1.   A variation of the thorium idea may allow the Department of Energy to use excess plutonium in commercial nuclear power plants, also without creating byproducts suitable for weapons.

2.   Perhaps the most elegant solution of all would be to pitch excess plutonium into space, firing it into the Sun.

3.   Russia and the United States have tons of excess plutonium because of the end of the Cold War and arms reductions treaties.

4.   The Energy Department confirmed Tuesday that it would follow a dual track to dispose of excess plutonium from nuclear weapons.

5.   --Unlike Hanford scientists, the engineers at Savannah see the excess plutonium as waste, not as a resource.

6.   Another concern is the possible use of the excess plutonium to produce atomic bombs, and its environmental impact.

7.   The ministers said in a closing statement that they had agreed on the need to ensure that excess military plutonium was rendered permanently unusable for nuclear weapons.