Topics

The September 11 attacks in 2001 focused attention on the risk of non-state actors acquiring weapons of mass destruction. 

A document issued by the US, UK and Canada in 1945 setting out a vision for atomic matters in the post-war period. 

AQ Khan was a key individual associated with Pakistan nuclear program and the early nuclear programs of a number of other countries including North Korea and Iran. 

A concept in which states cooperate to prevent arms races and other challenges to stability. 

Atoms for Peace was an initiative launched to share nuclear technology as a result of a speech by President Eisenhower in 1954. 

A concept and technology that can allow for the shooting down of incoming ballistic missiles.

Offensive weapons that are generally propelled for the start or their flight before following a ballistic trajectory. 

Bernard Baruch was the US representative to the UNAEC and was thus a key figure in the early nuclear age. 

A mechanism for uranium enrichment that utilises high speed (supersonic) rotating cylinders to enrich uranium hexafluoride 6 (UF6) in a sub atmospheric environment. 

Can refer both to the Soviet era reactors in Ukraine and the Chernobyl nuclear accident. 

Clive Rose was a senior British diplomat and disarmament expert. 

Command and control as defined here relates to the process for authorising the release and launching nuclear weapons. 

An organisation established in furtherance to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 

An export control regime that functioned during the Cold War and which was disbanded in the 1990s.

An Israeli nuclear site. 

As used in this site, doctrine relates to the policies, capabilities and processes associated with the employment of a state's nuclear weapons. 

Former president of the United States responsible for the atoms for peace initiative. 

Uranium enrichment is an important aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle and is a key proliferation pathway. Content tagged with the enrichment tag is likely to relate to the uranium enrichment step in the nuclear fuel cycle. 

A European forum separate from the EU that focuses on nuclear cooperation between European states. 

Export controls are measures used by states to control the export of technology. Export controls can be coordinated between states through export control regimes and other measures. 

A concept and potential treaty in which nuclear weapon states would agree to forego production of weapons-usable fissile material. 

A group of economically developed countries who coordinate on certain economic and security issues.

Gerald Smith is an important character in the history of US nonproliferation efforts. Early in his career he staffed a congressional committee responsible for nuclear matters. He went on to hold a variety of roles including as special representative for nonproliferation in the 1970s where he was responsible for INCFE. An autobigraphy of Smith was published under the title, Disarming Diplomat. 

A wikipedia page is dedicated to him which contains the attached image. 

US official who was pivotal in nuclear and strategic thinking. 

A waiver the Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed in the mid-late 2000s that allowed nuclear trade with India even though India had not concluded a Full Scope Safeguards Agreement with the NPT. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA has a dedicated repository on this site. 

A program in the late 1970s and early 1980s to examine whether reprocessing is necessary in nuclear fuel cycles. 

Electrical items used in uranium enrichment centrifuges. 

A town in Pakistan that also hosts a nuclear facility of the same name (sometimes called the Khan Research Laboratory)

A novel uranium enrichment process which can be compared with centrifuge based enrichment.

A euphemism for replacing or rebuilding old nuclear weapons and delivery systems with new ones.

US legal basis for cooperating with selected countries on defense issues. 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

A nuclear doctrine in which nuclear armed states declare that they will not be the first to use nuclear weapons against potential adversaries. 

A difficult to define class of nuclear weapons (i.e. tactical nuclear weapons) whose main characteristic is that they are not strategic nuclear weapons (i.e. weapons that are mounted on international continental ballistic missiles)

A mechanism for sustaining a fission reaction for experimental, heat generation, or plutonium generating purposes. 

A concept in which non-state actors and terrorists clandestinely transfer nuclear materials across borders. Distinction should be drawn with radiological material smuggling (radiological smuggling). and dual-use goods smuggling (illicit trade)

Generally the possibility that a terrorist could steal and deliberately set off a nuclear weapon. Could also apply to terrorism at a nuclear facility. Generally does not cover radiological terrorism or dirty bombs. 

Operation Candor was the name of a US initiative that ultimately resulted in the Atoms for Peace speech. 

International organisation focused on security in Europe. 

A France-supplied reactor in Iraq that was destroyed by Israel. 

A Pakistan nuclear facility.

Post-War Controls refers to efforts to agree controls in the 1945-1950 period including through the work of the UN Atomic Energy Commission.

President of the Russian Federation

Project Alpha was a nonproliferation research and training program run by Ian Stewart at King's College London from 2011-2020. A repository on this site is dedicated to preserving the work of Project Alpha. 

A concept and doctrine in which a nuclear weapons state strikes back against a nuclear strike on its territory with its own nuclear weapons. Implies the ability to sustain a nuclear attack while maintaining sufficent nuclear forces for a retaliation strike.

Ambassador Richard T. Kennedy was ambassador-at-large focused on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation under the President Reagan.

A body of the United Nations charged with maintaining international peace and security. 

Sessions of the UN focused on nonproliferation and disarmament. 

An instrumental treaty in the nonproliferation and disarmament field. The NPT has its own repository on this site. 

A US official who was active in the early nuclear age. 

A form of uranium used in gas centrifuge enrichment. 

Body of the UN in the early nuclear age charged with finding a way to eliminate nuclear weapons through international control. Active in the 1945-1949 period.

UN Security Council Resolution 1540 is an important nonproliferation instrument that was adopted following the discovery of the AQ Khan proliferation network and in the post 9/11 context. 

A Netherlands, UK, German uranium enrichment consortium which uses centrifuge technology. 

A key US official from the early nuclear age who was instrumental in the Manhattan project and who was particularly important in relation to US/UK/Canadian cooperation.

A specific form of Uranium common in the front stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. 

A mechanism established to interpret the export control implications of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.