[I want to address Mark B.'s new, it seems, adherence to de-development separately.]
I wanted to respond to the "nuclear energy equals nuclear WMD" urban legend(s). There IS a connection between civilian nuclear energy and nuclear weapons bit is not what anyone thinks on this list. The only country I'm aware of that can tied commercial (civilian) nuclear reactor waste (hereafter called "SNF" or Spent Nuclear Fuel) is in India. The very first bomb they tested seemingly had plutonium or U235 from a civilian research reactor that was set up in the 1960s. There are no nuclear fission weapons made from SNF...whatsoever. Why? Because it is so damn expensive to do this. It is FAR easier to enrich U235 from the ore to the needed 95% enrichment or, as is now the case, building a pile around which depleted uranium or unenriched Uranium fuel is scattered about to build up plutonium than it is to do so from SNF. Which is why no one does it. Anywhere. There is no magical process that once a country becomes proficient in nuclear energy that they therefore will evolve into making nuclear WMD. 1. Building a nuclear weapon is 100% a function of policy. If a country wants to make nuclear WMD they will set out to do so. Inhibiting the peaceful use of nuclear energy doesn't stop a country from developing nuclear weapons. Change the policy, change the prospects of building WMD. That should always be the focus for the socialist left and peace activists. 2. There are dozens of countries now developing civilian nuclear energy that have not, and likely will no, develop nuclear WMD. 3. Nuclear energy helps bury fossil fuel energy production so should be encouraged. 4. We should introduce the planetary "Megatons-to-Megawatts" program for conversion of all nuclear WMD into nuclear fuel for reactors. The successful program under the Clinton Administration which converted tons of older ex-Soviet nuclear weapons into brand spank'n new fuel for U.S. reactors in the 90s and 2000s should be set up again, but on steroids. Fully 10% of the U.S. generation in this period was fueled by ex-soviet WMD (20% then of all generation was from nuclear energy). It was a great program and should be repeated. Connections. I think I presented a popping of the balloon about the colloquial methodology about the connection between SNF and WMD, above. But there are connections. I will present them below. 1. In some countries (France, UK, Russia, US) with nuclear naval infrastructure (Subs, aircraft carriers) the personnel who leave the nuclear navies of the world are sought after as nuclear power plant operators and nuclear maintenance personnel the world over. 2. Engineering & Operations. A broad category that includes atomic physicists, health physicists, operations specialists, structural and civil engineering. There is a large cross over between personnel in the all fields of engineering and especially nuclear engineering and those that choose the dark side of going into nuclear defense engineering. It is these human resources that such a relationship between the civilian and military side is most important. It is the same with all jet engine engineers who can work on both military air assets and civilian craft. The same is true in the maritime industry. This is singularly the most important connection. The connection, however, is not a two way street. It generally goes from military personnel into civilian nuclear engineering and operations not the other way around. 3. Fuel enrichment. So...countries who want to adopt a policy of weapons of mass destruction will...do so. They have two ways. One is build "research & development" reactors to make weapons grade plutonium. These are cheaper to do than the more well know method of enrichment, which means taking uranium ore at .7% U235 and enriching it up to over 90% U235. The former route is what the North Koreans did (without a civilian nuclear program) and the later is what the Iranians are doing with their thousands of very expensive centrifuges. Instead of stopping at 4% enrichment which is what is used in commercial nuclear plants (they have 2 online and are going to build at least 20 more) they can keep going over 20% (the limit for "low enriched uranium") to over 90% (the minimum needed to make a bomb go boom and is known as "highly enriched uranium"). It is very possible the Iranians are using both methods. All enrichment in the civilian market are monitored. In the us this is done by either the Dept. of Energy (for nuclear weapons) or the NRC (for civilian use). Internationally it is done by the International Atomic Energy Commission. Above all, acquiring nuclear WMD is, to repeat, a political decision , and it is not something taken lightly by anyone. David -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#35287): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/35287 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/111104123/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
