A German Reaction to U.S. Nonproliferation Policy

Abstract

A s an aid in understanding the views of a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on U.S. nonproliferation policy, it is useful at the outset to review the energy situation in the FRG, which in many respects is representative of the situation in other European countries. Nuclear energy plays an important part in this country's endeavors to reduce dependence on oil imports, to diversify sources of supply, and to generate electrical power as economically as possible. Two constraints apply: (1) because the FRG has no significant uranium resources at its disposal but is fully dependent upon imports from non-European countries, it must use reactor systems and fuel cycles permitting maximum utilization of fuel; and (2) the disposal of power plant waste, including spent fuel assemblies, must be effected in a permanent and environmentally acceptable manner. The Government, public opinion, and the courts are making their approval of further development of nuclear energy conditional on a satisfactory long-term solution to the waste management problem. This solution, which also satisfies the first of the above constraints, consists of closing the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle by reprocessing the spent fuel assemblies and manufacturing new mixed oxide fuel assemblies for use in light water or fast breeder reactors; that is, the deliberate development of a plutonium economy.1 The German nuclear fuel cycle center, which is in the project planning stage, will satisfy both of the constraints mentioned above and will also do much to serve the aims of nonproliferation. As all systems are concentrated at one site, the transportation of nuclear fuels is minimized; since the plutonium made available by reprocessing is immediately made up into new fuel assemblies, the amount of free, explosive-grade fissile material is kept as small as possible; by recycling into reactors, the plutonium is conveyed to safe and well-protected locations where it is transformed into non-fissile material by nuclear fission; and international surveillance of the nuclear fuel center will ensure timely discovery of any plutonium diversion. Nuclear energy is also one of the Federal Republic's crucial exports. Even in the fossil-fueled sector, the German electrical industry is highly dependent upon exports in order to ensure the full utilization of its engineering and manufacturing