3 ms·
It's not an all-or-nothing issue. Every single reactor that produces weapons-grade material increases the risk. Because it's not just state actors you need to
by brazzy 5y ago
It's not an all-or-nothing issue. Every single reactor that produces weapons-grade material increases the risk.
Because it's not just state actors you need to be worried about. A gun-type fission bomb is simple enough for a well-funded terrorist group to construct from scratch - if they can obtain enough enriched Uranium.
- philipkglass 5y agoThere are currently no commercial power reactors that use highly enriched uranium. A terrorist group that stole a trainload of fresh fuel for one of today's power reactors would be unable to make a bomb from it. Fast spectrum reactors require a larger core inventory of fuel and higher concentrations of fissile material within the fuel. That makes fuel diversion more dangerous with fast reactors. Presumably that's why people interested in fast reactors are trying to improve their proliferation resistance, to bring it in line with what's considered acceptable today. As a side note, purely technical measures cannot render reactor designs proliferation-proof against rogue governments that might repurpose reactors to make weapons. At best you get some warning from breach of anti-proliferation measures so other countries know when legal/diplomatic countermeasures become warranted.