voices of humanity
re: 'Megatons to Megawatts': Turning Nuclear Arsenals into Carbon-Free Nuclear Electricity
sum
I'm not expert, Barbara, but I have been doing some reading and it appears the best solution for now is to downblend the bomb cores so the nuclear material is no longer weapons grade, and then to store it in highly blast proof containers and buildings where it can be guarded.
There is technology that might, just might, some day in the future after a lot of work on it, be able to burn the downblended material, reducing its radioactivity and producing enough power to pay for the process. One big question is whether this Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor technology can be proved safe enough. I've heard Helen Caldicott say it is a recipe for spewing plutonium across the countryside, and she may well be right.
There is technology that might, just might, some day in the future after a lot of work on it, be able to burn the downblended material, reducing its radioactivity and producing enough power to pay for the process. One big question is whether this Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor technology can be proved safe enough. I've heard Helen Caldicott say it is a recipe for spewing plutonium across the countryside, and she may well be right.
