Publication Laka-library:
Plutonium 85 (1986)
| Author | J.Harding, W.Patterson |
| Date | 1986 |
| Classification | 6.01.2.55/05 (PLUTONIUM - GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Preface Plutonium Now The nuclear reactor was invented to produce plutonium. All other applications of nuclear reactors came later. The first reactors were built to study the "chain reaction" in uranium, and to use the neutrons from the chain reaction to convert uranium into plutonium for use in atomic bombs. The heat also released was at the outset more of a problem than an asset. In 1985, the position is reversed. The heat from chain reactions is powering hundreds of electric generating sets in nuclear plants in many countries. But the chain reactions are also producing plutonium- some 40 tonnes of it per year worldwide, enough for at least 4,000 atomic bombs. For more than three decades official nuclear policies have proclaimed that this "civil" plutonium is itself a valuable fuel, a bonus to be credited to the nuclear power plants. Skeptics have long questioned this claim. Now, in 1985, it has become patently indefensible. Plutonium-fueled electricity has proved to be both prohibitively expensive and unnecessary. But the plutonium is still pouring out of the power stations. What is to become of it? What is to become of the long-standing official nuclear policies centered on the production and use of plutonium-fueled systems for electric power? What, above all, is to became of plutonium research and development in those countries that may be more interested in using plutonium for its original purpose -- atomic bombs?
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