Nuclear reprocessing was first carried out to separate plutonium from 'spent' nuclear reactor fuel - for nuclear weapons. All countries with plutonium-based nuclear weapons have reprocessing facilities.
Plutonium is the most highly prized material for making nuclear weapons. It has only existed in the environment since the first atomic bomb was detonated in the US in 1945, and does not occur naturally. It was in fact a US plutonium bomb that killed more than 50,000 people in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.
Nuclear reprocessing, plutonium and nuclear weapons
Publication date:
9 November, 2001
Article tagged as: mox fuel, nuclear transports, nuclear weapons, plutonium, reports, reprocessing
