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Maybe just stop building nuclear weapons!? The last thing the world needs is more of this shit.

p_l 4y ago
The kind of operation involved in PF-4 isn't only for manufacturing nuclear weapons, but also all kind of scientific works as well as dismantling warheads or turning plutonium into fuel for peaceful use.
femto113 4y ago
LANL's plutonium facility is also the only place that can safely dismantle the nuclear weapons that already exist.
phdelightful 4y ago
Nice idea, but our current world except without US nukes is a much worse world. We’re sort of stuck in a local minimum of nuclear weapon danger for the time being. Also I think the main accident in the article was during research into converting enriched uranium for civilian use.
midoridensha 4y ago
That would be great, but only if you could get everyone else in the world to also stop and destroy the ones they have.
sbaiddn 4y ago
If we had a magic wand to make them disappear, Id wave it. And as more countries get it, 10 and counting, we're guaranteed to have an exchange at some point. The exchange will at best break the taboo on using nuclear weapons. Or it could lead to a global exchange. And it only makes sense to get acquire them. Not getting them, or giving up a nuclear project, is dumb geopolitics. But we dont have a magic wand. So should the US (or any large power) unilaterally give them up? Of course not! Thats incredibly stupid because the other super power would trample on you. Should the super powers agree to give them up? It was tried, it failed miserably. Besides, you cant get the top N nuclear powers to give them up because then the N+1 power now is the world's eminent super power. Even if you got all ten to agree to give them up, nukes aren't that hard for a semi modern state to acquire. Pakistan and N. Korea have them! 1970s India acquired them. That an eleventh country (out of the 50-60 or so that could build one) will acquire them is basically guaranteed. The list of countries that are turn key capable or renounced a probably successful program is very long. So no. We're stuck with them. And we'll probably end the world because of them. On the bright side, global warming is a much smaller concern once you accept this.
iancmceachern 4y ago
At the very least it seems like we don't deserve them anymore. We can't even follow simple safety procedures to keep thr raw plutonium safe, how do we expect we can be safe with the warheads?
saboot 4y ago
The issue is that Russia, China, and North Korea would all agree. Except they would say "Let the US go first".
hit8run 4y ago
Be the change you want to see.

p_l 4y ago

The kind of operation involved in PF-4 isn't only for manufacturing nuclear weapons, but also all kind of scientific works as well as dismantling warheads or turning plutonium into fuel for peaceful use.

femto113 4y ago

LANL's plutonium facility is also the only place that can safely dismantle the nuclear weapons that already exist.

phdelightful 4y ago

Nice idea, but our current world except without US nukes is a much worse world. We’re sort of stuck in a local minimum of nuclear weapon danger for the time being. Also I think the main accident in the article was during research into converting enriched uranium for civilian use.

midoridensha 4y ago

That would be great, but only if you could get everyone else in the world to also stop and destroy the ones they have.

sbaiddn 4y ago

If we had a magic wand to make them disappear, Id wave it. And as more countries get it, 10 and counting, we're guaranteed to have an exchange at some point. The exchange will at best break the taboo on using nuclear weapons. Or it could lead to a global exchange. And it only makes sense to get acquire them. Not getting them, or giving up a nuclear project, is dumb geopolitics. But we dont have a magic wand. So should the US (or any large power) unilaterally give them up? Of course not! Thats incredibly stupid because the other super power would trample on you. Should the super powers agree to give them up? It was tried, it failed miserably. Besides, you cant get the top N nuclear powers to give them up because then the N+1 power now is the world's eminent super power. Even if you got all ten to agree to give them up, nukes aren't that hard for a semi modern state to acquire. Pakistan and N. Korea have them! 1970s India acquired them. That an eleventh country (out of the 50-60 or so that could build one) will acquire them is basically guaranteed. The list of countries that are turn key capable or renounced a probably successful program is very long. So no. We're stuck with them. And we'll probably end the world because of them. On the bright side, global warming is a much smaller concern once you accept this.

iancmceachern 4y ago

At the very least it seems like we don't deserve them anymore. We can't even follow simple safety procedures to keep thr raw plutonium safe, how do we expect we can be safe with the warheads?

saboot 4y ago

The issue is that Russia, China, and North Korea would all agree. Except they would say "Let the US go first".

hit8run 4y ago

Be the change you want to see.