07-22-2021, 08:32 AM
** 21-Jul-2021 World View: Japan's Plutonium inventory
The article below, written in 2018, is a far-left analysis of Japan's
plutonium inventory. It's highly hostile to Japan, and completely
ignores Japan's self-defense needs and its need to support Taiwan in
case of a Chinese invasion. Nonetheless, it's a very interesting
discussion of the history of Japan's plutonium stock, and current
status:
-- Japan’s Misguided Plutonium Policy
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2018-10/...ium-policy
(Arms Control Association, 1-Oct-2018)
The article below, written in 2018, is a far-left analysis of Japan's
plutonium inventory. It's highly hostile to Japan, and completely
ignores Japan's self-defense needs and its need to support Taiwan in
case of a Chinese invasion. Nonetheless, it's a very interesting
discussion of the history of Japan's plutonium stock, and current
status:
Quote:> "The JAEC has correctly identified the problem but not
> the solution. The surplus 47 metric tons of plutonium is
> sufficient to make more than 5,000 nuclear weapons. Japan is now
> the only country without such weapons that reprocesses its spent
> nuclear fuel, creating still more plutonium. Japan even plans to
> start commercial operation in 2021 of a domestic reprocessing
> plant that would produce up to an additional eight metric tons of
> plutonium annually.
> All this creates the impression internationally that Japan is
> preserving the option to quickly produce a large nuclear weapons
> arsenal. Not surprisingly, South Korea, North Korea, and China
> have cited Japan’s plutonium stockpile as grounds to initiate or
> expand their own reprocessing of nuclear fuel, thereby raising the
> specter of a disastrous nuclear arms race in East
> Asia."
-- Japan’s Misguided Plutonium Policy
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2018-10/...ium-policy
(Arms Control Association, 1-Oct-2018)
