GE-Hitachi has applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a uranium enrichment facility in North Carolina using new laser technology. This specific type of technology poses serious proliferation risks because it is smaller, more efficient and possibly less expensive than current enrichment technologies.
While the grand bargain of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is that countries are permitted to develop nuclear power as long as they forswear nuclear bombs, it is critical to keep a sharp dividing line between the two.
The new technology risks eroding that line.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission refuses to conduct a proliferation assessment for this technology. In response, the American Physical Society (APS) has submitted a petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting that this federal agency include proliferation analyses in its licensing process.
Please take a few minutes to send a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, telling them you support the petition requiring proliferation analyses in the licensing process for enrichment facilities.
The Nuclear Regulator Commission claims that a review of the proliferation risks of nuclear technologies is not within its jurisdiction. The Atomic Energy Act, however, specifically requires the agency to deny licenses that would be “inimical to the common defense and security” of the United States.
Do not let the Nuclear Regulator Commission grant licenses without considering the proliferation implications; please write them today!
Thank you for all your hard work!
