U.S. Aims to Give Cold War Plutonium to Start-Ups for Nuclear Fuel NYT - Energy & Environment By: Brad Plumer 26 May 2026 at 20:10 Companies say itβs a better way to dispose of the Cold War-era material β and fix a shortage of nuclear fuel. But the plan has also faced criticism from nonproliferation experts. Β© Science SourceWork with radioactive materials at a plutonium facility at the at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1978.