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by leonidasrup
61 days ago
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Precisely because fusion reactor could be used for plutonium breeding they will be subject to the same controls and political pressures as fission power plants. Operation of all fission power plants, outside of countries with nuclear weapons, is subject to very strict controls by International Atomic Energy Agency, which reports to United Nations Security Council. Also because each civilian nuclear power reactor breeds enough plutonium to produce multiple nuclear weapons each year, spent nuclear fuel is subject to the same very strict controls. (I know the the isotopic composition of this plutonium is miserable for weapon production, but nuclear weapons using reactor-grade plutonium have been build and tested). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactor-grade_plutonium I don't know any thermonuclear weapon using highly enriched uranium. Highly enriched uranium is used only in few designs of nuclear weapons: nuclear weapons which you build when you don't have access to weapon grade plutonium, or nuclear weapons which have to survive strong external shocks - nuclear bunker busters. Plutonium Pu-239 based nuclear weapons are physically smaller and lighter, easier to place into missile nose cone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_design |
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When I said "highly enriched fissile" I meant that to include plutonium. Weapons generally use Pu239, while nuclear waste plutonium is 58% Pu239 mixed with other isotopes, plus of course a lot of U238 and various transuranics.
There is one area where fusion reactors are clearly being treated differently, and that's by regulators such as the NRC, which has already decided to treat fusion reactors like particle accelerators and medical devices, rather than with the much more difficult process they use for fission reactors.