Japan Producing Huge, Lightly Guarded Stockpile of Plutonium

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: BGTM90

It is if it's something they know would cause problems for them. Especially if large quantities aren't needed.

No it's not, I'm not trying to be rude but you don't know what you're talking about. Extraction and Isotopic separation is a lot more complicated than extraction and irradiation. There are a lot more potential problems going down that route. If they wanted to go down the Isotopic separation route they would have to build a whole new complex just for isotopically separate the Pu. When they could a lot more easily just extract the large amount of Actinides they already have no matter how small of a quality you think is needed. Think about it from a Chemist point of view if your trying to get a product and you have two routes to go about it. Route one is easy cost effective and you get close to 100% yields on your reactions. Route two is extremely expensive extremely more technologically complicated than route one and your first reaction gives you a yield of close to 1%. Which route would you take? Even if you only needed a small quantity you just start out with a smaller reactant. Its just as efficient at making small qualities as it is larger quantities if not more efficient.

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: lostbook

with the North Koreans starting another nuclear testing in the near future and China making noises, I'm pretty sure Japan needs some extra safeguards just in case

Japan has an unusual situation regarding nuclear weapons, their use, development and and the possibility of developing their own nuclear weapons.

Firstly and most obviously they are the only country to feel the damage done by these weapons, twice. For a very long time now they have pretty much refused to arm them selves with nukes, instead allowing the USA to position American nukes in the area using Japanese territory.

But that didn't stop the Japanese developing the capability to build these weapons them selves, so far as I know they have all the technical things worked out, they have the materials to build many bombs, if they decided to they would have the bomb in a year, and not the rudimentary things the north Koreans are playing with, nope these would modern generation nukes on a par with the leaders in the field.

The Japanese have been understandably culturally wary of such things, and really that in it's self speaks volumes about national character, but the tide of opinion may have been turning, the nuclear weapons program is all there, almost in it's entirety. One go word from the government, one push from the people, and the world will see something impressive from the Japanese - not simply another nuclear capable nation, but one that would overcome all technical hurdles related to the development of such things and skip straight to the modern generation of thermal nuclear bombs on state of the art delivery platforms with all the trimmings.

North Korea go home, in the time it takes for one harvest to come to season Japan can go from having no weapons of their own to a full compliment of working and usable weapons... They just don't want to... Yet