Could nuclear weapons power homes?

Lighting your lights?

Nuclear weapons - weapon of mass destruction, political deternet and, according to Newsweek, a way to power homes.

I think it's fair to say that on the whole everyone is for nuclear disarmament, but there always lies the problem with what to do with the bomb material. Traditionally, explosive cores of nuclear warheads are something that you simply throw out with the trash and as such the US military has had to carefully decommission thousands of nuclear weapons since the end of the Cold War.

This is generally done by putting them in storage (without the nuclear material due to the obvious security risks) as most disposal methods are deemed to be rather risk both to mankind and the environment at large.

But what if they were used to fuel nuclear power plants?

Nuke powered lights

This is the idea from The Department of Energy, to process the material in a warhead into fuel used in commercial reactors.

The DoE has therefore greenlit a plan to build a South Carolina–based plant that can convert America's plutonium stockpile into fuel. The Tennesse Valley Authority has endorsed the plan by agreeing to test the fuel for use in their reactors near Chattanooga and Athens.

Last year, it was actually revealed by The New York Times that 10 percent of electricity in the United States has been generated from material gathered via nuclear disarmament. Salvaged bomb material now generates about 10 percent of electricity in the United States — by comparison, hydropower generates about 6 percent and solar, biomass, wind and geothermal together account for 3 percent.

So should the day come when th nuclear powers of the world decide they no longer need a nuclear deterent, the atomic arsenal of the world could be used to power homes all over the globe.

Truly a 21st equivalent of beating swords into ploughshares.

Relevant articles:

Protection from cyber-warfare outlined | Obama on nuclear: Confused or concise? | Crazy military ideas

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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