Gas Centrifuges and Nuclear Proliferation
Gas centrifuges have been an ideal enrichment method for a wide variety of countries. Many countries have built gas centrifuges to make enriched uranium for peaceful nuclear purposes. Other countries have secretly sought centrifuges to make highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. In more recent times, several countries have secretly sought or built gas centrifuges in regions of tension. The main countries that have been of interest in the last two decades have been Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Currently, most attention is focused on Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea. These states did not have the indigenous abilities to make gas centrifuges, focusing instead on illicit and questionable foreign procurement. The presentation covered the following main sections: Spread of centrifuges through illicit procurement; Role of export controls in stopping proliferation; Increasing the transparency of gas centrifuge programs in non-nuclear weapon states; and, Verified dismantlement of gas centrifuge programs. Gas centrifuges are important providers of low enriched uranium for civil nuclear power reactors. They also pose special nuclear proliferation risks. We all have special responsibilities to prevent the spread of gas centrifuges into regions of tension and to mitigate the consequences of their spread into the Middle East, South Asia, and North Asia.
- Research Organization:
- Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Washington, DC (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 912773
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-20031012-2
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 8. workshop on separation phenomena in liquids and gases (SPLG 2003), Oak Ridge, TN (US), 12-16 October 2003; Related Information: Conference published and sponsored by the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); USEC, Bethesda, MD (United States); Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Washington, DC (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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