K
Kiloton (kt) - Energy equivalent to that released by the explosion of 1,000 tons of TNT; i.e. 10{sup 12} calories or 4.18 x 10{sup 12}; a measure of yield.
L
L-Clearance - DOE or NRC clearance for access to CRD, SFRD, or SNSI.
Local Classification Guide - A classification guide prepared and issued by DOE or by a DOE contractor organization and approved by DOE for a specific facility or activity. It is based on one or more Program Classification Guides and provides detailed classification guidance.
M
Mandatory Review - A declassification review that can be initiated or requested by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien, a Federal agency, or a state or local government pursuant to E.O. 12356.
N
National Security - The national defense and foreign relations of the United States.
National Security Information (NSI) - Information that has been determined pursuant to Executive Order 12356 or any predecessor order to require protection against unauthorized disclosure and that is so designated. Note that only DOE uses "NSI" markings on documents.
Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information (NNPI) - Information, classified or unclassified, concerning the design, arrangement, development, manufacture, testing, operation, administration, training, maintenance, and repair of naval nuclear propulsion plants and their associated shipboard and shore-based nuclear support facilities.
Need-To-Know - A determination by a person having responsibility for classified information or material that a proposed recipient's access to such classified information or matter is necessary in the performance of official or contractual duties of employment.
Nonnuclear Testing - Testing of nuclear weapons and their parts that does not involve a nuclear explosion; e.g., hydrotests, flight testing.
Normal Conditions - Typical conditions found in the laboratory; e.g., conditions close to standard temperature and pressure.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 (NNPA) - Public Law 95-242 (March 10, 1978) provides for additional controls over sensitive nuclear weapons-related technology.
Nuclear Safing - The prevention of nuclear yield if the HE is accidentally detonated in an implosion- assembled weapon or the propellant is accidentally ignited in a gun-assembled weapon.
O
Official Use Only (OUO) - A designation identifying certain unclassified but sensitive DOE information that may be exempt from public release under the FOIA.
One-Point Safe - A nuclear weapon is one-point safe if, when the HE is initiated and detonated at any single point, the probability of producing a nuclear yield exceeding 4 pounds TNT equivalent is less than 1 in one million.
Opacity - A calculation of the frequency-dependent or frequency-integrated effect of the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter, usually expressed as a function of a material's temperature and density.
P
Permissive Action Link (PAL) - A device or system included in or attached to a weapon system to preclude arming until a prescribed discrete code or combination is provided.
Physical Characteristics - The dimensions, weight, and external configuration or appearance of a weapon; included are mass, center of gravity, and moments of inertia.
Pit - The components of a nuclear explosive located within the inner boundary of the HE.
Policy Guide - A guide by which the Director of the Office of Security Affairs approves basic DOE policy statements on the classification and declassification of all DOE nuclear-related information.
Primary - A fission device that is the initial source of nuclear energy, coupled to a secondary stage.
Private Restricted Data - Information meeting the AEA definition of Restricted Data but generated outside Government control. Note that the AEA makes no such distinction in defining controls on Restricted Data.
Program Classification Guide - A guide that states specific classification policy for a particular DOE program and provides the basis for the development of local guides.
Proliferation - First acquisition and/or subsequent improvement in nuclear explosives by other countries.
Q
Q-Clearance - DOE or NRC clearance for SRD, TSFRD, or TSNSI.
R
Radiative outputs - Radiations emitted almost instantaneously by a nuclear explosion; they include x rays, neutrons, and gamma rays.
Reactor-Grade Plutonium - High burn-up, high Pu-240 content plutonium usually produced in power reactors. Typically contains more than approximately 19 percent Pu-240. In the past, definitions included fuel-grade plutonium.
Restricted Data (RD) - A category of classified information defined by the AEA, sec 11.y.: "The term 'Restricted Data' means all data concerning (1) design, manufacture, or utilization of atomic weapons; (2) the production of special nuclear material; or (3) the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy, but shall not include data declassified or removed from the Restricted Data category pursuant to section 142" (see Appendix 2).
RF, Radio, or Radar Blackout - Complete disruption of RF (radio frequency) signals over large areas caused by ionization from the radiative outputs of a high altitude nuclear explosion.
S
Safing - Measures taken to prevent operation of the firing system until a nuclear detonation is desired.
Salvage Fuze - A passive fuze actuated by an effect of a defensive burst.
Secondary - A nuclear stage separate from the primary.
Secret (S) - The classification level between Confidential and Top Secret; applied to information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.
Security - The protection of valuable matter, including classified material and information.
Security Clearance - Official determination that access by an individual to classified information will not be inimical to national security; e.g., in DOE (and NRC) "L-" and "Q"-clearances for RD, FRD and NSI, and "S" and "TS" clearances for NSI only. "C", "S", and "TS" clearances are used in other agencies for NSI.
Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) - Classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems established by the Director of Central Intelligence.
Sensitive Nuclear Technology (SNT) - Information on uranium enrichment, nuclear fuel reprocessing, and heavy water production whose export is controlled under the NNPA; i.e., such information that is not RD, not publicly available, and important to design, construction, operation, or maintenance of related facilities.
Shock Wave - A physical discontinuity traveling from a high- to a low-pressure region in a material at a velocity greater than that of sound.
Simulator - Any device, machine, or reactor that simulates a nuclear weapon output or effect to which samples can be exposed.
Source Material - Uranium, thorium, or ores containing them.
Special Nuclear Material (SNM) - Plutonium, uranium enriched in the isotopes 233 or 235, or any material enriched in the foregoing.
Staged Weapon - One in which energy from its primary initiates the explosion of a secondary.
T
Tamper - The portion of a fission device that surrounds fissile components and provides neutronic and inertial enhancement of the fission reaction.
Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) - A panel of senior technical experts appointed to advise the Director of the Office of Security Affairs on technical aspects of information under the cognizance of the Office of Declassification.
Thermonuclear (TN) Weapon - One that releases a significant fraction of its yield from the fusion process.
Top Secret (TS) - The highest classification level; applied to information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security.
Transclassification - The removal of information from the RD category to: (1) the FRD category (military utilization information, section 142 d. of the AEA) or (2) the NSI category (foreign intelligence information, section 142e. of the AEA).
U
Unclassified - The designation for information, a document, or material that has been determined not to be classified or that has been declassified by proper authority.
Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information (UCNI) - Certain unclassified Government information prohibited from unauthorized dissemination under sec. 148 of the AEA.
W
Weapon-Grade Highly Enriched Uranium - Used as nuclear fuel in some fission weapons. Nominally 93.5 percent U{sup 235}.
Weapon-Grade Plutonium - Plutonium containing low, specified quantities of plutonium isotopes other than Pu-239. U.S. weapons-grade plutonium contains less than 7% Pu-240. Nominally, it contains about 93.5 percent Pu-239, 6 percent Pu-240, and 0.5 percent other Pu isotopes. Note that the high neutron background from spontaneous fission of PU-240 makes low Pu-240 content desirable.
Y
Yield - The total energy released by detonation of a nuclear weapon, fission or fusion.
Z
Z - Atomic number; number of electrons in stable atom.
APPENDIX 2. INFORMATION CONTROL PROVISIONS OF ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1954, AS AMENDED (EXCERPTS)
CHAPTER 12. CONTROL OF INFORMATION
Sec. 141. POLICY.
It shall be the policy of the Commission to control the dissemination and declassification of Restricted Data [NOTE 5] in such a manner as to assure the common defense and security. Consistent with such policy, the Commission shall be guided by the following principles:
a. Until effective and enforceable international safeguards against the use of atomic energy for destructive purposes have been established by an international arrangement, there shall be no exchange of Restricted Data with other nations except as authorized by section 144; and
b. The dissemination of scientific and technical information relating to atomic energy should be permitted and encouraged so as to provide that free interchange of ideas and criticism which is essential to scientific and industrial progress and public understanding and to enlarge the fund of technical information.
Sec. 142. CLASSIFICATION AND DECLASSIFICATION OF RESTRICTED DATA.
a. The Commission shall from time to time determine the data, within the definition of Restricted Data, which can be published without undue risk to the common defense and security and shall thereupon cause such data to be declassified and removed from the category of Restricted Data.
b. The Commission shall maintain a continuous review of Restricted Data and of any Classification Guides issued for the guidance of those in the atomic energy program with respect to the areas of Restricted Data which have been declassified in order to determine which information may be declassified and removed from the category of Restricted Data without undue risk to the common defense and security.
c. In the case of Restricted Data which the Commission and the Department of Defense jointly determine to relate primarily to the military utilization of atomic weapons, the determination that such data may be published without constituting an unreasonable risk to the common defense and security shall be made by the Commission and the Department of Defense jointly, and if the Commission and the Department of Defense do not agree, the determination shall be made by the President.
d. The Commission shall remove from the Restricted Data category such data as the Commission and the Department of Defense jointly determine relates primarily to the military utilization of atomic weapons and which the Commission and Department of Defense jointly determine can be adequately safeguarded as defense information: Provided, however, That no such data so removed from the Restricted Data category shall be transmitted or otherwise made available to any nation or regional defense organization, while such data remains defense information, except pursuant to an agreement for cooperation entered into in accordance with subsection 144 b.
e. The Commission shall remove from the Restricted Data category such information concerning the atomic energy programs of other nations as the Commission and the Director of Central Intelligence jointly determine to be necessary to carry out the provisions of section 102(d) of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and can be adequately safeguarded as defense information.
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