WashPost infographic on recent thefts of nuclear materials

[PamW]

21. "..at least I won't be unoriginal."

"...at least I won't be unoriginal."
--Will Hunting ( Matt Damon ) from the movie "Good Will Hunting".

Scientists have heard this old LIE from the Union of Concerned Scientists over and over, about diversion from enrichment plants.

What they don't tell you is that the reactor fuel is about 3% to 4% U-235; when the material required for bombs called HEU for Highly Enriched Uranium is 93% U-235.

You can divert all the 3% enriched fuel you want; you can NOT make a bomb out of it.

As for the Yucca Mountain claim; spent fuel is about 95% to 96% U-238. That U-238 is no more radioactive and no more dangerous than the day it was dug out of the ground. There's ZERO reason U-238 has to be put into Yucca Mountain; except that's what the anti-nukes want so that it limits the available space.

It's like restricting the size of your curbside garbage bin so that the amount you put in the landfill is limited. But then requiring that the fallen leaves you rake up have to go into the garbage instead of being mulch on your lawn.

Of course, if we allowed recycling / reprocessing; we wouldn't need Yucca Mountain.

The French reprocess / recycle and they are not hollowing out one of the Alps.

PamW