The Utilitarian Approach To The Disposition Of Plutonium

Abstract

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report [1] on the management and disposition of weapon-grade plutonium makes a number of valid observations and recommendations. Among the observations are that: (1) weapon plutonium presents a “clear and present danger” and (2) there is little advantage to annihilating weapon plutonium in view of the large amount of plutonium contained in spent fuel resulting from operation of today’s nuclear power plants. The latter observation led to a two-part recommendation that begins with conversion of weapon plutonium into a form that is similar to that of plutonium in spent fuel. NAS refers to this step as meeting the “spentfuel standard” and considers it to be a sufficient first step in disposition of excess weapon plutonium. The second part of the recommendation is that attention must subsequently be given to the proliferation risks associated with the much greater, and growing, amount of plutonium contained in the world’s nuclear spent fuel. This risk arises from the fact that technology for separating plutonium from spent fuel is well known and radiation barriers decay with time. We direct our attention here to the second step, but it also resolves the first step.