Paper
James M. Acton, Ankit Panda
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Source: Getty
Testimony
Evidence to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
Nuclear proliferation is a political problem and the key to assessing proliferation risks is political judgment.
Published on Oct 12, 2010
When it comes to spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, the choice facing the United States is between denial and restraint, argued James Acton before the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The real success of the American policy of restraint, first implemented at the end of the Ford administration, has been that it avoided encouraging new states from embarking on civilian reprocessing programs. An American decision to support reprocessing could have the unintended consequence of enhancing proliferation risks.
About the Author
James M. Acton
Jessica T. Mathews Chair, Co-director, Nuclear Policy Program
Acton holds the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- Nuclear Weapons and the Future of American Power
- The Latest Iran Deal Ignores the Lessons of the PastCommentary
James M. Acton
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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