Brian Johnson

Bypassing oil and the atom : The politics of aid and world energy

Abstract The Bonn Summit of July 1978 promised a joint OECD review of national aid programmes in the energy field. But, argue Thomas Hoffmann and Brian Johnson, any new energy aid efforts must resolve a conflict between the desire to provide exports (especially of sophisticated solar hardware) and the need to devise cheap and easily maintained energy sources for rural areas of the Third World. The authors argue that multilateral aid agencies, which are more remote from the direct pressure of international industrial competition than most aid programmes, must be encouraged to take the lead in expanding their ‘renewables’ programmes.

Nuclear power proliferation: Problems of international control

Abstract The nuclear industry is experiencing a multiple crisis in which economic, technical and ethical aspects are blended inextricably. Nuclear hardware costs have everywhere soared far beyond inflation in the last five years, largely as a result of delays in programme completion arising from problems of reactor and fuel cycle safety. Meanwhile, partly as a result of this cost escalation, there is widespread and growing doubt as to whether capital will be available to finance the electricity generating levels projected by the industry and by governments for the 1990s. The nuclear industry is now in trouble at every stage of the fuel cycle. The industrys difficulties have also revealed a lack of overall …- but particularly nuclear …- energy strategy at either national or international levels, and a lack of will to create regulations and institutional machinery at either of these levels which might reassure both concerned publics and the energy industries themselves. This paper appraises some of the present limitations of international institutions in achieving control and management of nuclear power.

International Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses about international proliferation of nuclear weapons. There are various routes to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. These weapons have depended upon one or more of the fissile isotopes—U235, Pu239, and U233—for their fuel. The presence of uranium or plutonium isotopes other than these can significantly affect the practicability of constructing a weapon and reduce its yield. U235 exists at about 0.7% concentration in natural uranium, but for a weapon, the uranium must be enriched till it is pure or nearly pure U235. At present, the diffusion process is the principal source for enrichment. Centrifuge plants are also operating and, as they are more efficient, will slowly replace the diffusion plants. The processes that are or are expected to be used to supply low-enriched uranium for commercial power plants can be used after changes in the interconnections to produce the high-enriched uranium for weapons. The newer processes, which can be built in relatively small units, can be more easily concealed than large diffusion plants. The only possible competitor to the fast reactor as a means of economizing in natural uranium is the use of thorium in reactors with a very good neutron economy. Substitution of Th232 for U238 requires a large enrichment capacity to initiate the fuel cycle and a thorium/U233 recycling facility to sustain it.

Agriculture in a mature industrial society: The case of Britain

Abstract In a period of transition to post-industrialism the authors suggest that the conventional wisdom about agriculture is inadequate. They use Britain as a case study to discuss a rich nation dual economy and propose an alternative strategy for agriculture. This strategy would have four major objectives: greater first and second order self-sufficiency; a regional re-integration; the use of less energy and better husbandry in agriculture; and improved nutrition. In raising a number of far reaching questions in the article the authors hope to stimulate some broadly based discussion of agricultural change in the rich countries.

The control of nuclear energy New aims for the reform of international institutions

Abstract The author examines possible institutional reforms which will effectively block ‘peaceful’ routes to nuclear proliferation while at the same time ensuring equity in access to adequate energy supplies. Necessary reforms would include: jointly guaranteed supplies of low-enriched uranium for thermal reactors; a new international safeguards system; international nuclear security and safety standards; international agreement on nuclear waste disposal measures; international institutional initiative to promote alternative energy sources; functional reform of the IAEA; and reorganized regulatory review processes at national levels.