Word: breeder
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Also in the works is a major expansion of the breeder reactor program, which has been stalled in the U.S. because of questions about reactor safety and concern over the breeder's role in the production-and proliferation-of plutonium, a highly toxic substance that can be used in weapons. The Soviets have a breeder reactor, which is used both to generate electricity and to desalinate water, on line at the Caspian Sea port of Shevchenko. They have a 600,000-kw breeder under construction near Beloyarsk in the Urals. They plan to build even more of these reactors...
...with deference toward his elders and respect for the traditions of the House," a commentator noticed. As for voting records, Krueger is a conservative. But Tower is a veritable neanderthal. In 1977, for example, the incumbent Senator voted for gas deregulation, deployment of the neutron bomb, development of nuclear breeder reactors, and multinational corporation subsidies through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He voted against just about everything else...
WEAPONS PROLIFERATION. Antinuclear forces charge that the spread of nuclear plants will accelerate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, particularly in unstable nations. Opponents are even more concerned that the introduction of breeder reactors, which produce more plutonium than they consume, could make it easier for terrorists to steal fissionable materials for do-it-yourself bombs. Finally, they charge that safeguarding nuclear materials would require the creation of a police state that would also mean the end of civil liberties...
...Senators were irritated by the Administration's tactics in getting the compromise approved. Specifically, Senator James McClure, an Idaho Republican, signed the conference report only after Energy Secretary James Schlesinger promised him that the Administration would support a $1.5 billion appropriation for the development of a fast breeder reactor on which most of the research would be done in Idaho. That deal angered Tennessee Senators Howard Baker and James Sasser, who support the Clinch River breeder reactor in their state-a project Carter has opposed. Oregon's Mark Hatfield and Arkansas' Dale Bumpers, who oppose any breeder...
Tsongas told the interviewer, however, that he opposes the breeder reactor because the radioactive plutonium it produces could be used by nations not now possessing nuclear capability to make nuclear weapons. The Congressman expressed the fear that the "breeder is slipping through Congress while everyone is concerned about the light water reactor...