Nuclear Disarmament and Peaceful Nuclear Technology — Can We Have Both?

Abstract

Can nuclear disarmament reduce the risks of nuclear war sufficiently to be acceptable to most people in a world in which use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes continue to flourish? My short answer is: perhaps. The nuclear materials needed for making nuclear weapons are automatically produced, or used as fuel, or both, in all types of fission reactors, whether for military or for peaceful purposes. Plants for producing the low-enrichment uranium used as fuel in most of the world’s nuclear power plants can quickly be modified to make highly-enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Successful development of economical thermonuclear power will provide the technological means for producing nuclear weapon materials at low cost. The reason is that the relevant thermonuclear reactions yield copious quantities of neutrons that could be captured in ordinary uranium to produce plutonium. Furthermore the non-nuclear materials and equipment needed to make nuclear weapons are accessible world-wide.