What is nuclear empowerment?

Answer 1

Just as nuclear power seems to be dying a slow, disreputable death comes a proposal for making reactors clean, safe and unattractive to those who might want to blow up New York City. If nuclear fission is induced not by neutrons from chain reactions but by neutrons from a new generation of powerful accelerators, the reactor cannot burn out of control, argue scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics near Geneva. Radioactive waste could also be eliminated, and bomb makers could not divert the fuel.

Conventional reactors often use a mixture of uranium isotopes. When a neutron hits one such nucleus, it breaks into two halves, releasing energy and two or three other neutrons. These particles either escape or induce further fissions, producing a chain reaction. The reactor needs to maintain a delicate balance in the number of neutrons. Too few, and the reaction dies out. Too many--even by 1 percent-- and there could be a Chernobyl. (Control rods, which absorb excess neutrons, help to tame the reaction.)

Answer 2

Nuclear empowerment refers to the process where a country or entity gains access to nuclear technology, knowledge, or materials, allowing them to develop nuclear weapons or a nuclear energy program. This can raise concerns about nuclear proliferation and the potential for increased global security risks.