Barnaby F
Med Confl Surviv. 1998 Jul-Sep;14(3):197-207. doi: 10.1080/13623699808409392.
A recent Royal Society report, Management of Separated Plutonium, considers the production and disposal of plutonium from the spent fuel from civil and nuclear power reactors. It accepts the need for dealing with plutonium stocks because of the toxicity of the element and as it can be used to fabricate nuclear weapons, and expresses concern that it might be illicitly acquired by terrorists. It recommends an independent Government commission on the management of plutonium, and considers the various options for this. However, it does not analyse the arguments against plutonium as a reactor fuel, and underestimates the risks of diversion to nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism. This paper reviews the options, and concludes that separated plutonium should be added to high-level waste, vitrified, and eventually buried in a deep geological repository.
英国皇家学会最近发布的一份报告《分离钚的管理》，探讨了民用和核动力反应堆乏燃料中钚的生产与处置问题。鉴于钚元素的毒性及其可用于制造核武器，该报告认可处理钚库存的必要性，并对其可能被恐怖分子非法获取表示担忧。报告建议成立一个政府独立委员会来管理钚，并审议了对此的各种方案。然而，它并未分析反对将钚用作反应堆燃料的论据，且低估了钚被转用于核武器和核恐怖主义的风险。本文对这些方案进行了审视，并得出结论：分离出的钚应添加到高放废物中，进行玻璃固化处理，最终深埋于深层地质处置库中。
