Nuclear proliferation

[[Image:Nuclear weapon programs worldwide.png|thumb|300px|World map with List of countries with nuclear weapons|nuclear weapons development status represented by color. Red: Five "nuclear weapons states" from the NPT (USA, Russia, UK, France, PRC). Dark orange: Other known nuclear powers (India, Pakistan). Light orange: States suspected of having possession of, or suspected of being in the process of developing, nuclear weapons (Israel, North Korea, Iran, Ukraine). Purple: States which at one point had nuclear weapons and/or nuclear weapons research programs.

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Nuclear proliferation is the spread from nation to nation of nuclear technology, including nuclear power plants but especially nuclear weapons.

Related Topics:
Nuclear power - Nuclear weapon

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The primary focus of anti-proliferation efforts is to maintain control over the specialized materials necessary to build such devices because this is the most difficult and expensive part of a nuclear weapons program. (In the Manhattan Project, 90% of the budget was dedicated to isotope separation and enrichment.) The main materials whose

Related Topics:
Manhattan Project - Isotope separation

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generation and distribution is controlled are highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The scientific and technical means for weapons development, although non-trivial, are generally available in order to develop rudimentary, but working nuclear devices. (The Nth Country Experiment is an excellent example of this.)

Related Topics:
Enriched uranium - Plutonium - Nth Country Experiment

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The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) safeguards system operates under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968. It has involved cooperation in developing nuclear energy while ensuring that civil uranium, plutonium and associated plants are used only for peaceful purposes and do not contribute in any way to proliferation or nuclear weapons programmes. In 1995 the NPT was extended indefinitely.

Related Topics:
International Atomic Energy Agency - Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - 1968 - Uranium - Plutonium - 1995

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Most countries have renounced nuclear weapons, stating that possession of them would threaten rather than enhance national security. They have therefore embraced the NPT as a public commitment to use nuclear materials and technology only for peaceful purposes.

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