Iran has removed fuel rods from its new Bushehr nuclear power plant after only two months of operation, instead of the 12-18 month interval that optimizes power production costs. In the reactor neutrons transform U-238 to Pu-239, a weapons-capable material, but neutrons also transform Pu-239 into Pu-240, which ruins the military weapons potential of the resulting plutonium. By removing the fuel rods and Pu-239 so soon, Iran has the potential to recover the relatively pure Pu-239 for weapons using well-known technologies. However the process requires expensive factories with remote handling machinery because the radiation from the fission products is intense and deadly.

Technology such as the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) offer improved weapons proliferation resistance because they generate very much less plutonium and because the fuel (dissolved in molten salt) is additionally contaminated by U-232, which emits very intense, high energy gamma rays as it decays. China is pursuing LFTR technology, which not only offers improved proliferation resistance, but also has the potential to generate power cheaper than coal, economically dissuading all nations from burning fossil fuels for energy