DIVERSION-RESISTANCE CRITERIA FOR FUTURE NUCLEAR-POWER

In order for nuclear power to make a major contribution to global energy, it would have to be made not only safe and cost-effective but also highly diversion-resistant. For nuclear power developed on a large scale, the current system of international safeguards is inadequate to this challenge. What would be required are a redesign of nuclear technologies, to make them far less attractive sources of nuclear weapons-usable materials than existing and planned technologies, and an internationalization of sensitive nuclear facilities, as proposed in the 1946 Acheson-Lilienthal Plan. The nuclear industry must come to recognize that its long-term viability depends on its being able to offer a peaceful atom that is unambigously distinct from the military atom. © 1990.