U.S. plans for disposing plutonium

This article explains about how the U.S. plan to remove plutonium from their nuclear weapons in regards to their treaty with Russia. The U.S. has been trying to build a factory that would “convert the plutonium to reactor fuel” since the 1990s.

The main reason why the disposal of plutonium hasn’t taken into effect yet is because of the expense. This argument would be more believable if the plan started in the 2000s because that was when the economic recession started happening. During the 90s, the economy was actually expanding as opposed to collapsing. Converting plutonium for a reactor may be expensive but when the economy is at its high, finances are the last thing that is standing in the way. The U.S. could only be procrastinating on the job because the Russian’s “program has been delayed for years.” I believe that the U.S. might not trust Russia in terms of nuclear weapons. I think their just waiting to see if Russia will start at all.

What the U.S. has done so far is stop the production of more plutonium. Although the U.S. has stopped production, they have yet to dispose the remains as of now. According to the article, the “United States already has such a large plutonium surplus that it may be running out of storage places.” I thought the agreement was to dispose of it and not “store” it somewhere else. I think the U.S. feels insecure without their nuclear weapons; similarly to a soldier without his guns. With that in mind I highly doubt that U.S. will dispose of all of their nuclear bombs. They may dispose the ones that are still “visible”, but not the ones that are hidden.