In this chapter, Dewar proposes to get rid of the plutonium in reactor wastes by sending it into space with his nuclear rockets.
Well, that's all well and good, but a question and an observation:, viz: One, why would the states that refused to go along with Jimmy Carter's prohibition on reprocessing wastes now decide to go along with this proposition? I may be premature in asking this question as it may be provided in later discussion of the book, but I haven't gotten to that part yet. If the answer is that they will be punished if they don't, well, they are already being punished, but it has made no difference. As for the observation, the molten-salt reactor will take care of the plutonium issue rather nicely by not producing it in the first place. That isotope of plutionium which is produced is unsuitable for a bomb and is actually a valuable resource. He may mention this somewhere too, but I see no signs of it anywhere in this book so far.
Sending off to space a much smaller amount of wastes that will be produced in a molten-salt reactor seems like a good idea to me. It could be sent on a comet-like trajectory to return to Earth after it has decayed into harmlessness. Then it could be useful as a resource in its own right.
Let's see if Dewar ever mentions the molten-salt reactor and the Thorium fuel cycle.
Update:
No mention of the molten-salt reactor. As for the question above, it is more of the same thing we have today. Offer them a carrot, but exclude them if they don't take the offer. Unfortunately, this isn't really an answer.
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