Proliferation in Europe: Sizing up the threat
Since the dawn of the atomic age, the world has lived with the ominous threat that unstable and even diabolical forces could steal fissile materials or technology and build a nuclear bomb. That possibility has always evoked a visceral though somewhat abstract fear in the mind of the public. However, recent developments have thrust those fears into glaring reality. Keeping track of plutonium and other fissile materials is a monumental job. By the end of 1992 spent oxide fuel with more than 17,000 tonnes of heavy metal had been shipped from European nuclear power plants to European reprocessing plants. Of this spent fuel, considerable amounts of plutonium had been recovered and shipped to fuel fabrication facilities in Belgium, France and Germany, where they had been manufactured into plutonium-bearing fuel [fast breeder fuel or MOX fuel for thermal recycling]. Thus, plutonium has been transported in various forms via road, rail, sea and even in Europe and overseas. This article examines proliferation in Europe and its effect so far on the nuclear industry.
- OSTI ID:
- 7192348
- Journal Information:
- NUKEM Market Report; (United States), Journal Name: NUKEM Market Report; (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
PLUTONIUM
PROLIFERATION
SAFEGUARDS
EUROPE
NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
NUCLEAR MATERIALS DIVERSION
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
SPENT FUELS
ACTINIDES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
REACTOR MATERIALS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
055000* - Nuclear Fuels- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability