Underground facilities are used extensively by many nations to conceal and protect strategic military functions and weapons' stockpiles. Because of their depth and hardened status, however, many of these strategic hard and deeply buried targets could only be put at risk by conventional or nuclear earth penetrating weapons (EPW). Recently, an engineering feasibility study, the robust nuclear earth penetrator program, was started by DOE and DOD to determine if a more effective EPW could be designed using major components of existing nuclear weapons. This activity has created some controversy about, among other things, the level of collateral damage that would ensue if such a weapon were used. To help clarify this issue, the Congress, in P.L. 107-314, directed the Secretary of Defense to request from the NRC a study of the anticipated health and environmental effects of nuclear earth-penetrators and other weapons and the effect of both conventional and nuclear weapons against the storage of biological and chemical weapons. This report provides the results of those analyses. Based on detailed numerical calculations, the report presents a series of findings comparing the effectiveness and expected collateral damage of nuclear EPW and surface nuclear weapons under a variety of conditions.

This overview aims to inform the public discussion of space-based weapons by examining their characteristics, potential attributes, limitations, legality, and utility. The authors do not argue for or against space weapons, nor do they estimate the potential costs and performance of specific programs, but instead sort through the realities and myths surrounding space weapons in order to ensure that debates and discussions are based on fact.

In this study, CISAC tackles the technical dimensions of a longstanding controversy: To what extent could existing and plausibly attainable measures for transparency and monitoring make possible the verification of all nuclear weaponsâ€"strategic and nonstrategic, deployed and nondeployedâ€"plus the nuclear-explosive components and materials that are their essential ingredients? The committee's assessment of the technical and organizational possibilities suggests a more optimistic conclusion than most of those concerned with these issues might have expected.

Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons are designed to cause destruction on a vastly greater scale than any conventional weapons, with the potential to kill thousands in a single attack and with effects that may persist in the environment and in our bodies indefinitely. This report by the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, chaired by Dr Hans Blix, sets out 60 recommendations on how the world community, national governments and civil society should address this global challenge under the following headings: preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons; preventing nuclear terrorism; reducing the threat and numbers of existing nuclear weapons; moving from regulating nuclear weapons to outlawing them; biological and toxin weapons; chemical weapons; weapons of mass destruction (WMD) delivery means, missile defences and weapons in space; export controls, international assistance and non-governmental actors; compliance, verification, enforcement and the role of the United Nations.

This book discusses multiple aspects of radiological and nuclear terrorism. Do you know what to do if there is a radiological or nuclear emergency in your city? These accidents are not common, but they have happened – and even though we have not seen an attack using these weapons, governments around the world are making plans for how to prevent them – and for how to respond if necessary. Whether you are an emergency responder, a medical caregiver, a public health official – even a member of the public wanting to know how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe – there is a need to understand how these weapons work, how radiation affects our health, how to stop an attack from taking place, how to respond appropriately in the event of an emergency, and much more. Unfortunately, the knowledge that is needed to accomplish all of this is lacking at all levels of society and government. In this book, Dr. Andrew Karam, an internationally respected expert in radiation safety and multiple aspects of radiological and nuclear emergencies, discusses how these weapons work and what they can do, how they can affect our health, how to keep yourself safe, and how to react appropriately whether you are a police officer investigating a suspect radiological weapon, a firefighter responding to a radiological or nuclear attack, a nurse or physician caring for potentially contaminated patients, or a governmental official trying to keep the public safe. To do this, he draws upon his extensive experience in the military, the several years he worked directly with emergency responders, his service on a number of advisory committees, and multiple trips overseas in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident and on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Interpol, and the Health Physics Society.

The authors assess alternatives for a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) across a broad set of potential characteristics and situations. They use the current Minuteman III as a baseline to develop a framework to characterize alternative classes of ICBMs, assess the survivability and effectiveness of possible alternatives, and weigh those alternatives against their cost.