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Everything has a tiny nuclear reactor in it. How much of a concern are illegal nuclear bombs?

In this world, basically every structure (building, factory, car, etc...) has a tiny nuclear reactor in it, and operates like a nuclear submarine. There isn't even an electrical grid; every structure produces its own electricity. (There was a very famous terror attack that involved terrorists first disabling an electrical grid in a densely populated city, so now the society is highly skeptical of relying on them.)

The nuclear reactors produce steam, and that steam pressure is used to power all mechanical processes, including:

A heat pump to heat a heating line and cool a coolant line for all heating and cooling needs (even cooking and refrigeration). Heat pumps are a purely mechanical process!
Normal pumps to pump water and air
Steam engines to power vehicles and industrial robots (the vehicles are hybrid)
A small electric generator similar to a car alternator (electricity is for lighting, computing, electronic communication, and powering tiny devices that can't fit a nuclear reactor)

Basically like a nuclear submarine. The control rods are automatically adjusted to maintain constant steam pressure.

It is otherwise similar to our real, contemporary world.

This of course means that society uses a lot of uranium and can't tightly regulate it. How likely is it for people to illegally create nuclear bombs, and how hard is it for the police/intelligence agencies to stop them?

Answer

It is a huge step to go from nuclear powered electrical generation to nuclear bombs. Uranium has two forms, one fairly inert (half-life of 4.5 billion years) and one that is radioactive. The radioactive form is less than 1% of the ore.

[It is possible to have power plants that use natural uranium without any concentration.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_uranium)

To build a bomb with uranium, you have to concentrate the U235 to 90%. Iran had to acquire a vast number of centrifuges in order to do the concentrating. In WWII, the Manhattan Project used "electromagnetic separation, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion technologies were all successful and contributed to the project." Centrifuge technology was improved after the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project

Note that of the high cost of the Manhattan Project, most of that was spent in getting the concentrated fissionable material. They needed to build multiple large plants to get the job done.

Look at how it has been possible to identify and disrupt Iran's attempts to get concentrated material. Police in a more open society will have an easier time.

Edit Summary

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$\begingroup$ Hmm, so do you think the society should make enriched uranium completely illegal? Or perhaps only allow partially enriched uranium, or allow it but only for certain applications? $\endgroup$
– Christopher King
Commented Jul 4 at 15:05
2

$\begingroup$ @JonCuster it is much harder to make an atomic bomb from plutonium. $\endgroup$
– Christopher King
Commented Jul 4 at 18:57
1

$\begingroup$ +1, this is the only realistic solution. The nuclear reactors in this setting must use fuel which is safe to handle. Otherwise, despite it being nigh impossible for anything other than big state actors to build nuclear bombs, anyone would be able to build dirty bombs by having conventional bombs scatter the unsafe nuclear fuel. $\endgroup$
– vsz
Commented Jul 5 at 4:09
3

$\begingroup$ This answer fails one one key problem: small nuclear reactors, like those in a nuclear submarine absolutely rely on enriched uranium. All the U-238 in un-enriched Uranium increases the volume and lowers the power production. The assumed reactors are even smaller than those in submarines. $\endgroup$
– MSalters
Commented Jul 5 at 8:41
3

$\begingroup$ @vsz enriched uranium isn't that much more radioactive. Spent fuel, however, is highly radioactive, even when using natural uranium, so that's going to be a concern regardless. $\endgroup$
– Aetol
Commented Jul 5 at 9:05

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