Plutonium, power, and politics: international arrangements for the disposition of spent nuclear fuel

In this study, Gene Rochlin, physicist and social scientist, explores the technical, political, and institutional aspects of international nuclear export and fuel-cycle policies. He categorizes existing proposals and suggests ways to develop new ones that better promote both national and international goals. Dr. Rochlin argues neither for nor against the future use of nuclear power or plutonium fuels. Rather, he addresses the question of how international arrangements could be reached that might jointly satisfy the objectives of the several key nations, yet not be too difficult to negotiate. He concludes that a major fault has been the tendency to improvise arrangements for specific technical or industrial operations. As a result, overall social and political goals have become the bargaining points for compromise. Yet, attempts to simultaneously resolve all problems are unlikely to prove fruitful. Dr. Rochlin suggests instead the formation of institutions organized around more-limited social, political, and technical objectives - even at the expense of excluding some nations, or omitting some aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Only by so doing, he argues, can immediate agreements be reached that preserve the potential for more-comprehensive future arrangements without sacrificing industrial, environmental, or nonproliferation goals