The plutonium business and the spread of the bomb

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold , hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Walter C. Patterson was born in Canada in 1936. He took a postgraduate degree in nuclear physics at the University of Manitoba. In 1960 he moved to Britain, where he became involved in environmental issues. He joined the staff of Friends of the Earth in London in 1972, was their energy specialist until 1978 and was their lead witness at the Windscale Inquiry. Since 1978 he has been an independent commentator and consultant, dealing with energy and nuclear policy issues. He is energy consultant to Friends of the Earth, and was a witness at the Sizewell Inquiry. He is a regular contributor to a number of publications, including New Scientist and The Guardian, and he also appears on radio and television. He is an editorial advisor to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. For Perdy and Tabby, in hope that they never need to read it 2 Contents (page numbers in original 1984 text, included here for convenience) Preface vii Foreword ix Introduction: the plutonium rush xi 1 The plutonium people 3 2 Separating plutonium: the origins of reprocessing 8 3 Burning plutonium: the origins of the fast breeder reactor 15 4 Plutonium international 23 5 Reprocessing for peace 37 6 Breeding dismay and enthusiasm 53 7 Reprocessors, civil and otherwise 68 8 Explosion of concern 73 9 Pokharan and after 83 10 Proliferation comes to Washington 89 11 Thy neighbour's plutonium 95 12 Enter Carter 105 13 Carter speaks out-and back 109 14 International fission 115 15 Plutonium and the public 121 16 I reprocess, you reprocess, he reprocesses 131 Part III: Plutonium addiction: curable or terminal?-1980 and after 17 Reagan restores the faith 147 18 Piling up plutonium 156 19 Plugging in plutonium 173 20 Bad business 184 The plutonium business: what now? 193 Appendices 201 Bibliography 247 Notes …