Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation
Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Author: Allan S. Krass

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-20

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 100020054X

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Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Safeguards and the International Atomic Energy Agency
Nuclear Safeguards and the International Atomic Energy Agency

Author:

Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13:

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From the dawn of the nuclear age, nuclear power has been recognized as a 'dual-use' technology. The same nuclear reactions that give bombs the destructive force of many thousands of tons of high explosive can, when harnessed in a controlled fashion, produce energy for peaceful purposes. The challenge for the international nuclear nonproliferation regime-the collection of policies, treaties, and institutions intended to stem the spread of nuclear weapons-is to prevent nuclear proliferation while at the same time permitting nuclear energy's peaceful applications to be realized. One of the key institutions involved in meeting these two objectives is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an international organization created in 1957 as a direct outgrowth of president Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' program. The IAEA Statute, which creates the legal framework for the agency, charges it to 'accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health, and prosperity throughout the world.' At the same time, it gives the agency the authority to enter into so-called safeguards agreements with individual nations or groups of nations to ensure that nuclear materials, equipment, or facilities are not used to produce nuclear weapons. The IAEA's mission and its safeguards responsibilities were extended with the enactment in 1970 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (also known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT). The Treaty requires non-nuclear-weapon states that are parties to the accord to enter into safeguards agreements with the IAEA covering all nuclear materials on their territory (e.g., uranium and plutonium, whether in forms directly usable for weapons or forms that require additional processing before becoming usable in weapons).

Handbook on Nuclear Law
Handbook on Nuclear Law

Author: Carlton Stoiber

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789201039101

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This handbook is a practical aid to legislative drafting that brings together, for the first time, model texts of provisions covering all aspects of nuclear law in a consolidated form. Organized along the same lines as the Handbook on Nuclear Law, published by the IAEA in 2003, and containing updated material on new legal developments, this publication represents an important companion resource for the development of new or revised nuclear legislation, as well as for instruction in the fundamentals of nuclear law. It will be particularly useful for those Member States embarking on new or expanding existing nuclear programmes.

Nuclear Safeguards, Security, and Nonproliferation
Nuclear Safeguards, Security, and Nonproliferation

Author: James Doyle

Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann

Published: 2019-02-18

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 0128032715

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Nuclear Safeguards, Security and Nonproliferation: Achieving Security with Technology and Policy, Second Edition is a comprehensive reference covering the cutting-edge technologies used to trace, track and safeguard nuclear material. Sections cover security, the illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, improvised nuclear devices, and how to prevent nuclear terrorism. International case studies of security at nuclear facilities and illegal nuclear trade activities provide specific examples of the complex issues surrounding the technology and policy for nuclear material protection, control and accountability. New case studies include analyses of nuclear programs of important countries, such as North Korea, Iran, and Kazakhstan, among others. This is a thoroughly updated, must-have volume for private and public organizations involved in driving national security, domestic and international policy issues relating to nuclear material security, non-proliferation, and nuclear transparency.

International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-proliferation
International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-proliferation

Author: Luciano Maiani

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 303042913X

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This open access book examines key aspects of international cooperation to enhance nuclear safety, security, safeguards, and nonproliferation, thereby assisting in development and maintenance of the verification regime and fostering progress toward a nuclear weapon-free world. Current challenges are discussed and attempts made to identify possible solutions and future improvements, considering scientific developments that have the potential to increase the effectiveness of implementation of international regimes, particularly in critical areas, technology foresight, and the ongoing evaluation of current capabilities.

Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets
Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-07-17

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 0309270626

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In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept-ignition -could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee's deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets ("the panel") was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the panel") will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand: 1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.