The design and evaluation of an international plutonium storage system

To address the proliferation risk of separated plutonium, a technical and institutional design of an international plutonium storage system (IPSS) is presented. The IPSS is evaluated from two perspectives: its ability to address the proliferation risk of excess civilian inventories, and its ability to reduce the threat from excess Russian military plutonium. A systems dynamic model of global plutonium inventories projects a capacity requirement for an IPSS of 450 to 600 MT. A conceptual design of a representative 100 MT storage facility was shown to meet criticality safety requirements for a range of operational and accident scenarios. From an institutional perspective, a hybrid organizational structure drawing on rganizational features of the United Nations Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency is proposed as a model for system participation and governance. For political and nonproliferation reasons, a multiple-site arrangement for the IPSS is recommended. The following locations are identified as potential IPSS sites: Savannah River (U.S.), Mayak (Russia), La Hague (France), and Rokkasho (Japan). A set of rules governing material ownership and release conditions is also proposed. Intrinsic barriers to the proliferation of plutonium of the type envisioned by the "spent fuel standard" will not be achieved for many years. In the meantime, primary reliance must be placed on extrinsic barriers.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Bae, Eugene

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Richard K. Lester and John M. Deutch.

• Nuclear Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8683

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8683