This concern has become more pressing as the US and UK have recently agreed to sell nuclear submarines to Australia – which is a non-nuclear state. “This requires entry of an inspector into the reactor compartment, and as far as we know no foreigner ever entered the reactor compartment of a US ship.” Pressing need “If you forget about neutrinos, the next best proposal involves using neutron monitors – passive targets that soak up neutrons and become radioactive as a result.” explains Patrick Huber of Virginia Tech “You place them in the reactor compartment and retrieve them while the vessel is in port. However, once nuclear material is transferred from the civilian realm to the military one, it becomes much harder to track.Ĭountries are unwilling to divulge the exact movements of their submarines, which makes monitoring them while they are in use impossible, and some are more secretive still. It does, however, permit its transfer to non-explosive military uses like nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons prohibits the transfer of nuclear material from civilian power plants – where it is monitored by the International Atomic Energy Association – to nuclear weapons.
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