The politics of reprocessing

The political and economic questions surrounding the use of plutonium as a nuclear fuel are examined. The advantages of liquid-metal fast breeder reactors are considered against the background of the sharp decline in demand for nuclear power. However the very real problems of their use with respect to the possible proliferation of nuclear weapons are discussed and the use of plutonium from fuel elements removed from the core and the breeder blanket in the fabrication of nuclear weapons is considered. The part played by reprocessing of spent fuel elements from ordinary reactors for use in breeder reactors and possible proliferation restrictions imposed in countries with no such reprocessing facilities are mentioned. (U.K.)