Time for Nuclear Recycling? Prospects and Implications During a Global Nuclear Energy Renewal

Etienne Pochon | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

This essay assesses the past and potential future of nuclear recycling. It sorts through the technology, political, and economic changes that are driving renewed interest, and evaluates a range of implications and risks, including environmental, safety, security, and nuclear weapons proliferation. It concludes with an appeal: Although there are merits to the case for recycling and for near-term exploration of its potential, governments and nuclear industries need to thoroughly study the outstanding questions and develop the necessary arrangements to be sure that adoption of recycling does not undermine the broader aims of a global nuclear energy expansion.

Trump says the U.S. will work with Iran to destroy its uranium if they can make a deal

Jonathan Allen | NBC News

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will work with Iran to retrieve and destroy its highly enriched uranium if he is able to cut a deal with Tehran to end the three-month-old war between the countries — or, in the absence of an agreement, that he will further degrade the Iranian military to the point that American forces can safely collect the material on their own… The two sides are “very close” to signing a pact, Trump said, but he is pushing for Iran to go further in abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

Xi Pledges Deeper Ties With Kim While Avoiding Nuclear Issue

Nectar Gan | Bloomberg

President Xi Jinping vowed to expand China’s trade, agriculture and technology cooperation with North Korea, while avoiding public mentions of its neighbor’s nuclear program in a meeting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang… A day before Xi’s trip, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the country’s atomic weapons program was “absolutely non-negotiable” and that “officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dreams.”

Energy Department says advanced nuclear reactor first to reach critical milestone

Matthew Daly | Associated Press

The microreactor being developed by Antares Nuclear Inc. at the Idaho National Lab reached “criticality” on Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. The milestone occurs when a nuclear reactor achieves a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of producing a steady release of energy. Antares is the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under a pilot program begun last year by the Trump administration meant to supercharge nuclear energy production in the U.S.

IAEA calls on Iran to 're-engage' as West pressures it with resolution

Francois Murphy and John Irish | Reuters/Yahoo

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran on Monday to "re-engage" with him ‌so inspections can resume at sites the U.S. and Israel bombed a year ago, as the U.S. led a push for a resolution to that effect at the agency's board. Iran still has not informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of what happened to those bombed nuclear sites or the nuclear ​material, including uranium enriched to near bomb grade, that was stored there.

No single person should have the power to launch nuclear weapons

Steven Andreasen and Anthony Lake | The LA Times

Too often, we sip our morning coffee while reading a bizarre Truth Social post by President Trump, often posted between midnight and dawn… The president’s mad rhetoric and demonstrated willingness to act unilaterally, unconstrained by anything other than his own morality and his own mind, as Trump has put it, leads to one conclusion: In the generations since World War II and the dawn of the Atomic Age, we have never been at greater risk of a president ordering the use of a nuclear weapon against another nation — even if that nation has neither threatened nor attacked us.