Sliex chief Michael Goldsworthy says the technology provides low-cost electricity, but the anti-nuclear group says that it poses more danger than the current Iran-

October 2, 2012 (TSR) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is putting US nuclear non-proliferation policy at risk if it decides not to require a formal nuclear proliferation assessment as part of the licensing process for a uranium laser enrichment facility in Wilmington, NC, according to 19 nuclear non-proliferation experts in a letter to the NRC.

The anti-nuclear advocates asked in their letter to the NRC to fulfill its statutory responsibility to assess proliferation threats related to the technologies it regulates.

Sliex chief Michael Goldsworthy says the technology provides low-cost electricity, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is putting US nuclear non-proliferation policy at risk if it decides not to require a formal nuclear proliferation assessment as part of the licensing process for a uranium laser enrichment facility in Wilmington, NC, according to 19 nuclear non-proliferation experts.

Global Laser Enrichment, LLC, a joint venture of American-based General Electric, Japan-based Hitachi and Canada-based Cameco, has applied for a license to operate a laser enrichment facility that is based on Australian SILEX technology. The NRC licensing review schedule sets September 30, 2012 as the date of license of the issuance.

One of the authors of the letter, Catherine Thomasson, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said in a statement: “It is a widely shared view that laser enrichment could be an undetectable stepping-stone to a clandestine nuclear weapons program. To strengthen US policy and protect the US and the world from nuclear proliferation, the NRC should systematically and thoroughly assess the proliferation risks of any new uranium enrichment technology before issuing a license allowing their development.”

Ira Helfand, Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, added: “If the US is going to have moral authority in dealing with proliferation threats in other nations, such as Iran, it must do a better job of taking responsible steps in relation to proliferation threats in our own backyard. In fact, a persuasive case can be made that laser enrichment technology requires even more immediate action, since this is a known danger that can be addressed directly by the NRC under its existing regulatory authority.”

In the group’s letter, the signatories stated that the NRC has no rules or requirements for a nuclear proliferation assessment as part of the licensing process. Instead, they assert, the NRC “is falling short in its duties since a 2008 NRC manual on enrichment technology clearly states that laser enrichment presents ‘extra proliferation concerns due to the small size and high separation factors.’”

The group added that “previous letters to the NRC asking for a proliferation assessment, signed by many of [the current letter’s] signatories, have been rebuffed. NRC is on record stating that the National Environmental Policy Act does not require preparation of a proliferation assessment. However, a March 27, 2012 memorandum from the Congressional Research Service clearly concludes that the NRC has legal authority ‘to promulgate a regulation’ requiring a proliferation assessment as part of the licensing process.”

The group claimed that “both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 and the Atomic Energy Act are cited by the experts as statutory basis of the NRC’s responsibility to assess proliferation risks,” and “that a November 2010 petition to the NRC for rulemaking would establish regulations for such an assessment.”

Additionally, the group asserted that “a recent article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists gives a well documented overview of why such an assessment is needed.”

Source: U.S. Homeland Security

 

 

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