Letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Laser Enrichment Facility in North Carolina
Below is a letter opposing the laser enrichment facility planned in Wilmington, NC for which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a license request. Laser enrichment poses proliferation risks because it is harder to detect than other enrichment technologies. Using this technology in the United States would make it difficult to press other countries not to acquire or develop this technology and complicate international safeguards and detection efforts.
September 30, 2009
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC
Dear Members of the Commission:
We believe the potential demonstration effect on other states from licensing the General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment Commercial Facility (Docket No. 70-7016) in Wilmington, North Carolina raises significant proliferation issues. Should the United States be seen to embrace the use of laser isotope enrichment as a commercially viable technology, there can be little question that other states will be strongly encouraged to follow this lead and develop such technology for their own use. Given the great difficulty of detecting laser isotope enrichment facilities, their spread could undermine U.S. nonproliferation efforts and the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency to confirm the absence of undeclared nuclear activities in nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) non-nuclear-weapon states. The rationale for such concerns is set forth in greater detail in the attached articles by two of the signers.
Accordingly, we request (1) that the Commission makes the potential of this facility to contribute to the spread of laser isotope enrichment technology—and thus to the increased risk of nuclear proliferation—an explicit factor in its decision, and (2) that the Commission prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on the licensing of laser isotope separation facilities that includes specific consideration of the demonstration effect of such U.S. action on international proliferation risks.
Dr. James Acton, Nonproliferation Associate
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
David Albright, President
Institute for Science and International Security
Thomas B. Cochran, Senior Scientist
Natural Resources Defense Council
Dr. Charles Ferguson, Senior Fellow for Science and Technology
Council on Foreign Relations
John Issacs, Executive Director
Council for a Livable World
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director
Arms Control Association
Miles A. Pomper, Senior Research Associate
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Leonard S. Spector, Deputy Director
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
*Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only