New laser technology stirs nuclear bomb proliferation fears

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission responded to concerns that an enrichment facility it approved last month in North Carolina -- which could be the first in the world to refine uranium using lasers -- would be a proliferation threat. A 1999 report from the State Department found that it was in the U.S. interest to develop the technology "here, where it could be properly safeguarded, rather than having other countries develop it," said NRC spokesman David McIntyre. The agency's security requirements "effectively protect against the threat of proliferation," he added. Reutershttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL6E8L988020121011