Thomas Cochran has been working with the Natural Resources Defense Council since the 1970s to impede the use of nuclear power, particularly the kind that uses most of the potential energy and produces the lease amount of radioactive waste:In an effort to promote nuclear power, the Department of Energy has launched a 30- to 50- year international research effort to explore new nuclear reactor and fuel processing technologies. According to Dr. Thomas Cochran, the director of NRDC’s nuclear program, the project is unlikely to result in deployment of new commercial nuclear fuel technologies, but will greatly increase the risk of prolifieration of nuclear weapons.