents per kilowatt hour, a typical rate, one kilogram of plutonium if it could be converted to pure electrical energy would be worth 1.76 million dollars. (.08$ X 22,000,000 = 1,760,000$) Even at the typical heat engine efficiency of 20% that's still more than 300,000$ in energy per kilogram!( That's worth about 25 times more than it's wieght in gold!)

I suspect if nuclear power were widely adopted using new technology, the cost per kilowatt would fall by at least 50%.

Still, Pu would be quite valuable for something that's essentially a free by-product... ;-)

[Wonder Warthog]

"Still, Pu would be quite valuable for something that's essentially a free by-product... ;-)"

Well, not "quite" free. To use it, the Pu has to be separated from the old fuel rods, and re-converted into new fuel rods (or pellets or whatever form your favorite reactor technology uses). This is necessary to remove the highly radioactive fission products formed during the burning of the U-235. These have to be removed as some of them have high neutron absorption cross sections (can soak up lots of neutrons) and can decrease the efficiency of the fission process.