Word: plutonium
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Fearsome Fuel Another byproduct of reactors is plutonium, which can also be used as nuclear fuel. But long-lived plutonium is deadly to man and must be handled carefully. A tiny speck in the lungs, for example, can cause cancer. More important, plutonium is the prime ingredient of atomic bombs; as little as 22 lbs. is all that is required for a crude fission bomb with the explosive force of 100 tons of TNT. Thus the material must be safeguarded so as not to fall into the hands of terrorists or blackmailers - and this requires tight security regulations. Nader...
...members of the American technical community"-engineers, doctors and scientists, including nine Nobel laureates-it urged "a drastic reduction in new nuclear plant construction." Reason: there are still too many unanswered questions about the safety of atomic power plants, the disposal of radioactive wastes and the difficulties of safeguarding plutonium. Rather than take these nuclear risks, the scientists advised the Federal Government to: 1) start a strict energy conservation program; 2) develop nonpolluting ways of mining and burning coal; and 3) work toward using "the energy from the sun, the winds, the tides and the heat in the earth...
...writers of the declaration see the proliferation of nuclear plants as a major threat to American liberties and international safety because they say safeguard procedures are inadequate to prevent terrorist theft of commercial reactor-produced plutonium...
Moreover, the danger keeps mounting. At the Geneva meeting, British Diplomat David Ennals pointed out that in 1970 there were 101 known nuclear power reactors in the world; by 1978 the total will have risen to at least 329, all of them producing as a byproduct deadly plutonium, which can substitute for uranium in making atomic weapons...
...decade ago; construction permits have been granted for 63 more plants. Clearly in trouble, though, is the liquid-metal, fast-breeder reactor, which has swallowed the major share of federal energy R. and D. dollars in recent years. Opposition has grown to the breeder and the plutonium it turns out; no accepted way has been found to dispose of the excess radioactive waste...