Regaining Security - A Guide to the Costs of Disposing of Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium

xix, [1], 165, [7] pages. Figures and Tables. Notes. References. Glossary. Bibliography. Institutional stamp and note that this was a gift from the author on verso. Ink notation of copyright date on title page. This is one of the Peace Economics Series from the Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR). During the run up to the war in Iraq a group of prominent leaders in economics openly questioned the Bush administration's policy in the middle east. Recognizing that they spoke more convincingly as a group rather than as individuals these scholars founded ECAAR to advocate for world peace and reductions in the world's arsenals. Since then voices urging peace and arms reduction are more urgently needed now, and so our work continues. Today ECAAR provides research into how arms reduction impacts the global economy. The goal of ECAAR is to reduce the world's arsenal and to promote global peace. Of all the materials, systems and facilities that designed and operated nuclear weapons, one of the most readily available assets for reuse are often identified as highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium for warheads. However, proliferation concerns make the reuse of much of this material unlikely. This text explores the economic issues surrounding the major expenditures facing the US as it attempts to dispose of weapon-grade nuclear materials in a proliferation-resistant manner. It discusses the economic values of plutonium and HEU, the economic nature of the nuclear industry, reprocessing and operations costs, the economics of "burning" plutonium to generate electrical power, the economics of down-blending and burning HEU, military conversion as rationale for selecting plutonium disposition options, the economics of transmutation, and the economics of other proposals for disposition - ranging from monitored surface storage to vitrification. The book concludes by identifying the major cost drivers affecting all disposition options.…