Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation PDF Author: Allan S. Krass
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100020054X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
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.

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation PDF Author: Allan S. Krass
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100020054X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium, 1996

Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium, 1996 PDF Author: David Albright
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) are the basic materials used in nuclear weapons. Plutonium also plays an important part in the generation of nuclear electricity. Knowing how much plutonium and HEU exists, where and in which form is vital for international security and nuclear commerce. This book is a thorough revision of the World Inventory of Plutonium and highly Enriched Uranium, 1992. It provides a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the amounts of plutonium and HEU in military and civilian programmes, in nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states, and in countries seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. The capibilities that exist for producing these materials around the world are examined in depth, as are the policy issues raised by them. Containing much new information, this book is indispensable to all those concerned with the great contemporary issues in international nuclear relations: arms reductions in the nuclear weapon states, nuclear proliferation, nuclear smuggling, the roles of plutonium and enriched uranium in the nuclear fuel-cycle, and the disposition of surplus weapon material.

Technologies underlying weapons of mass destruction

Technologies underlying weapons of mass destruction PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428921109
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description


Dismantling the Bomb and Managing the Nuclear Materials

Dismantling the Bomb and Managing the Nuclear Materials PDF Author: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment
Publisher: Congress
ISBN:
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description


Thorium Fuel Cycle

Thorium Fuel Cycle PDF Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Provides a critical review of the thorium fuel cycle: potential benefits and challenges in the thorium fuel cycle, mainly based on the latest developments at the front end of the fuel cycle, applying thorium fuel cycle options, and at the back end of the thorium fuel cycle.

Sources, Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 2016 Report

Sources, Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 2016 Report PDF Author: United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
Publisher: United Nations
ISBN: 9210600029
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
This report assesses the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing radiation. Scientific findings underpin radiation risk evaluation and international protection standards. This report comprises a report with two underpinning scientific annexes. The first annex recapitulates and clarifies the philosophy of science as well as the scientific knowledge for attributing observed health effects in individuals and populations to radiation exposure, and distinguishes between that and inferring risk to individuals and populations from an exposure. The second annex reviews the latest thinking and approaches to quantifying the uncertainties in assessments of risk from radiation exposure, and illustrates these approaches with application to examples that are highly pertinent to radiation protection.

The New Nuclear Forensics

The New Nuclear Forensics PDF Author: Vitaly Fedchenko
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198736649
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Nuclear material changes its form and properties as it moves through the nuclear fuel cycle, from one facility to another. Each step of the fuel cycle or each use of the material will inevitably leave its mark. The science of determining the history of a sample of nuclear material through the study of these characteristics is known as nuclear forensics. While nuclear forensic analysis has normally been associated with investigations and prosecutions in the contextof trafficking of nuclear materials or nuclear terrorism, it had wider applications in in national security contexts, such as nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament, and arms control. The New Nuclear Forensics is the first book to give a definitive guide to this broader definition of nuclear forensic analysis. This book describes the various methods used in nuclear forensics, giving first a broad introduction to the process followed by details of relevant measurement techniques and procedures. In each case, the advantages and limitations are outlined. To put these methods in context, the book also recounts the history of the discipline anddescribes the diverse contemporary applications of nuclear forensics.

Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction PDF Author:
Publisher: Congress
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description


Revisiting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program

Revisiting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program PDF Author: David Albright
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781536845655
Category : National security
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
In 1989, South Africa made the momentous decision to abandon its nuclear weapons, making it the first and still the only country that has produced nuclear weapons and given them up. Over thirty years, the apartheid regime had created a remarkably sophisticated capability to build nuclear weapons-both the nuclear warhead and advanced military systems to deliver them. The program was born in secret and remained so until its end. The government initially sought to dismantle it in secret. It hoped to avoid any negative international consequences of possessing nuclear weapons. The apartheid government's strategy did not work, because too many intelligence agencies knew about South Africa's nuclear weapons. Faced with intense pressure, South Africa's President F.W. de Klerk reversed course and adopted a policy of transparency in 1993. However, he decided to hide many of its aspects. Nonetheless, most of the remaining secrets emerged over the ensuing 25 years. Revisiting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program draws on previously secret information to provide the first comprehensive, technically-oriented look at South Africa's nuclear weapons program; how it grew, evolved, and ended. It also finds lessons for today's nuclear proliferation cases.

Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom

Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom PDF Author: DIANE Publishing Company
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 9780788116360
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Describes environmental, safety, and health problems throughout the nuclear weapons complex and what the U.S. Dept. of Energy is doing to address them. Covers: building nuclear warheads: the process; wastes and other byproducts of the cold war (spent nuclear fuel, plutonium residues, radioactive waste, transuranic waste, hazardous waste, etc.); contamination and cleanup; an international perspective; transition to new missions; and looking to the future. Over 100 b/w photos. Extensive glossary and bibliography.