4 ms·

One interesting thing most people don’t think about is if you want to get rid of all nuclear bombs, what do you do with the existing materials? Sure, you could

One interesting thing most people don’t think about is if you want to get rid of all nuclear bombs, what do you do with the existing materials? Sure, you could bury it in by ground, but what else? The most successful deproliferation program has been Megatons to Megawatts[0]. Where they took warheads and converted the material into nuclear reactor fuel. It’s not just more efficient but has other advantages like in helping strengthen belief in decommissioning. If you toss it into a secret mountain it’s hard to know how much was actually stored. But burning fuel is measurable and so is the enrichment process, so it’s noticeable when a country is making weapons vs fuel (there’s a lot more nuance to this, but this is even part of the compromises made in The Iran Deal. This is a HN comment do not enough but maybe AcidburnNSA will show up and fill in the details). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program Side note: it is fucking 2024, why am I still removing the m from the URL for Wikipedia and you can’t figure out if I’m on desktop or mobile, like every site does

cyberax 2y ago
Plutonium can be burned in existing reactors ("mixed-oxide fuel"). At one time, almost 20% of the US electricity production was powered by Russian nukes.
- philipkglass 2y ago
  The US didn't use MOX fuel in its power reactors, though. The Megatons to Megawatts program with Russia used highly enriched uranium that was surplus from Russian weapons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program The US had hoped to dispose of its own weapons grade plutonium surplus via MOX fuel for power reactors, but the project was shut down in 2018 after running late and over budget: https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-MOX-facility-contract-terminated https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-MOX-facility-cont... Work started on the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in 2007, with a 2016 start-up envisaged. Although based on France's Melox MOX facility, the US project has presented many first-of-a-kind challenges and in 2012 the US Government Accountability Office suggested it would likely not start up before 2019 and cost at least USD7.7 billion, far above original estimate of USD4.9 billion.
  - cyberax 2y ago
    D'oh. Yep, it was re-diluted uranium. MOX fuel is used by Europeans, though.

cyberax 2y ago

Plutonium can be burned in existing reactors ("mixed-oxide fuel"). At one time, almost 20% of the US electricity production was powered by Russian nukes.

philipkglass 2y ago
The US didn't use MOX fuel in its power reactors, though. The Megatons to Megawatts program with Russia used highly enriched uranium that was surplus from Russian weapons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program The US had hoped to dispose of its own weapons grade plutonium surplus via MOX fuel for power reactors, but the project was shut down in 2018 after running late and over budget: https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-MOX-facility-contract-terminated https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-MOX-facility-cont... Work started on the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in 2007, with a 2016 start-up envisaged. Although based on France's Melox MOX facility, the US project has presented many first-of-a-kind challenges and in 2012 the US Government Accountability Office suggested it would likely not start up before 2019 and cost at least USD7.7 billion, far above original estimate of USD4.9 billion.
- cyberax 2y ago
  D'oh. Yep, it was re-diluted uranium. MOX fuel is used by Europeans, though.