Policy and Technical Issues Facing a Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty. Chapter 14

Other · Mon May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203709528· OSTI ID:1454771

von Hippel, Frank ^[1]; Mian, Zia ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

We report the largest obstacle to creating nuclear weapons, starting with the ones that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been to make sufficient quantities of fissile materials – highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium – to sustain an explosive fission chain reaction.1 Recognition of this fact has, for more than fifty years, underpinned both the support for and the opposition to adoption of an international treaty banning at a minimum the production of more fissile materials for nuclear weapons, commonly referred to as a fissile material cutoff treaty (FMCT).

• Research Organization: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE NA Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)
• DOE Contract Number: NA0002534
• OSTI ID: 1454771
• Resource Relation: Related Information: Chapter 14 in Routledge Handbook of Nuclear Proliferation and Policy, ed. by Joseph F. Pilat and Nathan E. Busch.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION