The Bomb Plutonium is the primary explosive in nuclear weapons. It is a human-made element, created in all nuclear reactors that use uranium fuel. The first reactors were built in the US for the sole purpose of creating plutonium for atomic bombs. During World War II, Canada was on the cutting edge of plutonium research. Top scientists from England, France and Canada worked at a secret laboratory in Montreal to demonstrate the most efficient methods for producing and extracting plutonium. This work led to a top-level military decision in Washington, in 1944, to build Canada's first heavy water reactors. Canada selected Chalk River, Ontario, as the site to produce plutonium and explore other applications of nuclear energy. A pilot plutonium extraction plant was built and operated there. The French and British nuclear weapons programs grew out of the Canadian work. The first British nuclear weapons test in 1952 used plutonium metal from Chalk River. The Windscale plutonium extraction plant in England was designed using Chalk River data. Until 1976, Chalk River sold plutonium to the US bomb program to help defray the escalating costs of Canadian nuclear research. Any country purchasing a reactor or uranium from Canada must promise not to use either for bombs. However, such agreements are not enforceable. Once plutonium is created, it remains weapons-usable for thousands of years. In 1974, India exploded its first atomic bomb using plutonium from a Canadian research reactor given as "foreign aid". In May 1998, amidst an ongoing arms race, India and Pakistan declared themselves to be nuclear weapons states and tested several nuclear devices, including an Indian thermonuclear bomb produced using tritium. In January 1998, it had been reported that India was extracting tritium from heavy water used in its CANDU design nuclear reactors. The Ambiguity From the beginning, it was known that plutonium can serve as fuel for nuclear reactors. Many nuclear scientists expect plutonium to replace uranium; they see it as the principal energy source of the future. In Japan, Germany, France, Russia, India and the UK, plans are well advanced to use plutonium fuel on a routine basis. Civilian stocks of plutonium are larger than military stocks – and they are growing faster. Before plutonium can be used, it needs to be extracted from intensely radioactive spent fuel. This is done robotically in a reprocessing plant, where spent fuel is dissolved in acid; plutonium is then chemically separated out from the acid solution, which remains behind as high level radioactive liquid waste. Once extracted, plutonium can be used for bombs or fuel so countries or organizations with access to reprocessing plants or plutonium fuel are close to having a nuclear weapons capability.. Canada, whose CANDU reactors produce more plutonium than other power reactors, has no policy opposing the production and/or use of plutonium. In fact, Ottawa approves of Japan's use of plutonium made from Canadian uranium and is keeping open the option for commercial use of plutonium in Canada. In 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced that Canada was in favour of importing 100 tonnes of plutonium from dismantled Russian and American warheads to be used as fuel in CANDU reactors. Proponents claim this will make the world safer by getting rid of weapons plutonium. Critics maintain it will stimulate the use of plutonium as a fuel worldwide, making it more accessible than ever for bombs. Other arguments against the proposal include transportation accidents, the risk of theft by terrorist or criminal organizations and the lack of a permanent high level waste repository.
Photo copyright Robert Del Tredici
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