BETTER PLAN
Radiation monitors at U.S. ports are insufficient for preventing terrorists from amassing highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. We maintain that the country should therefore enhance protective actions, some now under way. Chief among them:
- Identify and round up nuclear smugglers.
- Secure known sources of poorly guarded HEU and ship it back to its country of origin for elimination.
- Blend down excess Russian stocks of HEU into low-enriched uranium.
- Replace HEU fuel in research reactors with low-enriched fuel.
- Seek a global ban on the commercial uses of HEU, such as medical applications, most of which can be pursued with low-enriched uranium
