General
Nuclear Power and Nuclear Bombs
In this influential paper from Foreign Affairs, the authors argue that the nuclear proliferation problem is insoluble. At the time, all policies to control proliferation assumed that the rapid worldwide spread of nuclear power is essential to reduce dependence on oil, economically desirable, and inevitable; that efforts to inhibit the…
Nuclear Weapons and Power-Reactor Plutonium
This article, originally published in Nature in 1980, seeks to provide a discreet, selective, but adequate physical basis for understanding the scope for using reactor-grade plutonium in fission bombs at some of the diverse levels of sophistication open to various potential users. With modest design sophistication, high-burn-up plutonium from power…
Thorium Cycles and Proliferation: Response
This article by A. De Volpi responds to an earlier piece by Amory Lovins in which Lovins condemns the use of thorium cycles. De Volpi argues that Lovins’ analysis is factually inaccurate. In this same document, Lovins reponds to De Volpi’s criticism.
Tell the Truth
In 1975, the Atomic Industrial Forum invited David Comey of Friends of the Earth, a foe of nuclear power, to tell the nuclear industry how it could be more credible to the public. Comey gave them the obvious answer—to become credible you must tell the truth. The complete text of…
Thermal Limits to World Energy Use
In this slightly simplified version of a technical paper first circulated in 1970, Amory Lovins argues that “heat released by man’s rapidly increasing energy-use may seriously perturb global climate in less than 100 years. He argues that until the climate issue is completely understood, it is risky and imprudent to…