Abstract
The following proposal is made to reduce significantly the proliferation incentive of excess weapons plutonium by mixing it with a comparable amount of separated reactor-grade plutonium. Degrading weapons plutonium by changing the isotopic composition will make the construction of nuclear weapons more difficult. It would not preclude any of the long-term disposal options under discussion (MOX or immobilization). This proposal would improve the present procedure for safeguarded storage because it could be implemented faster than any of the other options presently discussed. The immobilization option would benefit from this approach because it could then be applied to (nearly) reactor-grade and not to weapons-grade material. In particular, the simple reconstruction of dismantled weapons would be impossible because the degraded material could not be used in existing weapon designs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Committee on International Security and Arms Control (1994) Management and disposition of excess weapons plutonium. Technical report, National Academy of Sciences, Washington.
GRS, Minatom, and SIEMENS (1994) Technische Studie über die Produktion von Uran-Plutonium-Brennstoff aus waffengrädigem Plutonium und über die Moglichkeiten seines Einsatzes in der Kernenergiewirtschaft. Technical report, Gesellschaft für Reaktorsicherheit and Minatom, Hanau and Moscow.
Panofsky, W. K. H. and Soergel, V. (1995) U.S.-German cooperation in the elimination of excess weapons plutonium. Technical report, German American Council and U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C..
Moore, M. (March/April 1997) Plutonium: The disposal decision. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 53(3), 40ff..
De Volpi, A. (1979) Proliferation Plutonium and Policy. Pergamon Press, New York.
Farrington, L. M. and Broome, P. E. (1997) Nuclear criticality safety aspects of the utilization of weapons-grade plutonium in MOX fuel using current BNFL technology. In Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Safety Issues Associated with Plutonium Involvement in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Volga ‘87). Moscow, September 2–6.
Kankeleit, E., Küppers, C. and Imkeller, U. (1989) Bericht zur Waffentauglichkeit von Reaktorplutonium. IANUS-Working Paper 1/1989 (Extended Report for the expert hearing “Dangers of Spread of Nuclear Weapons” by the Hessian Landtag on 15.6.84.), Darmstadt. An English version is available. Translation prepared by the translation service of the University of Berkeley, California.
Mark, J. C. (1993) Explosive properties of reactor-grade plutonium. Science & Global Security, 4(1), 111.
Barleon, L., von Ehrenstein, D., Hahn, L. and Kankeleit, E. (1992) Zivile Nutzung der Kernenergie und ihre Proliferationsrisiken. In C. Eisenbart and D. von Ehrenstein, editors, Nichtverbreitung von Nuklearwaffen - Krise eines & Konzepts, Reihe A der Texte und Materialien der FEST, pages 257–302. Forschungsstätte der evangelischen Studiengemeinschaft, Heidelberg, 2nd edition.
IAEA-Staff (1993) Against the spread of nuclear weapons: IAEA safeguards in the 1990s. Brochure published by IAEA’s Division of Public Information, Vienna, December.
Mohrhauer, H. (August/September 1995) Entwicklung bei der Uran-Anreicherung. Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik, 40(8/9), 537–541.
Taube, M. (1974) Plutonium. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim/Bergstr..
Albright, D., Berkhout, F. and Walker, W. (1997) Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996. Oxford University Press, Oxford, Stockholm.
Nelson, W.E. (1977) The Homemade Nuclear Bomb Syndrome. PhD thesis, University of Missouri, Columbia. Cited according to [7].
Fetter, S., Prilutskii, F. and Rodionov, S. N. (1989) Passive detection of nuclear warheads. In J. Altmann and J. Rotblat, editors, Verification of Arms Reductions, page 48. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Homberg, F., Pavageau, M. and Schneider, M. (December 1994) COGEMA-La Hague: Les Techniques de Production de Dechéts. Rapport réalise pour Greenpeace, World Information Service on Energy (WISE), Paris.
Schneider, M. (1997) Die deutsch-französische Atomfreundschaft. In W. Liebert and F. Schmithals, editors, Tschernobyl und kein Ende 4, pages 197–208, Münster. agenda Verlag.
Gelfort, E. and Krüger, F. W. (April 1997) Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen in Russland. Atomwirtschaft - Atomtechnik, 42(4), 255.
Miller, M. and von Hippel, F. (July/August 1997) Let’s reprocess the MOX plan. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 53(5), 15–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reimers, R., Von Ehrenstein, D. (1999). Reducing the Proliferation Risk of Weapons Plutonium by Mixing with Reactor-Grade Plutonium. In: Parish, T.A., Khromov, V.V., Carron, I. (eds) Safety Issues Associated with Plutonium Involvement in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. NATO Science Series, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4591-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4591-6_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-5593-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4591-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive