Download or read book Disposal of Weapon Plutonium written by E.R. Merz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1995-12-31 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Disposal of Weapons Plutonium is a follow-up event to two preceding workshops, each dealing with a special subject within the overall disarmament issue: "Disposition of Weapon Plutonium", sponsored by the NATO Science Committee. The first workshop of this series was held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on 24-25 January 1994, entitled "Managing the Plutonium Surplus, Applications, and Options". Its over all goal was to clarify the current situation with respect to pluto nium characteristics and availability, the technical options for use or disposal, and their main technical, environmental, and economic constraints. In the immediate term, plutonium recovered from dismantled nuclear warheads will have to be stored securely, and under international safeguards if possible. In the intermediate term, the principal alter natives for disposition of this plutonium are: irradiation in mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies in existing commercial light-water reac tors or in specially adapted light-water reactors capable of operation with full cores of MOX fuel .and irradiation in future fast reactors. Another option is to blend plutonium with high-level waste as it is vitrified for final disposal in a geologic repository. In both cases, the high radioactivity of the resulting products provides "self shielding" and prevents separation of plutonium without already developed and available sophisticated technology. The so-called "spent fuel standard" as an effective protection barrier is - quired in either case.
Download or read book Disposing of Weapons grade Plutonium written by CSIS Senior Policy Panel on the Safe, Timely, and Effective Disposition of Surplus U.S. and Russian Weapons-Grade Plutonium and published by CSIS. This book was released on 1998 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Regaining Security written by William J. Weida and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-12 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1997, this volume observes that of all the materials, systems and facilities that designed and operated nuclear weapons, the most readily available assets for reuse are often identified as the highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium from warheads. However, proliferation concerns the reuse of much of this material unlikely. This book explores the economic issues surrounding the major expenditures facing the US as it attempts to dispose of weapon-grade nuclear materials in a proliferation-resistant manner. The book discusses the economic values of plutonium and HEU, the economic nature of the nuclear industry, reprocessing and operations costs, the economics of ‘burning’ plutonium to generate electrical power, the economics of down-blending and ‘burning’ HEU, military conversion as a rationale for selecting plutonium disposition options, the economics of transmutation, and the economics of other proposals ranging from monitored surface storage to vitrification. The book concludes by identifying the major cost drivers affecting all disposition options.
Download or read book Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1994-02-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the next decade, many thousands of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons are slated to be retired as a result of nuclear arms reduction treaties and unilateral pledges. A hundred tons or more of plutonium and tons of highly enriched uranium will no longer be needed. The management and disposition of these fissile materials, the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons, pose urgent challenges for international security. This book offers recommendations for all phases of the problem, from dismantlement of excess warheads, through intermediate storage of the fissle materials they contain, to ultimate disposition of the plutonium.
Download or read book Review of the Department of Energy s Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued an Interim Report evaluating the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. It provided a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focused on some of the barriers to their implementation. This final report addresses the remaining issues and echoes the recommendations from the interim study.
Download or read book Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-12-30 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report evaluates the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This report evaluates DOE-NNSA's plans to ship, receive, and emplace surplus plutonium in WIPP and its understanding of the impacts of these plans on WIPP and WIPP-bound waste streams. This report, the first of two to be issued during this study, provides a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focusing on some of the barriers to their implementation.
Download or read book Dismantling the Bomb and Managing the Nuclear Materials written by United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1994 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts have been investigating how to use, control, or dispose of nuclear materials -- plutonium & highly enriched uranium -- that are recovered from dismantled warheads & could pose long-term environmental, safety, & health risks. This report analyzes the current programs & policies & evaluates the prospects for future success. Policy initiatives were presented: a national dismantlement policy; strengthening Dept. of Energy management; nuclear materials storage, & disposition; a new materials management organization; information access; & cooperation with Russia.
Download or read book Plutonium Disposition written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has pledged to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium. The current U.S. approach relies on disposing of the plutonium by irradiating it as MOX fuel-a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides-in modified commercial nuclear reactors. Due to a significant rise in cost, DOE recently proposed terminating the MOX approach in favor of the dilute and dispose approach, which DOE stated may be less expensive. Under this approach, plutonium would be diluted with inert material and then disposed of in a geologic repository. GAO was asked to review DOE's planning for both the MOX and dilute and dispose approaches. This report examines: (1) the extent to which DOE's revised cost estimates for completing the construction of the MOX facility and for completing the overall Plutonium Disposition Program met best practices, (2) the status of NNSA's development of a life-cycle cost estimate for the dilute and dispose approach, and (3) the extent to which DOE has sufficient disposal space and statutory capacity at WIPP to dispose of all defense TRU waste, including waste from the dilute and dispose approach. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed DOE and NNSA officials, including officials from five major waste-generating sites.
Download or read book Disposing of Plutonium in Russia written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Atomic Audit written by Stephen I. Schwartz and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 750 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1945, the United States has manufactured and deployed more than 70,000 nuclear weapons to deter and if necessary fight a nuclear war. Some observers believe the absence of a third world war confirms that these weapons were a prudent and cost-effective response to the uncertainty and fear surrounding the Soviet Union's military and political ambitions during the cold war. As early as 1950, nuclear weapons were considered relatively inexpensive— providing "a bigger bang for a buck"—and were thoroughly integrated into U.S. forces on that basis. Yet this assumption was never validated. Indeed, for more than fifty years scant attention has been paid to the enormous costs of this effort—more than $5 trillion thus far—and its short and long-term consequences for the nation. Based on four years of extensive research, Atomic Audit is the first book to document the comprehensive costs of U.S. nuclear weapons, assembling for the first time anywhere the actual and estimated expenditures for the program since its creation in 1940. The authors provide a unique perspective on U.S. nuclear policy and nuclear weapons, tracking their development from the Manhattan Project of World War II to the present day and assessing each aspect of the program, including research, development, testing, and production; deployment; command, control, communications, and intelligence; and defensive measures. They also examine the costs of dismantling nuclear weapons, the management and disposal of large quantities of toxic and radioactive wastes left over from their production, compensation for persons harmed by nuclear weapons activities, nuclear secrecy, and the economic implications of nuclear deterrence. Utilizing archival and newly declassified government documents and data, this richly documented book demonstrates how a variety of factors—the open-ended nature of nuclear deterrence, faulty assumptions about the cost-effectiveness of nuclear weapons, regular misrepresentati
Download or read book Nuclear Materials written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Poisoning the Pacific written by Jon Mitchell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-10-12 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this devastating exposé, investigative journalist Jon Mitchell reveals the shocking toxic contamination of the Pacific Ocean and millions of victims by the US military. For decades, US military operations have been contaminating the Pacific region with toxic substances, including plutonium, dioxin, and VX nerve agent. Hundreds of thousands of service members, their families, and residents have been exposed—but the United States has hidden the damage and refused to help victims. After World War II, the United States granted immunity to Japanese military scientists in exchange for their data on biological weapons tests conducted in China; in the following years, nuclear detonations in the Pacific obliterated entire islands and exposed Americans, Marshallese, Chamorros, and Japanese fishing crews to radioactive fallout. At the same time, the United States experimented with biological weapons on Okinawa and stockpiled the island with nuclear and chemical munitions, causing numerous accidents. Meanwhile, the CIA orchestrated a campaign to introduce nuclear power to Japan—the folly of which became horrifyingly clear in the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture. Caught in a geopolitical grey zone, US territories have been among the worst affected by military contamination, including Guam, Saipan, and Johnston Island, the final disposal site of apocalyptic volumes of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Accompanying this damage, US authorities have waged a campaign of cover-ups, lies, and attacks on the media, which the author has experienced firsthand in the form of military surveillance and attempts by the State Department to impede his work. Now, for the first time, this explosive book reveals the horrific extent of contamination in the Pacific and the lengths the Pentagon will go to conceal it.
Download or read book Review of the Department of Energy s Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued an Interim Report evaluating the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. It provided a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focused on some of the barriers to their implementation. This final report addresses the remaining issues and echoes the recommendations from the interim study.
Download or read book Plutonium Disposition Program written by United States Government Accountability and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of the cold war left the United States with a surplus of weapons-grade plutonium. Much of this material is found in a key nuclear weapon component known as a pit. In 1997, DOE announced a plan to dispose of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium through an approach that included fabrication of plutonium into MOX fuel for use in domestic commercial nuclear reactors. In 2000, the United States and Russia entered into a Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement, in which each country pledged to dispose of at least 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium. Through a protocol to the agreement signed in 2010, the United States and Russia reaffirmed their commitment to dispose of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium as MOX fuel in nuclear reactors, and the agreement entered into force in 2011.
Download or read book Radioactive Waste Streams written by Anthony Andrews and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Radioactive waste (RW) is a byproduct of nuclear weapons production, commercial nuclear power generation, and the naval reactor program. RW byproducts also result from radioisotopes used for scientific, med., and industrial purposes. Contents of this report: Measurement of Radioactivity and Hazards of Radiation; Comparative Range of Radioactivity; Spent Nuclear Fuel; High-Level RW; Waste Incidental to Reprocessing; Transuranic Waste; Surplus Weapons-Usable Plutonium; Low-Level RW: Provisions for State Disposal Compacts; Low-Level RW Classification Tables; Mixed Low-Level RW and Haz. Waste; Depleted Uranium; Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring RW Material; Uranium Mill Tailings; RW Disposal Policy Issues. Illus.
Download or read book Nuclear Wastes written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-02-23 with total page 590 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production and power generation has caused public outcry and political consternation. Nuclear Wastes presents a critical review of some waste management and disposal alternatives to the current national policy of direct disposal of light water reactor spent fuel. The book offers clearcut conclusions for what the nation should do today and what solutions should be explored for tomorrow. The committee examines the currently used "once-through" fuel cycle versus different alternatives of separations and transmutation technology systems, by which hazardous radionuclides are converted to nuclides that are either stable or radioactive with short half-lives. The volume provides detailed findings and conclusions about the status and feasibility of plutonium extraction and more advanced separations technologies, as well as three principal transmutation concepts for commercial reactor spent fuel. The book discusses nuclear proliferation; the U.S. nuclear regulatory structure; issues of health, safety and transportation; the proposed sale of electrical energy as a means of paying for the transmutation system; and other key issues.
Download or read book Dismantling the Bomb and Managing the Nuclear Materials written by États-Unis. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1993 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
