[TigerLikesRooster]

A huge chunk of domino block is falling down on China, and mostly, they have themselves to blame

[bigheadfred]

if US soooooo concerned about japan making plutonium maybe japanese sell to iran and all good

[maro]

Japan and South Korea must develop nuclear weapons as soon as possible to counteract Chinese military power.

[ClearCase_guy]

Do I worry about Pakistan? Yes, I do. They're crazy and they might use or sell the weapons they have.
Worry about North Korea? Yes, I do. They're crazy and they might use or sell the weapons they have.
Worry about Iran? Yes, I do. They're crazy and they might use or sell the weapons they will soon have.

Worry about Japan? I don't think so. More than any other nation, Japan is likely to use restraint. They would nuke someone only as an absolute last resort.

[SeeSharp]

Japan likes the fast breeder reactor type, which requires enriched plutonium. It probably really is just for civilian use. This is probably just the Obama administration being incompetent again.

[familyop]

Our USA economy and power are decreasing more rapidly than most people are allowed to see. The ROK and Japan should build their own nuclear forces.

[greene66]

Why shouldn’t Japan reprocess? Let them! Just think, look at it from their perspective. How can they continue to count on America’s umbrella of defense? The pace at which America is decaying, they might rightfully question whether America will even exist twenty years from now. Much less be in any position to assist them in some grave regional threat. I wouldn’t blame them one bit.

[Ronin]

Since Japan already has between nine and 40 tons of weapons grade plutonium (depending on who you talk to, so I’d say the horse is already out of that particular barn.

Plus, it is highly unlikely that Abe is going to listen to anything coming from the Obama administration since it has been policy for at least 30 years to encourage Japan to spend MORE on defense, with a lot of winking and hinting that strategic arms research would not be unduly troubling.

All of this is really a moot point. Japan has undoubtedly produced excellent designs for warheads, has access to all the technology it needs for delivery systems, and I’d bet any amount of money anyone is willing to wager that they have already acquired or prefabricated components — which have been carefully stashed for when they might become necessary.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

But it’s ok if Iran and North Korea generate plutonium.

[Monorprise]

I think Japan should develop nuclear weapons of their own. In fact if they want some of ours we should sell them a few.

[chimera]

You cannot make a weapon from reprocessed reactor fuel. The grade of plutonium you get from reprocessed fuel is below that for weapons-grade. It contains too much 240Pu. If the concentration of 240Pu is too high, you get a fizzle because of spontaneous fission in 240Pu.

Not many anti-nuke kooks understand the physics, but the production cycle for weapons-grade plutonium is optimized to get the most 239Pu and the least 240Pu. That means a relatively short irradiation time for the target material, followed by fairly prompt separation of the plutonium, and then re-use of the unconverted target material. The irradiation time for commercial fuel is too long, you get too much 240Pu and you can't separate that from the desirable 239Pu with chemical reprocessing.

Their plant may be CAPABLE of producing weapons-grade plutonium, but unless you have a fleet of dedicated production reactors operating on the optimized production cycle, like we did at Hanford in the 1940s-1970s, you aren't going to get any weapons-usable material. Used fuel from power plants is not the correct feedstock for producing weapons-grade plutonium.