1. The Final Stretch: Tackling Remaining HEU Challenges
- Author:
- Miles A. Pomper, Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, Margarita Kalinina-Pohl, and Artem Lazarev
- Publication Date:
- 08-2021
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
- Abstract:
- Minimizing civil commerce in highly enriched uranium (HEU) has been a longstanding goal of Global Partnership countries, as HEU represents a highly attractive target for terrorists and proliferators. HEU can be used to create the simplest nuclear explosive device, a so-called gun-type weapon. To make matters worse, because HEU is only weakly radioactive, it is relatively safe to handle and hard to detect. Even HEU waste is less radioactive than one might hope from a security-oriented standpoint. HEU’s primary civilian use is in research reactors, which carry out a range of functions from education and basic scientific research to producing medical isotopes and “doping” silicon for semiconductors. The international community has made significant progress during the last decades in converting such reactors from HEU to LEU fuels.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Nonproliferation, Peace, Commerce, and Uranium
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus