Concern about the threat posed by nuclear weapons has preoccupied the United States and presidents of the United States since the beginning of the nuclear era. Nuclear Security draws from papers presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Nuclear Society examining worldwide efforts to control nuclear weapons and ensure the safety of the nuclear enterprise of weapons and reactors against catastrophic accidents. The distinguished contributors, all known for their long-standing interest in getting better control of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and reactors, discuss what we can learn from past successes and failures and attempt to identify the key ingredients for a road ahead that can lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The authors review historical efforts to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons, with a focus on the momentous arms control negotiations between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They offer specific recommendations for reducing risks that should be adopted by the nuclear enterprise, both military and civilian, in the United States and abroad. Since the risks posed by the nuclear enterprise are so high, they conclude, no reasonable effort should be spared to ensure safety and security.

“An excellent contribution to the debate on the future role of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence in American foreign policy.” ―Contemporary Security Policy This book is a counter to the conventional wisdom that the United States can and should do more to reduce both the role of nuclear weapons in its security strategies and the number of weapons in its arsenal. The case against nuclear weapons has been made on many grounds—including historical, political, and moral. But, Brad Roberts argues, it has not so far been informed by the experience of the United States since the Cold War in trying to adapt deterrence to a changed world, and to create the conditions that would allow further significant changes to U.S. nuclear policy and posture. Drawing on the author’s experience in the making and implementation of U.S. policy in the Obama administration, this book examines that real-world experience and finds important lessons for the disarmament enterprise. Central conclusions of the work are that other nuclear-armed states are not prepared to join the United States in making reductions, and that unilateral steps by the United States to disarm further would be harmful to its interests and those of its allies. The book ultimately argues in favor of patience and persistence in the implementation of a balanced approach to nuclear strategy that encompasses political efforts to reduce nuclear dangers along with military efforts to deter them. “Well-researched and carefully argued.” ―Foreign Affairs

This book examines the question: Is the elimination of nuclear weapons feasible? Individual chapters address the major conceptual, technical, and economic issues in the design of a non-nuclear security regime. Other chapters explore more specialized issues as they relate to the feasibility of the elimination of nuclear weapons: elite perceptions and the decision-making process, verification, nuclear proliferation, fissile materials and warheads, alliance and regional hegemonies, and deterrence.

This textbook is the first comprehensive and systematic account of the science, technology and policy issues associated with nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Throughout their account of the evolution of nuclear policy, from its origin to the early Trump presidency, the authors interweave clear technical expositions of the science and technology that underpin and constrain it. The book begins by tracing the early work in atomic physics, the discovery of fission, and the developments that led to the Manhattan Project and the delivery of atomic bombs against Japan that ended World War II. It follows the initial failed attempts at nuclear disarmament, the onset of the Cold War nuclear arms competition, and the development of light water reactors to harness nuclear energy for electric power generation. The authors thoroughly unpack the problem of nuclear proliferation, examining the strategy and incentives for states that have and have not pursued nuclear weapons, and providing an overview of the nuclear arsenals of the current nuclear weapon states. They trace the technical, political and strategic evolution of deterrence, arms control and disarmament policies from the first attempts for an Outer Space Treaty in 1957 through the new START treaty of 2009. At critical junctures in the narrative, the authors explain the relevant nuclear science and technology including nuclear fission and criticality; nuclear materials and enrichment; nuclear detonation and nuclear weapons effects; nuclear weapons stockpile constraints, stewardship and surveillance; nuclear fusion and thermonuclear weapons; technologies for monitoring, verification and proliferation; and nuclear forensics. They conclude with an assessment of contemporary issues ranging from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reached to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons development program, to the threat of nuclear terrorism, the perceived nuclear weapons policies of Russia and China, and the US efforts to provide disincentives for its allies to acquire their own nuclear weapons by maintaining credible security guarantees.

A nuclear weapon or a significant quantity of special nuclear material (SNM) would be of great value to a terrorist or other adversary. It might have particular value if acquired from a U.S. facility-in addition to acquiring a highly destructive tool, the adversary would demonstrate an inability of the United States to protect its nuclear assets. The United States expends considerable resources toward maintaining effective security at facilities that house its nuclear assets. However, particularly in a budget-constrained environment, it is essential that these assets are also secured efficiently, meaning at reasonable cost and imposing minimal burdens on the primary missions of the organizations that operate U.S. nuclear facilities. It is in this context that the U.S. Congress directed the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)-a semi-autonomous agency in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for securing nuclear weapons and significant quantities of SNM-asked the National Academies for advice on augmenting its security approach, particularly on the applicability of quantitative and other risk-based approaches for securing its facilities. In carrying out its charge, the committee has focused on what actions NNSA could take to make its security approach more effective and efficient. The committee concluded that the solution to balancing cost, security, and operations at facilities in the nuclear weapons complex is not to assess security risks more quantitatively or more precisely. This is primarily because there is no comprehensive analytical basis for defining the attack strategies that a malicious, creative, and deliberate adversary might employ or the probabilities associated with them. However, using structured thinking processes and techniques to characterize security risk could improve NNSA's understanding of security vulnerabilities and guide more effective resource allocation.

The first systematic look at the different strategies that states employ in their pursuit of nuclear weapons Much of the work on nuclear proliferation has focused on why states pursue nuclear weapons. The question of how states pursue nuclear weapons has received little attention. Seeking the Bomb is the first book to analyze this topic by examining which strategies of nuclear proliferation are available to aspirants, why aspirants select one strategy over another, and how this matters to international politics. Looking at a wide range of nations, from India and Japan to the Soviet Union and North Korea to Iraq and Iran, Vipin Narang develops an original typology of proliferation strategies—hedging, sprinting, sheltered pursuit, and hiding. Each strategy of proliferation provides different opportunities for the development of nuclear weapons, while at the same time presenting distinct vulnerabilities that can be exploited to prevent states from doing so. Narang delves into the crucial implications these strategies have for nuclear proliferation and international security. Hiders, for example, are especially disruptive since either they successfully attain nuclear weapons, irrevocably altering the global power structure, or they are discovered, potentially triggering serious crises or war, as external powers try to halt or reverse a previously clandestine nuclear weapons program. As the international community confronts the next generation of potential nuclear proliferators, Seeking the Bomb explores how global conflict and stability are shaped by the ruthlessly pragmatic ways states choose strategies of proliferation.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has long been key in non-proliferation and disarmament activities. The Treaty is the major international legal obstacle for states seeking nuclear weapon capabilities. In retrospect, and despite setbacks, the overall impact of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been significant and gratifying. Its continued success is by no means guaranteed. As old nuclear dangers persist and new ones evolve, policies to halt nuclear proliferation are more disparate than at any other time. Nuclear weapons remain an essential part of the security policies of leading states and many developmental states maintain strong nuclear weapon ambitions, while terrorists have actively been seeking nuclear capabilities. In search of an overarching strategy that recognizes both the flaws of the existing non-proliferation regime, and the value of some of the corrections proposed by regime critics, this volume assesses contemporary efforts to stem nuclear proliferation. In doing so, Nuclear Proliferation and International Security examines a number of cases with a view to recommending better non-proliferation tools and strategies. The contributors comprise renowned international scholars, who have been selected to obtain the best possible analyses of critically important issues related to international non-proliferation dynamics and the future integrity of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.