PSC 204 Chapter Notes - Chapter 24: Nuclear Proliferation, Fissile Material, Countervalue
12 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
The underlying technology used in nuclear energy or nuclear weapons programmes has spread rapidly since 1945. Nuclear weapons themselves have spread much more slowly. One of the key obstacles to having a nuclear arsenal is obtaining weapons-grade fissile material. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, which produce blast, heat, and radiation, and have explosive yields equivalent to thousands of millions of tnt. Nuclear deterrence is about using nuclear weapons to prevent an adversary from taking an undesirable action they would otherwise take. Nuclear deterrence can be achieved using strategic or tactical nuclear warheads employed in a range of delivery vehicles in either a counterface or countervalue strategy. The growth of nuclear energy and the spread of dual-use nuclear technology have raised concerns that non-state actors could acquire nuclear or radiological material. Both nuclear opacity and latent nuclear capacity raise questions about what the definition of nuclear proliferation is.
