Advocates for Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility still have hope despite a letter the Department of Energy sent reaffirming its decision to deactivate the reactor.

DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology sent the letter Monday to Benton County in response to a September letter sent to the White House by Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver.

In Monday's letter, Owen Lowe, associate director of nuclear facilities management, said DOE had performed extensive studies to determine the reactor's future.

He said analysis included looking at alternative uses of the facility, the environmental impacts of those uses and the policy-based considerations of the reactor's long term mission.

"Based upon this comprehensive evaluation, we decided to deactivate FFTF," Lowe wrote.

Oliver, a leader of Citizens for Medical Isotopes, said "letters like this are very confusing."

He said the DOE refuses to consider recent federal reports that call for a mission that could be met by the reactor.

However, he remained hopeful the reactor can be restarted.

"There is every basis for us to press the case," he said.

The citizens group and other FFTF advocates believe the reactor has several missions, including providing medical isotopes to fight cancer and as a test platform for the next generation of nuclear reactors.

At the reactor, Department of Energy contractors continue work on deactivating and decommissioning. DOE is hoping to completely shut down the reactor by 2012.

The Clinton and Bush administrations each turned away requests to restart the reactor.