Keeping the peaceful atom from raising the risk of war. Third of four articles

Journal Article · Mon Apr 09 04:00:00 EST 1979 · Fortune; (United States)

OSTI ID:6267605

Faltermayer, E

Many opponents of nuclear power contend that by the end of the century worldwide expansion of peaceful atomic energy will lead to the spread of nuclear weaponry among small nations and terrorists. Champions of fission power, though, say terrorists would have a tough time fashioning a bomb from commercial nuclear fuel, but that national governments might use civil atomic power as a shortcut to atomic weapons. It is not easy to divert fuel under the present system of international surveillance, but some proposed new safeguards could make it much harder. The world has about ten years in which to adopt such safeguards. Countries without reactors have one of two technical hurdles to surmount to convert commercial reactor fuel to bombs--converting the uranium in new, unburned reactor fuel to bomb material and extracting bomb material from spent commercial fuel. President Carter in deferring indefinitely the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel hoped to set an example that other countries would follow. It has not deterred France, Britain, and West Germany from proceeding with construction of their own reprocessing plants, nor lessened their enthusiasm for breeder reactors. Terrorists compared to governments are considered to be a smaller threat of potential diverters of nuclear fuel for bombs. Many experts are convinced that new political arrangements must be supplemented with technical fixes and the most interesting proposals involve the denaturing or spiking of commercial reactor fuel. Proposals made by Princeton's Program on Nuclear Policy Alternatives, EPRI, Britain's Atomic Energy Authority, and Allied Chemical are discussed briefly.

• OSTI ID: 6267605
• Journal Information: Fortune; (United States), Journal Name: Fortune; (United States) Vol. 99:7; ISSN FORTA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
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