The relationship between nuclear energy and the proliferation of nuclear weapons
A historical analysis of the relationship between civilian nuclear power and nuclear proliferation from 1954 to 2000 finds that the connection between the two needs to be overestimated [1]. See Figure 1.
The facts are that nuclear weapon was developed before the same countries ran civilian nuclear power plants for electricity production. Today there are more countries with civilian nuclear power and have never developed nuclear weapons than countries with nuclear weapons. E.g., India’s nuclear weapons program started in 1944 [2]. Their first production facility was a military breeder program, and they used the Candu reactor design, which uses unenriched uranium.
Material from commercial nuclear reactors #
Civilian nuclear power plants cannot make plutonium into nuclear weapons. They are not designed for that. A minimum of 93% of the isotope plutonium-239 is required to use plutonium for weapons
A standard light water reactor we use in most of the world produces plutonium in a mixture of isotopes: Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241, and Pu-242. This isotope mixture cannot be used to make a bomb. Most of the plutonium created is reburned.
For this purpose, specially designed military reactors are used where the fuel rods are constantly changed, and their fuel mix is also different.
Conclusion #
Quite fundamentally, many technologies can be used for weapons production and more peaceful purposes. But we do not reject using them.
Opting out of civilian nuclear power because of nuclear weapons is like combining nuclear medicine with nuclear weapons. However, nuclear power for electricity and medicine saves millions of human lives every year.
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