Toward Nuclear Disarmament Building up Transparency and Verifcation
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Report: the New Nuclear Arms Race
The New Nuclear Arms Race The Outlook for Avoiding Catastrophe August 2020 By Akshai Vikram Akshai Vikram is the Roger L. Hale Fellow at Ploughshares Fund, where he focuses on U.S. nuclear policy. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Akshai previously worked as an opposition researcher for the Democratic National Committee and a campaign staffer for the Kentucky Democratic Party. He has written on U.S. nuclear policy and U.S.-Iran relations for outlets such as Inkstick Media, The National Interest, Defense One, and the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft. Akshai holds an M.A. in International Economics and American Foreign Policy from the Johns Hopkins University SAIS as well as a B.A. in International Studies and Political Science from Johns Hopkins Baltimore. On a good day, he speaks Spanish, French, and Persian proficiently. Acknowledgements This report was made possible by the strong support I received from the entire Ploughshares Fund network throughout my fellowship. Ploughshares Fund alumni Will Saetren, Geoff Wilson, and Catherine Killough were extremely kind in offering early advice on the report. From the Washington, D.C. office, Mary Kaszynski and Zack Brown offered many helpful edits and suggestions, while Joe Cirincione, Michelle Dover, and John Carl Baker provided much- needed encouragement and support throughout the process. From the San Francisco office, Will Lowry, Derek Zender, and Delfin Vigil were The New Nuclear Arms Race instrumental in finalizing this report. I would like to thank each and every one of them for their help. I would especially like to thank Tom Collina. Tom reviewed numerous drafts of this report, never The Outlook for Avoiding running out of patience or constructive advice. -
Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl. Atoms
ATOMS PEACE WAR Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission Richard G. Hewlett and lack M. Roll With a Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall and an Essay on Sources by Roger M. Anders University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London Published 1989 by the University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission; work made for hire. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hewlett, Richard G. Atoms for peace and war, 1953-1961. (California studies in the history of science) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Nuclear energy—United States—History. 2. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—History. 3. Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969. 4. United States—Politics and government-1953-1961. I. Holl, Jack M. II. Title. III. Series. QC792. 7. H48 1989 333.79'24'0973 88-29578 ISBN 0-520-06018-0 (alk. paper) Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii List of Figures and Tables ix Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall xi Preface xix Acknowledgements xxvii 1. A Secret Mission 1 2. The Eisenhower Imprint 17 3. The President and the Bomb 34 4. The Oppenheimer Case 73 5. The Political Arena 113 6. Nuclear Weapons: A New Reality 144 7. Nuclear Power for the Marketplace 183 8. Atoms for Peace: Building American Policy 209 9. Pursuit of the Peaceful Atom 238 10. The Seeds of Anxiety 271 11. Safeguards, EURATOM, and the International Agency 305 12. -
Images of Nuclear Energy: Why People Feel the Way They Do Emotions and Ideas Are More Deeply Rooted Than Realized
SPECIAL REPORT Images of nuclear energy: Why people feel the way they do Emotions and ideas are more deeply rooted than realized by ^/ontroversy over nuclear energy, both bombs anxiety and anger. Even among pro-nuclear Spencer R. Weart and reactors, has been exceptionally durable and people, beneath the controlled language, there is violent, exciting more emotion and public a lot of anxiety, a lot of anger. And why not? protest than any other technology. A main reason After all, everyone has heard that nuclear is that during the 20th century, nuclear energy weapons can blow up the world — or maybe gradually became a condensed symbol for many deter those who would blow it up. With nuclear features of industrial and bureucratic authority reactors, too, everyone agrees they are immense- (especially the horrors of modern war). ly important. They will save us from the global Propagandists found nuclear energy a useful disasters of the Greenhouse Effect — or perhaps symbol because it had become associated with they will poison all our posterity. potent images: not only weapons, but also un- Most of us take for granted these intensely canny scientists with mysterious rays' and mutant emotional ideas; we suppose the ideas flow from monsters; technological Utopia or universal the nature of the bombs and reactors themselves. doom; and even spiritual degradation or rebirth. But I have come to feel uneasy about this over These images had archaic connections stretching the years doing historical research on nuclear back to alchemical visions of transmutation. energy. The fact is, emotions came first, and the Decades before fission was discovered, the im- powerful devices themselves came later. -
The United Kingdom's Defence Nuclear Weapons Programme
Publications and Reports The United Kingdom's Defence Nuclear Weapons Programme A Summary Report by The Ministry of Defence on the Role of Historical Accounting for Fissile Material in the Nuclear Disarmament Process, and on Plutonium for the United Kingdom's Defence Nuclear Programme Introduction 1. The Government is committed to transparency and openness about the defence nuclear programme when compatible with continuing national security requirements and the United Kingdom’s international obligations under Article I of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Government is also committed to work towards the goal of the global elimination of nuclear weapons As the Strategic Defence Review stated, eliminating nuclear weapons will require States which have had nuclear programmes outside international safeguards to account for the fissile material that they have produced. This contributes to the process of nuclear disarmament by developing confidence that as States reduce and eventually eliminate their nuclear weapons, they have not retained concealed stocks of fissile material outside international supervision with which to construct clandestine nuclear weapons. Such accounting was crucial to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s initial verification of the comprehensive safeguards agreement signed by South Africa when it eliminated its nuclear weapons programme and joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon State. The United States has produced a comprehensive report on its production of plutonium for defence purposes, and is working on a similar study on its production of High Enriched Uranium. 2. It is important not to overestimate the contribution such historical accounting can make to the verification of the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons. -
Colonial Appeasement
Colonial Appeasement coming to power in 1933, even though the Nazi leader’s territorial ambitions focused (1935–38) on Eastern Europe, as indicated in his infa- PAUL W. DOERR mous memoir Mein Kampf.Afewsenior Acadia University, Canada Nazis also hoped for a colonial foothold in Africa, but the early years of Hitler’s regime were taken up with other, more urgent Colonial appeasement is a largely forgotten matters. aspectofBritishappeasement.Duringthe British officials and policy-makers had, years from 1935 to 1938 the British govern- throughout the 1920s, strongly rejected any ment gave serious attention to the possibility suggestion of returning colonies to Germany. of granting Germany colonial possessions But the deteriorating world economic situa- in Africa as part of a “general settlement” tion after 1929, combined with the growing with the Nazi regime. Various schemes for threat to the peace from Hitler’s Germany, transferring African territories to German forced the British to rethink their position. jurisdiction were considered, but serious Gradually the idea began to emerge that per- obstacles arose and, with the exception of haps colonies could be returned to Germany one formal proposal from the British in early as part of a much larger general settlement of 1938, talks with the Germans on the subject the situation in Europe. never moved beyond vague generalities. On March 7, 1936, Hitler sent German Prior to the First World War, Germany troops into the demilitarized zone of Ger- held four territories in Africa, namely Ger- many. He then issued a series of demands, man East Africa, German South-West Africa, oneofwhichwasacallforequalityofcolonial Kamerun, and Togoland. -
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
; Democratic People's Republic ofKorea PERMANENT MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS 820 Second Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, N.V: 1001.7 Tel: (212) 972-3105/3106 Fax: (212) 972-3154 Press Release Please Check against Delivery STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. PAKKIL YON VICE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA AT THE HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT OF THE 68th UN GENERALASSEMBLY NEW YORK, 26 SEPTEMBER 2013 Mr. President, First ofall, on behalf ofthe delegation ofthe Democratic People's Republic ofKorea (DPRK), I would like to congratulate you for your assumption of the important duty as the president of this session. Furthermore, I am confident that under your able leadership, this meeting will be a significant occasion in the United Nation's endeavors for nuclear disarmament. Mr. President, Prevention of nuclear arms race and realization of the world free from nuclear weapons through nuclear disarmament is becoming a pressing task in ensuring peace and security of the world. 45 years ago, nuclear powers made a commitment to nuclear disarmament through the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT) and ~hey put obligations on non-nuclear weapon states to use atomic power for peaceful purposes only. These commitments for nuclear disarmament were reconfirmed in 1995 when the NPT was extended for indefinite period without any amendments and through "Thirteen Action Plan for Nuclear Disarmament" which was taken at the NPT Review Conference in 2000. However, notwithstanding this, there is a tendency in which. priority is being given to non-proliferation, rather than nuclear disarmament. Under .the pretext of nuclear disarmament, development of new types of nuclear weapons of enhanced capability are constantly pushed ahead and furthermore maneuvers to conduct. -
Resource Guide on Nuclear Disarmament for Religious Leaders
RESOURCE GUIDE ON nuclear disarmament FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND COMMUNITIES RESOURCE GUIDE ON nuclear disarmament FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND COMMUNITIES Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. — J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Manhattan Project, which created the first atom bomb, quoting the Bhagavad Gita as he witnessed the atom bomb test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945 When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. — Martin Luther King, Jr. Inside cover: Baker Test, Marshall Islands, July 25, 1946. Photo: U.S. Department of Defense. CATASTROPHIC IMPACT OF NUCLEAR TESTS ON HUMAN HEALTH Now we have this problem of what we call “jelly-fish babies.” These babies are born like jelly-fish. They have no eyes. They have no heads. They have no arms. They have no legs. They do not shape like human beings at all. When they die they are buried right away. A lot of times they don’t allow the mother to see this kind of baby because she will go crazy. It is too inhumane. — Darlene Keju-Johnson, Director of Family Planning 1987–1992, Marshall Islands, on the impact of U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Religions for Peace (RfP) would like to express its gratitude and appreciation to the Norwegian Min- istry of Foreign Affairs and Rissho Kosei-Kai for their years of generous support and partnership in RfP’s education and advocacy program to mobilize religious leaders and their constituencies around a credible, cohesive and bold advocacy and action agenda for peace and shared security, particularly in the area of nuclear disarmament. -
Jihadists and Nuclear Weapons
VERSION: Charles P. Blair, “Jihadists and Nuclear Weapons,” in Gary Ackerman and Jeremy Tamsett, eds., Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Growing Threat (New York: Taylor and Francis, 2009), pp. 193-238. c h a p t e r 8 Jihadists and Nuclear Weapons Charles P. Blair CONTENTS Introduction 193 Improvised Nuclear Devices (INDs) 195 Fissile Materials 198 Weapons-Grade Uranium and Plutonium 199 Likely IND Construction 203 External Procurement of Intact Nuclear Weapons 204 State Acquisition of an Intact Nuclear Weapon 204 Nuclear Black Market 212 Incidents of Jihadist Interest in Nuclear Weapons and Weapons-Grade Nuclear Materials 213 Al-Qa‘ida 213 Russia’s Chechen-Led Jihadists 214 Nuclear-Related Threats and Attacks in India and Pakistan 215 Overall Likelihood of Jihadists Obtaining Nuclear Capability 215 Notes 216 Appendix: Toward a Nuclear Weapon: Principles of Nuclear Energy 232 Discovery of Radioactive Materials 232 Divisibility of the Atom 232 Atomic Nucleus 233 Discovery of Neutrons: A Pathway to the Nucleus 233 Fission 234 Chain Reactions 235 Notes 236 INTRODUCTION On December 1, 2001, CIA Director George Tenet made a hastily planned, clandestine trip to Pakistan. Tenet arrived in Islamabad deeply shaken by the news that less than three months earlier—just weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001—al-Qa‘ida and Taliban leaders had met with two former Pakistani nuclear weapon scientists in a joint quest to acquire nuclear weapons. Captured documents the scientists abandoned as 193 AU6964.indb 193 12/16/08 5:44:39 PM 194 Charles P. Blair they fled Kabul from advancing anti-Taliban forces were evidence, in the minds of top U.S. -
Department of Peace Operations
OROLSI is comprised of five components: “UN Peacekeeping deploys to some of the most complex OFFICE OF RULE OF LAW & SECURITY INSTITUTIONS and difficult places, protecting some of the world’s most United Nations Police Division (PD) vulnerable. We are working in partnership with Member States to implement the Secretary-General’s Action for Where requested and mandated, United Nations Police (UNPOL) supports Member States to realize effective, efficient, representative, responsive and accountable police services that Peacekeeping initiative to strengthen peacekeeping, including serve and protect the population. UNPOL build and support police capacity to prevent and to improve how we protect civilians, which is at the heart of detect crime, protect life and property and maintain public order and safety in adherence our work. For hundreds of millions, peacekeeping is the last to the rule of law and international human rights norms. The United Nations Police Division best hope and it needs all our support.” supports UNPOL by selecting, recruiting, deploying and rotating personnel in UN peace operations; developing policy and guidance; providing strategic and operational support, Jean-Pierre Lacroix Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations including through the Standing Police Capacity; and facilitating assessments and evaluations. Justice and Corrections Service (JCS) Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) OROLSI colleagues are at the forefront of efforts to enhance The Justice and Corrections Service serves as a center of expertise on justice and the performance and accountability of peacekeepers, includ- corrections areas and supports the work of justice and corrections components in OROLSI is committed to ing by conducting trainings and assessments of Formed Police United Nations peace operations and other UN entities. -
Disarmament a Basic Guide
Disarmament A Basic Guide by Melissa Gillis Third Edition United Nations, New York, 2012 Note THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR DISARMAMENT AFFAIRS has published the Ba- sic Guide pursuant to the purposes of the United Nations Disarmament Informa- tion Programme. The mandate of the Programme is to inform, educate and gener- ate public understanding of the importance of multilateral action, and support for it, in the field of arms limitation and disarmament. For more information, contact: Information and Outreach Branch United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs United Nations New York, NY 10017 Telephone: 212.963.3022 Email: [email protected] Website: www.un.org/disarmament THE FIRST EDITION of the Guide was originally written by Bhaskar Menon and pub- lished in 2001 in collaboration with the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security. The second edition was authored and edited by Melissa Gillis, the editor of Disarmament Times, and was published in 2009. Ms. Gillis edited this third edition and provided updated text where ap- propriate. The Guide is intended for the general reader, but may also be useful for the disarmament educator or trainer. COVER DESIGN based on the United Nations poster entitled “The United Nations for a Better World”, designed by Ricardo Ernesto Jaime de Freitas. THE VIEWS expressed are those of the author/editor and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations. MATERIAL appearing in the Guide may be reprinted without permission, provided that credit is given to the author/editor and to the United Nations. Since 1972, the NGO COMMITTEE ON DISARMAMENT, PEACE AND SECURITY has provided services to citizens’ groups concerned with the peace and disarmament activities of the United Nations. -
The Submarine and the Washington Conference Of
477 THE SUBMARINE AND THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE OF 1921 Lawrence H. Douglas Following the First World War, the tation of this group, simply stated, was tide of public opinion was overwhelm that second best in naval strength meant ingly against the submarine as a weapon last. A policy of naval superiority was of war. The excesses of the German necessary, they felt, for "history consis U-boat had stunned the sensibilities of tently shows that war between no two the world but had, nonetheless, pre peoples or nations can be unthink sented new ideas and possibilities of this able.,,1 A second group, the Naval weapon to the various naval powers of Advisory Committee (Admirals Pratt the time. The momentum of these new and Coontz and Assistant Secretary of ideas proved so strong that by the the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.) also opening of the first major international submitted recommendations concerning disarmament conference of the 20th the limitation of naval armaments. century, practical uses of the submarine From the outset their deliberations were had all but smothered the moral indig guided by a concern that had become nation of 1918. more and more apparent-the threat Several months prior to the opening posed to the security and interests of of the conference, the General Board of this country by Japan. This concern was the American Navy was given the task evidenced in an attempt to gain basic of developing guidelines and recommen understandings with Britain. dations to be used by the State Depart The submarine received its share of ment in determining the American attention in the deliberations of these proposals to be presented. -
OSP11: Nuclear Weapons Policy 1967-1998
OPERATIONAL SELECTION POLICY OSP11 NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY 1967-1998 Revised November 2005 1 Authority 1.1 The National Archives' Acquisition Policy announced the Archive's intention of developing Operational Selection Policies across government. These would apply the collection themes described in the overall policy to the records of individual departments and agencies. 1.2 Operational Selection Policies are intended to be working tools for those involved in the selection of public records. This policy may therefore be reviewed and revised in the light of comments from users of the records or from archive professionals, the experience of departments in using the policy, or as a result of newly discovered information. There is no formal cycle of review, but comments would be welcomed at any time. The extent of any review or revision exercise will be determined according to the nature of the comments received. If you have any comments upon this policy, please e-mail records- [email protected] or write to: Acquisition and Disposition Policy Manager Records Management Department The National Archives Kew Richmond Surrey TW9 4DU 1.3 Operational Selection Policies do not provide guidance on access to selected records. 2 Scope 2.1 This policy relates to all public records on British nuclear weapons policy and development. The departments and agencies concerned are the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Security Policy Department, Defence Department, Atomic Energy and Disarmament Department, and Arms Control and Disarmament Department), HM Treasury (Defence and Material Department), the Department of Trade and Industry (Atomic Energy, and Export Control and Non-Proliferation Directorate), the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).