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Apart from plotting to kill the Egyptian U.S.-supplied nuclear fuel. Instead of
President, Time magazine reported that making sure that U.S. exports of nuclear
they planned to bomb the U.N. fuel do not end up as weapons-useable
headquarters, U.S. military armories, a plutonium in world commerce, the
bridge and two tunnels linking political interests of the United States
Manhattan to New Jersey. Ever gives clear precedence to it allies over
determined, Yousef kept his plans and above its obvious security interests.
focused on the Twin Towers. On the As a result U.S. origin plutonium is now
designated date, Yousef and his beginning to enter world commerce in
companion placed their bomb in a van frightening amounts.
and drove it to the basement of the
World Trade Center. The eventual Ever since plutonium, a man-made
explosion killed six and injured more element, was first produced in gram
than 1,000 people. Terrorism had finally quantities during World War II, more
arrived in America -- and the World than 1,200 metric tons of it have been
Trade Center was only the beginning. Of produced in reactors. Of this amount,
course, the appeal of nuclear weapons to about 260 tons have been produced for
terrorists is obvious: if destabilizing weapons; all the rest, nearly three times
society or drawing attention to one's as much, has been produced in civilian
cause is the goal, a mushroom cloud nuclear power reactors. With the end of
outranks truck bombs. Indeed, the the superpowers' nuclear arms race, the
Yousef's of the future will have more -- amount of military plutonium is
not fewer -- options and opportunities at expected to stay essentially constant and
hand. then decline as plutonium from retired
warheads is disposed of. But the amount
The Deadly Plutonium of civilian plutonium produced in power
reactors will grow very rapidly from
“Men don't change. The only thing about 650 tons in 1990 to 2,100 tons in
new in the world is the history you the year 2010 -- more than eight times
don't know” -- Harry S. Truman the amount of weapons plutonium.
Considering the fact that less than 8
“Idealism is fine, but as it kilograms (about 18 pounds) of
approaches reality the cost becomes plutonium is enough for one Nagasaki-
prohibitive” -- William F. Buckley type bomb, the proliferation risk of all
Jr. this potential weapons material is
enormous.
Though the United States does not
reprocess spent fuel of power reactors at Beyond the proliferation and terrorism
home, because of both economic and risks of plutonium, there are also the
non-proliferation reasons, its safety and environmental hazards of
government has not been prepared to transporting plutonium and the waste by-
enforce U.S. non-proliferation laws to products of reprocessing. Plutonium is
restrain its European and Japanese allies' extraordinarily toxic. Microgram
plutonium programs. Seventy-five per quantities imbedded in the lungs after
cent of the plutonium being extracted inhalation, or in bone after ingestion can
today in Europe and Japan came from cause cancer. In 1987, Japan had to
