Originally posted by FredT
The other thing is (I may be wrong) is that a light water reactor cannot develop plutonium.
Any fission reactor can make plutonium.
Actually any neutron source can make
plutonium, but reactors are usually cheaper to
obtain useful quantities. If Iran was really hell
bent on obtaining nuclear weapons they don't
even need reactors.. simply manufacture a few
million neutron tubes designed to run off line
current, distribute them among a few million
households and business, operate them for a
year with a shell of uranium enclosing them,
then collect them all and remove the plutonium
from the uranium.. instead of a TV in every
household turning brains to mush.. a neutron
tube helping the defense of the country.
Calculations show this is feasible in any
industrialized country with electric power
distribution. And there would be no way to
stop this kind of decentralized manufacturing
unless the country were bombed back into
the stone age, with no electricity at all.
[edit on 20-10-2004 by mockan]