This is the second part of a two part series on fast reactor technology.

RICHLAND --It's not a new technology, but now scientists are revisiting a type of nuclear reactor that uses nuclear waste from conventional, thermal, nuclear reactors to generate electricity. In recent months, engineers living locally have turned their eyes to Hanford.

Nuclear engineers from China to South America and around the world are turning their attention to fast reactors, which consume the solid waste. More testing, however, is needed before the reactors can be developed; Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility - or FFTF - could help engineers.

"Certainly within five or ten years we will see a substantial increase in commercial nuclear power plants," said Dr. Alan Waltar, the now-retired head of Texas A&M's Nuclear Engineering Department. "FFTF was designed to test materials for a fast spectrum or breeder reactor and ... it was recognized internationally as the flagship. To have that shutdown is just - I mean, I've got a pit in my stomach."

In recent weeks, two local groups got more than a million dollars to study the facility and see whether it can help develop fast reactors.

"We think it makes sense to have a good technical look to see if it could be restarted - because it would be so much cheaper and so much faster than to build a new facility" said Waltar

If the project to build fast reactors moves forward: reviving FFTF would be one of may challenges. Scientists need people who will understand nuclear science because fast reactor development could take years and possibly decades.

"The young people, the education, the nuclear programs - the men and material that's needed to bring this industry back to its former prominence in the world," said Carl Holder, who works for Columbia Basin Consulting, one of the companies interested in developing the technology. "It's a daunting task."

At the same time, scientists anticipate the gallons of nuclear waste stored at Hanford's site can't be used; fast reactors need solid waste, like the fuel rods discharged from commercial nuclear operations, to complete their reaction.

The waste that comes out of the reaction, however, is less toxic and needs less room for storage. That would mean storage areas, like Yucca Mountain in Nevada, could take more waste than initially thought.

The technology is not taking off quickly largely because researchers and statesmen are concerned about nuclear proliferation because experts don't want rouge nations or terrorists cells to gain the capacity to develop these reactors.

Meanwhile, funding for the research is stunted, largely because the federal government isn't committing substantial grants.