But the fact remains that the safeguards themselves do not prevent the government using civil plutonium for defence purposes.

But they have not turned Japan away from using plutonium.

Atom bombs use two main fuels - plutonium and uranium.

In fact, no nation has developed nuclear weapons using plutonium from spent power reactor fuel.

Japan already uses so much plutonium that several agency inspectors are permanently stationed there.

The country plans to implement fast breeder reactors, using plutonium based fuel.

You can use low-grade plutonium to make nuclear-isotope power supplies.

In 1999 the Clinton administration did agree to pay a consortium of power companies $130 million to use plutonium that the government would convert into fuel.

As the Manhattan Project continued to use plutonium, airborne contamination began to be a major concern.

Most of the world's nuclear weapons use plutonium as the primary explosive.