WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- A high-tech fuel to power new U.S. nuclear reactors can also be turned into a nuclear bomb if it falls in terrorists' hands, says a report.
The warning comes from nuclear scientists and is also contained in several little-known federal studies on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership technology, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
Bush administration officials believe the GNEP's UREX-Plus fuel is a breakthrough that can significantly reduce nuclear waste from civilian reactors and also the risk of nuclear proliferation, says the report.
But the critics' view that the fuel can easily be turned into bombs is also shared by the Energy Department's own study which is not widely known, says the newspaper.
"The bottom line is that UREX-plus is not much more proliferation resistant -- by their own estimates," says a former non-proliferation policy official. Another expert said the fuel would produce a material that is not radioactive enough to deter theft.
But government scientists say UREX-plus is much better than critics say it is. One of them said the Energy Department's 2004 study should be done again to account for the technological changes since then.
