One of the most troublesome side effects of the end of the Cold War is the growing stockpile of plutonium, a lethal radioactive material that is highly toxic, flammable in some forms, expensive to secure, chemically unstable and easy to fashion into a crude nuclear explosive.
According to a new study for the Department of Defense by the Rand Corporation, plutonium from dismantled warheads is only part of the problem. Over the next 10 years, several nations are planning to extract the plutonium content from their used commercial uranium fuel, adding more plutonium to the world's supply than will come from unneeded warheads.The study recommends that Washington seek a "worldwide cutoff" of the production of plutonium from commercial fuel and try to limit the development of electric power reactors that use plutonium as fuel.
President Clinton already has rejected the proposal, telling members of Congress that any U.S. effort to block the development of plutonium-fueled commercial reactors would lead to unnecessary confrontation with Russia, Britain, France and Japan, which all plan to use plutonium fuel for electricity generation.
This is unfortunate, because nuclear scientists and arms control specialists say there is no real distinction between plutonium intended to generate energy and plutonium destined for use as a nuclear explosive, perhaps by terrorists or by rogue states such as Iraq or North Korea.
According to the Rand study, under current nuclear power development programs, "reactor-grade plutonium separated from civilian fuel will be sufficient to make 47,000 bombs" by 2003, even more than the 40,000 that could be fashioned from military plutonium to be stockpiled during the same period.
Because plutonium recovered from dismantled weapons in the former Soviet Union can be quickly reused in nuclear weapons, the Rand study urges the United States to attempt to get the plutonium out of the former Soviet Republics, even if the United States has to pay for it.
Despite the cost, this is sound advice. The United States should take the lead in trying to minimize the proliferation of bomb-usable materials. Russia is already planning to build one or more underground facilities to store retired plutonium indefinitely.
Considering the obvious political instability in the region, removal of the plutonium would promote the protection of all of humanity.