Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
use a repository that needs
to be secure for only
years or so. If it does not, go down the once-
through and geological repository route.
It is clear to all who have looked at waste disposal that it
is a political problem in the United States, not a technical
one. To repeat what was said at the beginning of this
section about spent fuel, love it or hate it we will have at
least
tons of it today, and if the
existing reactors run for their licensed lifetimes we will
have
tons of it:
tons more. Put it away, please.
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
.
Limiting the spread of nuclear weapons is a vital goal of
the world community. There are three ways to get a
nuclear weapon: build one, buy one, or steal one. So far,
only the
first method has been used. Since you can only
buy or steal a weapon from states that already have them,
the security of their weapons storage sites is the issue, not
the expansion of nuclear-energy programs. The United
States has spent lots of money helping the pieces of the
former Soviet Union secure their weapons and weapons-
grade materials, but that is another story, and buying or
stealing an already-working weapon will not be discussed
further.
Historically most of the nuclear-power industry has
been concentrated in Europe, Japan, Russia, and the
United States. Today, however, many new countries
(China, India, South Korea, Iran, and many others) are
Parts of this section
first appeared in an article by me in the Fall
issue of a magazine of the National Academy of Sciences [
].
