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ARTICLE ARCHIVE

Reprocessing

Reprocessing - the chemical separation of uranium and plutonium from irradiated reactor fuel - is arguably the most dangerous and dirty phase of the nuclear fuel chain. Reprocessing generates huge waste streams with no management solution and isolates plutonium, the fissile component of a nuclear weapon. Countries such as England and France, where reprocessing has been carried out for decades, face a legacy of contamination and an enormous plutonium surplus vulnerable to theft or attack.

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Entries from March 1, 2014 - March 31, 2014

Monday
Mar312014

"Measured Progress on Nuclear Security," or a "World Awash in Nuclear Explosive"?

The Nuclear Genie, as depicted in Walt Disney's 1950s pro-nuclear propaganda book "Our Friend the Atom"The New York Times editorial board has cited "Measured Progress on Nuclear Security," given Japan's pledge to turn over a small fraction of its potentially weapons-usable plutonium and highly enriched uranium to the U.S. for "disposal."

But as the Center for Public Integrity and Truthout have warned in an article by Douglas Birch and R. Jeffrey Smith entitled "The World Awash in Nuclear Explosive?", we have a frighteningly long way to go in our attempts to put the nuclear weapons proliferation genie back in the bottle.

Ironically enough, as NRDC's Tom Cochran warns, Japan's impending opening of the Rokkasho commercial irradiated nuclear fuel reprocessing plant could set the stage for catastrophic nuclear weapons proliferation.

DateMarch 31, 2014 | Print ArticlePrint Article | |