- Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods can significantly reduce radioactive waste from powerplants, but the extracted plutonium can be used to make nuclear weapons.

- France has been reprocessing spent fuel rods since 1966. Britain and Russia also have a large reprocessing capacity.

- In 1977 President Carter made reprocessing illegal in the US after India used civilian reprocessing to create nuclear weapons. President Reagan reversed the policy, but reprocessing was never initiated after that in the US.

- In 1994 North Korea acknowledged that it was using spent fuel rods from nuclear powerplants to develop nuclear weapons. In 2003 North Korea reported that it had finished reprocessing 8000 spent fuel rods.

- In 2005 President Bush signed a DOE budget for the construction of a reprocessing facilty in the US.

- In 2006 North Korea claimed to have tested a 4 kiloton nuclear weapon. The US then called for sanctions against North Korea.

- Iran has also in recent years claimed the right to pursue their own reprocessing facilities. The US has imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran since 1979 hostage crisis, and has since called for additional UN sanctions because of their nuclear program.