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China-Japan-Koreas
U.S. Silent on ROK Request to Reprocess Nuke Fuel
2012-07-25
Five months since Korea officially asked the U.S. for permission to reprocess its own spent nuclear fuel rods there has still been no response from Washington. Korea in February sent a sealed envelope to Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, saying Seoul wants to start talks on revising a bilateral nuclear energy pact that expires in 2014.

Seoul and Washington signed the pact in 1974 detailing the extent of the nuclear technology Korea can use for civilian purposes. The bilateral pact has helped Korea develop nuclear power technology but also saddled it with a needless restriction on reprocessing its own nuclear fuel rods. Seoul believes it should have the right to reprocess them and also wants to enrich uranium for power generation.

Washington is concerned that Korea could obtain materials to produce nuclear weapons if it is allowed to enrich uranium and reprocess spent fuel rods, which would set a bad precedent in U.S. efforts to stem proliferation. This is why the U.S. has only agreed to conduct joint research with Korea on reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods through a process known as pyroprocessing, which does not produce weapons-grade plutonium.
I'd let the Chinese know quietly that I think letting the ROK reprocess their fuel rods is a great idea, and that I have no intention of monitoring them. Unless, of course, the Chinese are willing to curb their dog...
Korea has 22 nuclear power plants, making it the world's fifth largest in terms of nuclear energy facilities. The country relies on nuclear power to produce 35 percent of total energy demand.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  Wont be a problem as long as the spent fuel is reprocessed in such a fashion as to intentionally have a high P240 content which makes it useless for weapons.

Read this article from Scientific American, December 2005.

This article should be required reading for all Americans.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-07-25 02:39  

#2  Unlike the reunification of Weat + East Germany, the Korean Peninsula may have to suffer some Cuba-style "Missle Crises" [plural] between the US, DPRK, + China before it occurs.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-07-25 01:42  

#1  Maybe since Bambi has done such a magnificient job strenghtening the ties with our ally Israel, he is now working on the same thing w/ S.K.; ergo the non-response regarding the nuke fuel.
leave it to Champ to phuque up a soup sandwich.
Posted by: USN, ret.   2012-07-25 01:09  

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