Cheap, Simple, Small, Safe Nuclear Power...

Molten-salt fission reactor technology sounds compelling to me, the more so every new time I read about it.  In a rational world (that would be some other planet, most likely in some other space-time continuum), environmentalists would be demanding the use of technology like this in place of coal- or gas-fired electrical generation.  I've only seen them railing in mostly mindless opposition, though...

A Little Information...

On the nuclear situation in Japan, from MIT scientists.  This article is very readable, and contains all sorts of actually useful information, as opposed to just about every news report I've read...

UN Representative States the Obvious...

...as if it's a big surprise. Specifically, Nobel Peace Prize laureate El Baradei said today:

The chief of the world's nuclear weapons watchdog organization considers five years of U.S. and international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions a failure, as Tehran moves ever closer to obtaining the means to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions to try to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment and other activities, while the United States and Europe have offered economic and security incentives. Yet Iran continues acquiring nuclear technology and stockpiling sensitive material.

"We haven't really moved one inch toward addressing the issues," said Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. "I think so far the policy has been a failure."

The 66-year-old Egyptian diplomat and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate also urged world leaders to address broader unease about security, poverty and perceived injustice rather than zero in on narrow security concerns, such as nuclear weapons.

What was his first clue, I wonder?

Funny how now that Obama has been elected, the truth is popping out all over the place...

Dirty Bombs?

So far we have been fortunate that no act of terrorism has included any nuclear material. We know from successful interdictions that al Qaida and other terrorist organizations have been trying for years to get their hands on nuclear materials – but so far they have either failed, or have not figured out to use it. It seems very encouraging that our counter-terrorism efforts have been so successful in this regard.

But this report from Canada is alarming – 76 devices containing nuclear materials (all of which are usable in a terrorist device) have gone missing, and 35 of those were stolen:

Radioactive devices -- some of which have the potential to be used in terrorist attacks -- have gone missing in alarming numbers in Canada over the past five years.

A new database compiled by The Canadian Press shows that the devices, which are used in everything from medical research to measuring oil wells, are becoming a favoured target of thieves.

At least 76 have gone missing in Canada over the past five years -- disappearing from construction sites, specialized tool boxes, and generally growing legs and walking away.

Some of the devices could be used in a "dirty bomb," where conventional explosives are used to detonate nuclear material, spreading the contamination over a wide area, said Alan Bell, a security and international terrorism expert from Globe Risk Security Holdings.

As I understand it, the major risk we face from terrorists is not a nuclear weapon, but rather a “dirty bomb” – conventional explosives used to scatter some radioactive material (like that found in the missing Canadian devices) around a large area. This radioactive material would find its way into people exposed to the dust and smoke from the explosion, causing many kinds of illnesses and injuries, some of which would kill. The area covered by the radioactivity could be quite large, and the area where the explosion occurs could be very dense with people – and therefore the number of people injured, sickened, or killed by such a weapon could be very large. Most of the symptoms would manifest over extended periods of time, and you can be sure there would be massive media coverage of the agonies of the afflicted.

In other words, a dirty bomb is a terrorist's dream weapon.

After reading this report, I'm feeling much less confident that the world will remain free of such a horror...