Nuclear disarmament – aftermath

USA is going full bang on the nuclear disarmament initiative. There was Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Security Summit, which concluded recently. President Obama’s stated end goal is nuclear disarmament. As on today, in general, the countries possessing nuclear weapons are responsible countries and there seems to be not much threat from use of nuclear weapons. Threat is from the terror organizations, like Al-Qaeda which must be trying hard to get their hands on the fissile materials for possible nuclear terrorism.

Any disarmament efforts will generate millions of tons of plutonium - 90% above pure fissile material - generated from dismantling of the weapons. Security and safe storage of this material in such a large quantity is a herculean task and calls for financial implications in terms of billions of dollars. The material, even in kilogram quantities, can result in criticality incidents which will release bursts of fission energy and fission products with potential for environmental contamination.

Unless the nuclear weapons States find a way out to safe management of the fissile material and find use in the form of nuclear fuel for power generation, the actual disarmament should not be attempted. In view of the very long half life, thousands of years of Pu-239, just disposal in any form of the fissile material is unsafe and it is economically unsound. Countries have spent billions of dollars to produce such fissile materials.

Any fissile material stored in unsafe way has potential for theft by terror groups. It is wise to design reactors to use/recycle such weapon-grade fissile material for its peaceful applications.

Security of nuclear materials

Security of fissile and radioactive materials is a requirement for global safety and it should be tackled on global basis. India seems to be doing its part in maintaining good record in nuclear security in the diversified use of radioactive substances in the country.

The country is planning to establish a state-of-the-art nuclear energy partnership centre to conduct proliferation resistant research and development in nuclear studies. The national facility will have four different schools to conduct research and development in: advanced nuclear energy system studies, nuclear security, radiation safety and application of radiation and radioisotopes in industry, medicine and agriculture. The R & D products are expected to be intrinsically safe, secure, proliferation resistant and sustainable. It is reported that the centre will be linked to IAEA research facilities.

It is good move provided you have right man power to head such an ambitious program and it should be established in a time-bound manner.