Internationalization to Prevent the Spread of Nuclear Weapons

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the most important barrier to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The second Review Conference of the NPT will take place in Geneva in August-September 1980. The International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE) suggests that the technological capabilities of many countries are such that there is no technical solution to the problem of the spread of nuclear weapons. SIPRI convened a second international group of experts to discuss the feasibility of internationalizing the nuclear fuel cycle, which would provide another powerful political barrier to nuclear weapon proliferation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 250 pages
Publication date: 04 September 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

First published in 1980, the original blurb read:

In August and September 1980, the second Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will take place in Geneva. As this treaty is the most important barrier to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the results of the conference will obviously have major effects in the field of arms control and disarmament.

The implications of the recent International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE) are that the technological capabilities of many countries are such that there is no technical solution to the problem of the spread of nuclear weapons to countries that do not now have them. Thus, it appears that if there is a solution at all, it must be political in nature.

A possible element in such a political solution is the internationalization of the sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel cycle; that is, those parts that have the potential of producing fissile materials to make nuclear weapons. Although the intricacies of a system of internationalization are still unresolved, the concept, if realized, would provide another powerful political barrier to nuclear weapon proliferation – a reinforcement for the aims of the NPT itself.

Against this background, and as a follow-up to its first symposium and the resultant book, Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation, SIPRI convened a second international group of experts to continue its discussions of issues pertinent to the forthcoming NPT Review Conference. The meeting took place. place at SIPRI in Stockholm, 31 October – 2 November 1979, when the feasibility of internationalizing the nuclear fuel cycle was examined.

SIPRIs views on this complex approach are expressed in Part 1 of this book – Internationalization to Prevent the Spread of Nuclear Weapons. Part 2 contains.

Weight: 467g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367511869