N.C., officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the government agency accountable for overseeing the country’s nuclear energy activities, are slated to present a statement laying out the environmental impacts of a planned uranium enrichment facility, a key step in approving the facility’s license. While NRC staff will spend almost five hours in Ballroom 5 of the Warwick Center at the University of North Carolina going over the details of their report, it is what they will not converse that has arms control advocates worried.
Advocates are focusing their notice on the proposed General Electric Hitachi uranium enrichment plant in Wilmington to shine a spotlight on what they see as a systemic flaw at the NRC: The commission does not behavior broad assessments of the proliferation concerns associated with licensing projects. The proposed ability would, if successful, use laser technology for the first time to enrich uranium to power commercial nuclear reactors. Arms control advocate say that commercialization of the technology in the United States could lead other countries to follow suit, raising concerns about the technology lessening into the wrong hands.
Countries like Iran and South Korea have worked in the past to expand laser enrichment programs, and the experts fear successful commercialization of the technology in the United States would prove the technology’s feasibility and lead them to redouble their efforts. There are a number of lasting questions surrounding the technology. Arms control advocates say it is unclear just how easy it would be to make highly enriched uranium, which is used to make nuclear weapons, with the technology.
Advocates are focusing their notice on the proposed General Electric Hitachi uranium enrichment plant in Wilmington to shine a spotlight on what they see as a systemic flaw at the NRC: The commission does not behavior broad assessments of the proliferation concerns associated with licensing projects. The proposed ability would, if successful, use laser technology for the first time to enrich uranium to power commercial nuclear reactors. Arms control advocate say that commercialization of the technology in the United States could lead other countries to follow suit, raising concerns about the technology lessening into the wrong hands.
Countries like Iran and South Korea have worked in the past to expand laser enrichment programs, and the experts fear successful commercialization of the technology in the United States would prove the technology’s feasibility and lead them to redouble their efforts. There are a number of lasting questions surrounding the technology. Arms control advocates say it is unclear just how easy it would be to make highly enriched uranium, which is used to make nuclear weapons, with the technology.
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