I asked a pro-nuclear blogger, WeSupportLee, to address nuclear proliferation issues.
She looks at a program that converts Russian military weapons material to commercial power reactor fuels (Americans think that it’s just cheaper to throw away the weapons materials, but another solution needed to be found for what Russians consider a resource). Also discussed are shifting research reactor fuel away from highly enriched uranium and proliferation-resistant fuel for nuclear power.
However, TVA commercial power reactors are involved in maintenance of US nuclear weapons—creating tritium (hydrogen with 2 neutrons) to replace the tritium that decays at a rate of 5.5%/year. This blurs the line between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and many pro-nuclear power, anti-nuclear weapons people want TVA to discontinue this project.
Check out WeSupportLee for her take on other topics, mostly climate change, North Carolina events, and the Prius. I appreciate her work: reliable, methodical, and no wasted time defending dumb comments: “Climate change isn’t happening and nuclear power is the best way to address climate change.”
I will begin addressing proliferation issues by summarizing two chapters in David Bodansky’s Nuclear Energy (second edition) over several posts. Bodansky (professor at University of Washington) has written an excellent and readable book on nuclear power. I also want to describe my trip to the Friends Meeting in Visalia, CA, to participate in their climate change retreat. Good work Visalia!
Let me know if you have particular proliferation issues you would like to see addressed. I am not an expert, but will try to find answers.
