Prof Harvey Rutt: Dr David Lowry (Letters, 5 April) presents a highly selective and misleading view of the recent Nuclear Threat Initiative report. Britain does indeed come bottom and below North Korea in the theft rankings – but on one aspect only: the number of sites and quality of material held. As a longtime nuclear weapon state and user of nuclear power, it is hardly surprising that we have a lot in quite a few places. Places like Australia and Argentina will inevitably “win” this category.
Guardian 6th April 2016 read more »
The US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has outlined its strategic plans for reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, including changes to the USA’s program to dispose of surplus military plutonium. In the report, the NNSA says the US administration’s proposal to pursue a “dilution and disposal” approach to plutonium disposition, instead of converting it into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for use in light water reactors, represents a significant change. The USA is required to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons grade plutonium under a weapons reduction agreement signed with Russia in June 2000, but President Barack Obama’s FY2017 budget submission proposes a “dilution and disposal” approach as enabling the material to be disposed of sooner, at lower cost and with lower technical risks than conversion to MOX.
World Nuclear News 6th April 2016 read more »