I have often remarked that of all the arguments against nuclear power, in the end it will be its failure to be a competitive source of energy that will kill it. Not one single nuclear power project in the history of the U.S. nuclear industry was constructed on time and in budget.
Plutonium-239 and Uranium-235 are used to create nuclear warheads. Nuclear reactors generate plutonium as the nuclear fuel is burned. Plutonium can be extracted from the spent nuclear fuel. Expanding capacity to purify plutonium in Japan, China and South Korea is of great concern with respect to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
One concern about nuclear weapons does not get a lot of press. Nuclear weapons have to be transported around countries that possess nuclear arsenals. The convoy of trucks that moves nuclear weapons around are vulnerable to highway accidents and tempting targets for terrorists. There is currently a debate over security of nuclear weapons transportation in Scotland.
