Antinuclear

Australia’s Silex laser uranium technology – a Faustian bargain

The global implications are profound according to the American physicists’ society and non-proliferation groups who fear the
Silex technology will promote the spread of nuclear weapons.

DAVID BRADBURY, FRONTLINE FILMS: The long-term repercussions of it is that we’re going to have more uranium being enriched around the
planet, it’s going to lead to a mountain of nuclear waste for which we have not created any solution to be able to store it safely and so in
so doing it’s going to create a nightmare for present and future generations to deal with.

Nuclear Enrichment Revolution Meets Weapon Fears James M. Acton   ABC TV/RADIO BROADCAST AUGUST 1, 2013 An Australian
nuclear physicist has developed a new enrichment process and been granted approval by US regulators to develop it commercially, despite fears it could promote the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Carnegie’s James Acton talks to Australia’s ABC News.

LEIGH SALES: Two years after the disastrous meltdown of the Fukushima power plant, the Japanese people are still dealing with the fall-out
and the debate over nuclear energy is as polarised as ever. In Australia, proponents of nuclear power are stepping up their efforts
to win support. One Australian physicist has developed a revolutionary new enrichment process which has been given the go-ahead by regulators in the United States to the alarm of anti-nuclear activists. Greg Hoy reports.

GREG HOY, REPORTER: Inside Australia’s top-secret nuclear facility, Lucas Heights, in Sydney, a ground-breaking development is under way.
Australian nuclear physicist Dr Michael Goldsworthy and his company Silex are refining top-secret laser technology. While filming the real
lasers is prohibited, this technology will revolutionise enrichment of uranium for the world’s nuclear power plants, slashing costs and the
scale of production……..
TV REPORTER: Earlier this week the GE Hitachi facility in Castlemaine received federal approval to enrich uranium using laser technology,
but what exactly does that mean and what are the implications to our community?

GREG HOY: The global implications are profound according to the American physicists’ society and non-proliferation groups who fear the
Silex technology will promote the spread of nuclear weapons.
JAMES ACTON, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: This decision
by the NRC really was a historic one. This was a decision taken
without serious regard to proliferation consequences. It can take
place in very small facilities and if the technology spreads then
potential proliferators could use laser enrichment technology secretly
to try and build nuclear weapons……
JAMES ACTON: The electricity usage of a laser enrichment plant would
be much, much less than one quarter of Paducah’s, so this is an
illustration of the way how similar activities by other states would
be extremely hard to detect……..
GREG HOY: Sceptics like James Acton point to history. Tight security
surrounding the US atomic bomb in World War II failed. The secret
leaked out, now there’s around 20,000 nuclear weapons spread around
the globe.

NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE VIDEO: Global warming may get us in 20
years. Nuclear war can get us in 20 minutes. I just don’t want to see
humanity become extinct.

JAMES ACTON: Keeping classified information secret for prolonged
periods of time is extremely difficult. GE Hitachi isn’t only going to
have to defend itself against industrial espionage, it might have to
defend against State centred espionage threats.

GREG HOY: Buoyed by his success in America, Dr Goldsworthy is now
urging Australia, which has the world’s largest uranium reserves, to
embrace nuclear power as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels…….
GREG HOY: To anti-nuclear campaigners like David Bradbury, who’s
filmed protest movements from Australia to India, Dr Goldsworthy’s
project is simply outrageous.

DAVID BRADBURY, FRONTLINE FILMS: The long-term repercussions of it is that we’re going to have more uranium being enriched around the
planet, it’s going to lead to a mountain of nuclear waste for which we have not created any solution to be able to store it safely and so in
so doing it’s going to create a nightmare for present and future generations to deal with.

GREG HOY: David Bradbury spent three weeks in Iraq filming the
after-effects of depleted uranium bombs. He fears as more uranium is
processed using cheaper technologies, the more it will lead to horrors
like this.

DAVID BRADBURY: I went to the children’s hospital in Basra, I went to
the General Hospital in Fallujah where there was a baby being born
with a twisted cleft palette, spin bifida, with organs that were
displaced in its body and the likelihood of autism according to the
English-speaking doctor who’s been through this nightmare for the last
10 or 15 years. They can’t cope with it.

MOTHER AT BASRA HOSPITAL: We start noticing that problem from about
early 2006 or late 2005.

GREG HOY: Even advocates of nuclear energy like Paul Barratt are
concerned about the increasing use of depleted uranium munitions. PAUL
BARRATT: It is a toxic metal. It’ll be there in the environment, kids
playing in the dust, people growing vegies, who knows. There is
controversy about the extent of the health effects, but there seems to
be good reason to believe there are long-term genetic effects, birth
defects and what have you.

GREG HOY: Such concerns are clouding the future of a growing nuclear
industry worldwide and the commercial opportunities it presents for
Australia.

MICHAEL GOLDSWORTHY: We hope that our technology becomes the number
one technology for enriching uranium fuel, for the many reactors that
are going to be built.

JAMES ACTON: I don’t know whether the proliferation risks of laser
enrichment outweigh the benefits. The problem is nobody does.
http://carnegieendowment.org/2013/08/01/nuclear-enrichment-revolution-meets-weapon-fears/gh53

August 10, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war