The New Nuclear Threat by Nora Akino Fifty years after the onset of the nuclear age, the world is increasingly turning away from nuclear power as a viable future energy source, seeing more and more the disastrous price we have already paid for it in death and environmental destruction. As a result of mounting public opposition, continuing technical problems, high costs, and the yet unsolved dilemma of waste disposal, the worldwide nuclear industry is in decline. One notable exception is Japan, which is expanding its nuclear program by pursuing an ambitious plutonium-based energy policy. When fully implemented, the Japanese program will involve shipping massive amounts of plutonium across the world's oceans and result in the production of more of that deadly substance than currently exists in the combined U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals. Plutonium, a by-product of burning uranium in conventional reactors, is the most toxic radioactive substance known to humankind and an essential nuclear weapons material.
Japan plans to burn plutonium in both conventional and fast breeder reactors.
Fast breeder reactors produce more plutonium than they originally consume, creating an ever increasing supply of fuel. It was this self-supplying aspect of fast breeder technology that so captivated Japanese and Western policy makers in the aftermath of the 1970s oil shocks. The severe environmental and health risks inherent in fast breeder technology have made it extremely expensive and unpopular. Countries like the U.S., Germany, and Britain have abandoned their fast breeder programs because of their prohibitive cost, continuing technical failures, and intense public opposition. If Japan pushes forward with its plutonium policy, it is likely to give new impetus to a technology deemed too dangerous by most nuclear nations and opposed by a majority of the Earth's inhabitants.