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Nuclear proliferation literature typically differentiates supply-side and demand-side factors influencing the spread of nuclear weapons. These distinct approaches to the proliferation puzzle raise the following empirical questions: Does nuclear supply stimulate states' demand for nuclear weapons? Conversely, does the demand for nuclear weapons really facilitate the acquisition of nuclear supply? If such endogeneity exists between the demand-side and supply-side determinants, how would it cause empirical bias in the estimation of their effects on nuclear proliferation? This article aims to unpack endogenous mechanisms of nuclear demand and nuclear supply over the course of nuclear proliferation. In particular, it examines two potential sources of endogeneity: (1) simultaneous interactions between states' nuclear development decisions and nuclear technological capability and (2) selection bias in nuclear development. To address each source of endogeneity, simultaneous equation models and the duration models with selection are estimated, respectively. Contrary to what recent supply-side literature suggests, the empirical analyses reveal that states' nuclear demand is primarily driven by external security threats instead of their existing nuclear technology, and that their successful acquisition of nuclear technology mainly follows as the result of nuclear development efforts but does not necessarily depend on individual supply-side factors. This article addresses the typical inference issues in nuclear proliferation research and contributes to our synthetic understanding of proliferation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of using nuclear weapons to kill noncombatants is said to evoke strong moral opprobrium among millions of individuals across the globe, such that national leaders should be constrained from using the weapons even when such a decision would be strategically sensible. Classical area scholarship and recent survey evidence suggest that this "nuclear taboo" is strong among the Chinese public, buttressed by culturally grounded preferences for moderation in warfare. Drawing on findings in cultural sociology and political behavior, we argue that previous studies mislead on the extent to which ordinary Chinese citizens might oppose the use of nuclear weapons in a real military clash, primarily due to a failure to distinguish baseline preferences for nuclear nonuse from the willingness to approve of governmental decisions to use these weapons. Results from an original survey experiment fielded in mainland China show that many individuals who personally dislike the idea of using nuclear weapons are nonetheless willing to support their leaders' decision to do so. Our study contributes new and systematic knowledge about Chinese nuclear attitudes and highlights the value of harnessing interdisciplinary insights to inform the research agenda on the nuclear taboo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 1981, Israel launched a preventive military strike against a nuclear reactor that Iraq was constructing at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center. The low fungibility of Iraq's power resources, and especially its nuclear weapons program, shaped Israel's decision-making process. First, it motivated Israel's executives to disaggregate Iraq's capabilities. Though they identified Baghdad's emerging nuclear weapons program as a threat, there was little pressure to act more broadly. Second, it pushed Israel's leaders to favour delaying strategies to stall Iraq's program. Third, it motivated Israel's leaders to favour a preventive military strike to delay Iraq's nuclear program from becoming more fungible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the causes of cross-national variation in nuclear hawkishness? In the third nuclear age such variation is likely to be more consequential than in the past. While such variation has been observed, it has not been explained. This article probes possible causes of such variation drawing on a new wave of research on nuclear inhibitions. Specifically, I explore how the threat environment, domestic-level factors, and elite maneuvering, can affect nuclear hawkishness. I argue that hawkishness is less likely to be an outlier phenomenon among the more recent nuclear weapons states and in the broader universe of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The letter from Georges Florovsky to Davis McCaughey is a reflection after reading the Report The Era of Atomic Power: Report of a Commission (1946). Florovsky gives his own arguments against the development of research concerning nuclear weapons and their use. These include: treating an attempt at a technical transformation of the world as a human claim to put oneself in God’s place, i.e., to be a God-man. Another group of indictments against the use of the atomic bomb concerned ethical issues and human responsibility for the war. Florovsky’s letter is his contribution to the discussion on the threat posed by the atomic bomb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the information support of Soviet atomic and nuclear research in the period 1930- 1970. It is emphasized that despite the strict secrecy of this topic, a certain part of scientific information was still covered in scientific literature, in particular in Ukrainian journals. Examples of the presentation of the specified topic in the mass media and mass culture are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic research on nuclear weapons and their implications for the realm of international relations has been quite intensive since the end of the Cold War. The potential to influence prospects of achieving the ideal of regional or global zero emerged yet again and the combined momentum of recent multilateral and bilateral nuclear agreements appeared as a precious window of opportunity in order to achieve that goal. Hence, in the present study, the correlation between strategic thinking and the willingness to adopt multilateral and bilateral nuclear agreements between and across the existing and potential nuclear powers demonstrated an upcoming trend. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the new Strategic Reduction Arms Treaty served as the most striking examples for comparison and analysis. Various sinusoid-like developments of the second nuclear age in the recent past notwithstanding, the above-mentioned multilateral and bilateral nuclear agreements showed the ability to create more space for further arms reductions and to pave the path for nuclear balance. Preliminary conclusions suggested that both major nuclear proponents of today – the USA and Russia – were to continue to understand that the clear-cut benefit of the latter has not changed a bit since the end of the Cold War. The new conundrum that they created, however, was the ongoing existence of nuclear weapons as a military capability on the one hand, and the growing tendencies to reduce them with the help of multilateral and bilateral nuclear agreements on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occupation of the Niels Bohr Institute by German authorities in war-time Denmark has hitherto not been described or analyzed in detail, leaving a number of questions open, such as the background and purpose of the occupation, the lack of planning of the operation, formation, mandate and actual work of the "Expert Commission," and the justification of release without conditions. These questions are addressed and answers suggested compatible with all relevant facts available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three US national laboratories, which were established at the dawn of the Cold War, have long outlived their original mission of engaging in coordinated nuclear weapons research to combat the Soviet threat. But as the nature of the threats has changed, institutional ownership and investments in national security science and technology have failed to keep pace. This overarching misalignment between priorities and investments undercuts the relevance of Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia National Laboratories in the 21st century. Born in the days of the nuclear arms race, these national labs and the governmental infrastructure above them have clung too tightly to their original nuclear weapons mandate and have failed to reconstitute their efforts to reflect the more diffuse challenges, nuclear and otherwise, facing the country today. Though blame for this lapse could be placed at the feet of policy makers, bureaucrats, and program managers alike, the author writes, the prescription for ameliorating the problem is straightforward: devise and fund a more nimble science, technology, and engineering enterprise that builds upon the unique capabilities at these national labs while outfitting the facilities for, and charging them with, meeting the security and technology challenges of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientometrics has emerged as one of the prominent and fast growing fields in the Library and Information Sciences. The present study also deals with the scientometric aspect of one of the prominent fields of Nuclear Science and Technology i.e. Nuclear Waste Management. The data for the said study has been collected from the Web of Science database over the period 1989-2019. The results reveal that a total of 1824 publications have been published on Nuclear Waste Management and the highest number has been contributed by the USA (23.7%) of the total global output. Most of the Nuclear Waste Management literature is published in Journal Articles, the prominent journal being ATW International Journal for Nuclear Power. Multi authorship trend is more dominant than single authorship. The US Department of Energy and Commissariat A L' Energie Atomique (CEA), France are the topmost contributors. Since, the data were collected from one database only; cautions should be taken while generalizing the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expands on the current research on nuclear terrorism by investigating how terrorist actors seek to capitalize on the nuclear weapons discourse in a country to gain domestic political influence. Existing research on nuclear terrorism has focused on operational aspects – attacks using nuclear materials and weapons, or attacks on nuclear facilities. This article focuses on the rhetorical use of nuclear weapons issues using the case of Pakistan, which has a substantial nuclear weapons complex, widespread domestic support for nuclear weapons, and numerous jihadist terrorist groups. It argues that some terrorist groups (Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Pakistani Taliban) are increasingly participating in the nuclear discourse for political influence and to transform themselves as mainstream political actors. They portray themselves as the champions of Pakistan's nuclear weapons against perceived threats from external actors, especially the United States, and aim to push Pakistani nuclear policy toward an Islamist and jihadist ideological framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the nuclear forces of Pakistan. The efforts, which suggest that the country is preparing to increase and enhance its nuclear forces, are cited. It also notes that the country is developing the Babur cruise missile that U.S. Air Force intelligence estimates may be nuclear-capable. The fact that Babur is slimmer than Pakistan's ballistic missiles, it suggests that Pakistani engineers have made progress in warhead miniaturization, the author has noted. In addition to the ground-launched version of Babur, sea- and air-launched versions of the cruise missile are also being developed.

The article focuses on the culture and convictions of researchers at U.S. national labs involved in nuclear research, exploring their perspectives on nuclear weapons and the moral challenges they face. Topics include the dual-use nature of nuclear science, the role of national labs in maintaining the nuclear arsenal, and the challenges posed by the resumption of large-scale plutonium pit production.

This essay presents a microhistory of U.S.-Japanese relations during the years of the Allied Occupation (1945–1952), describing how policies the United States enacted in the context of Cold War era national security concerns negatively affected the experiences of Japanese scientists. The Red Scare of the McCarthy Era ran along parallel tracks in the United States and Japan, and during those years, Japanese scientists—especially physicists—were the targets of surveillance and intense scrutiny, initially for fear they might abet diehard militarists in exacting revenge for the war, but later out of concern that they would pass "atomic secrets" to Communist nations. In the agenda to reform Japan, a "schizophrenic" science policy emerged, where, on the one hand, U.S. Occupation authorities under the Economic and Scientific Section assisted in the reconstruction of science institutions in Japan and facilitated international outreach, while on the other, the Civil Intelligence Division (G-2) frequently obstructed these efforts, as it imposed a regime of surveillance and penalties against those whom it suspected of being Communists or left-wing sympathizers. Toward this end, U.S. Occupation officials used travel visas as both a carrot and stick to influence the political behavior of Japanese scientists with mixed outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses U.S. nuclear weapons research in a systematic manner. The author divides the problem in three parts namely, research, development of the nuclear technology. He says that nuclear weapons research by itself is directed to gain more detailed information of the processes and techniques involved in the development of nuclear warheads. Development is closely related to research aspect but involves an integration of various crucial factors and designing of nuclear weapons with highly varying capabilities. The production aspect involves making sufficient organizational arrangements for production and deciding the number and capability of weapons to be produced.

The article reports on the early developments of nuclear weapons and its future implications on international relations. The 5-ton implosion weapon developed in the U.S. became the progenitor of a very diverse family of increasingly efficient and powerful bombs. This technology advanced at a modest rate in the early years after the Second World War. On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic weapon, thus shattering the monopoly of the U.S. and setting into motion a stepped-up weapons development.

The article reports on the implications of the advent of the Atomic Age on the policies and programs undertaken by the government in Japan. In 1945, the only symbol of the nuclear age in the country was the tremendous destructive power of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That memory is gradually fading and the word nuclear makes people think of the great power of modern science and technology. One major change discernible in this process is that the Japanese now have acquired a sense of participation in shaping the future course of the world's nuclear age, technologically, politically and philosophically.

The article presents some recollections of the author regarding his role in the Manhattan Project in the U.S. The project was undertaken to develop the first nuclear weapons during the Second World War. It is a collaborative effort by the U.S., Great Britain and Canada. Under his administration, the program was formally designated as the Manhattan Engineering District, with J. Robert Oppenheimer as its scientific research director. He first met Oppenheimer on October 8, 1942, at Berkeley, California where the two had the chance to discuss the theoretical research studies with respect to the physics of the bomb. This meeting led to the idea of the prompt establishment of a Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The article recollects the author's experiences regarding nuclear research and development in the U.S. and offers prospects of nuclear energy. On July 16, 1945, at the so-called Trinity testing site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, man first unleashed a nuclear explosion. Less than three weeks later, on August 6, Hiroshima, a coastal city of 300,000 on Japan's Inner Sea, became the first target of an atom bomb. As the first quarter of a century of the atomic age draws to its end, there is increasing consciousness of the predicament into which the scientific revolution is bringing mankind. Naive pride in the great achievements of scientific technology still wells up on occasions but is rapidly submerged in a tide of pessimism.

The article explores the Project Plowshare established at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1957. Under the program, the feasibility of the potential industrial and scientific uses of nuclear and thermonuclear explosives is explored. Among the studies successfully achieved through the program are the development of fusion explosion and the feasibility of producing such explosion with small fission contribution. Other projects being undertaken and proposed for study under Plowshare include the project Chariot, Gnome and Oilsand. Information about the goal and objective of each proposed project are also discussed.

The article reports on the emergence of thought and action among scientists relative to the advent of Atomic Age in the U.S. The movement began within the Manhattan project, a program aimed to develop the first nuclear weapons. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has led the scientific community to become concerned about the application of their scientific work. These scientists raised no moral question about the rightness of their own actions in the realization of the atomic bomb, however, it insisted that they will be consulted about its applications.

The article focuses on the nuclear research programs of Iran. Although the Iranian government has said it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, its behavior has aroused suspicions in the international community. According to nonproliferation analysts, claims that Tehran is actually pursuing a nuclear weapons capability deserve careful scrutiny. The Iranian regime is divided over this issue, and its failure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency might be the result of bureaucratic and ideological infighting.

The article discusses the proliferation of the nuclear weapons and focuses on the role of the scientists in averting a nuclear suicide. More than anybody in the field, they understand the fact that man's control of the forces of nature, if rationally exploited, can provide great opportunities for the humanity and, otherwise, destroy it within no time. However, scientists have not taken up their responsibility to fight for the rational use of their products. This responsibility they have left to the political leadership. Though scientists do not aspire for political leadership, the onus of warning and advising political leadership and mankind of the perils and wonders of nuclear science rests on their shoulders.

The article focuses on the espionage case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg regarding the implosion-type bomb. The Rosenbergs were charged with transmitting information about the Fat Man bomb to the Soviet Union. One of the witnesses in the case was Walter Koski who said that sketches of the implosion-type bomb cannot be found in textbooks or technical journals so the information must have been leaked by someone. The Rosenbergs were sentenced to die even though they were only victims of secrecy. The Soviet Union has already started research about the bomb and it is possible that they already knew about it.

The article reports on the cooperative exchange between the U.S. and Great Britain to develop nuclear energy during the Second World War. The discoveries in Britain by Ernest Rutherford and others have realized that the possibility of nuclear energy is due to a great extent. It is less widely known how close was the cooperation between the two countries in the early stages of the wartime development, however, the collaboration certainly led to the atomic bomb and opened the way for other and more peaceful applications of nuclear energy.

The article focuses on the social and moral implications of the discoveries of modern science, particularly the release of atomic energy. These technological innovations have tremendously enhanced man’s power for destruction and at the same time made the security of every nation-including America, more precarious than ever before. After the first wave of admiration for scientists who have made these achievements possible subsided, a resentment was bound to arise against those who have put humanity into jeopardy and are unable to provide protection. The acquisition of atomic weapons by other nations, made inevitable by the universality of science, and accelerated in the case of the Soviet Union-by scientific espionage, has contributed to disappointment and suspicion.

The efforts of the Liberal government led by John Gorton to acquire a locally built nuclear deterrent stretch back into the 1950s when Robert Menzies preferred to rely on the American or British nuclear umbrella for protection. Gorton took a different view and the advocates of an independent Australian nuclear capability rejoiced upon his elevation to the Liberal leadership. We argue that Gorton's ambitions advanced as far as they did in the latter 1960s due to the support, or urgings, from an informal coalition of scientists (particularly Philip Baxter) and discontented fringes of the parliamentary Liberal Party. In particular, the maverick backbencher, W.C. Wentworth, played a key role in mobilising support for Gorton's controversial quest to acquire an independent nuclear capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates that Iran conforms to Richard K. Betts' model of a ‘pariah’ nuclear aspirant, as its nuclear program is driven by a potent combination of security, normative and domestic political motivations. The regime's commitment to its nuclear program is influenced by Iran's long-standing sense of vulnerability to both regional and international adversaries, and an enduring sense of national humiliation at the hands of foreign powers, in parallel with a powerful belief in the superiority of Persian civilisation. This has resulted in the development of a narrative of ‘hyper-independence’ in Iran's foreign policy that simultaneously rejects political, cultural or economic dependence and emphasises ‘self-reliance’. The presumed security benefits that a nuclear weapons option provides are seen as ensuring Iranian ‘self-reliance’ and ‘independence’. This suggests that current strategies that focus exclusively on Iran's security motivations or on a heightened regime of sanctions are fundamentally flawed, as they fail to recognise the mutually reinforcing dynamic between Iran's security and normative/status-derived nuclear motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As inextricable part of modernity, technology is pursued for multiple rewards: enhancing knowledge, gaining power and respect, improving human life and work. Between nations and societies, acquiring technology has more than an economic meaning- it is a way of boosting one's status. Nuclear energy as a special case marked the development of postwar societies possessing it. As military application, during the Cold War and after, nuclear deterrence spelled a strategic language that set apart nuclear governments from those deprived of the bomb. For smaller, decolonized countries, acquiring nuclear technology with both civil and military ends symbolized a statement of their sovereignty and an assurance against superpower interference. Such is the case for the Indian post 1947 nuclear history. Using Thorstein's Veblen notion of conspicuous consumption, the present article will try to answer to the question why the elites from New Delhi did not build from the beginning thorium based nuclear reactors, even though India possess rich deposits of such metal and Homi Bhaba's plan envisaged thorium grid infrastructures. We will show that the Indian nuclear research turned to uranium following a similar path with Western and Soviet industrial build-up. As uranium is much easier to weaponise than thorium, Indian political and scientific elites wanted fungibility between their civil and their military structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the controversy over the scope of nuclear programme in Iran. Particular focus is given to the assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of information about Iranian nuclear research and development activities. A report by Director General Yukiya Amano noted that Iran's weapon-related work took placed prior to 2003. The activities allegedly pursued by Iran include uranium conversion experiments, detonation of high explosives and hydrodynamic testing.

Based on the first-person account of coauthor Pierre Billaud, a prominent French participant, this article describes for the first time in such detail the history of the development of the French hydrogen bomb in the 1960s and the organization of military nuclear research in France. The authors illustrate the extent to which French defense and governmental authorities did not support research on thermonuclear weapons until 1966. Billaud, a project insider, relates the historical episodes that led to France's successful 1968 thermonuclear test, including the names of the individuals involved and how a timely tip from a foreign source hastened the success of the first H-bomb test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the fissility or the nuclear fission capability of uranium and plutonium isotopes, which are used in nuclear weapon development. It analyzes the suitability of the elements' isotopes with regard to their nuclear excitation energy, level of excitation energy above the fission barrier, neutron multiciplity, and fission and nonfission cross-sections. The analysis shows that uranium has only three isotopes that can be used as potential weapon materials, while plutonium has five. The author hopes that the graphical presentation and discussion offered about uranium and plutonium isotopes will help readers understand and address questions regarding why only certain isotopes are used in weapon development.

Template identification technology (TIT) is designed for the scenarios where a batch of disarmed nuclear weapons or components would be dismantled to observe a nuclear disarmament treaty. The core function played by the TIT is to make a judgment on whether the verified item belongs to a certain kind of nuclear weapons or component (NW/NC) or to which kind the verified item belongs. This paper analyses the functions played by the TIT in the process of NW/NC dismantlement, and proposes that two phases would be followed when applying the TIT: firstly to establish NW/NC templates with a sample of size n drawn from a certain kind of disarmament NW; secondly to authenticate NW/NC by means of the TIT. This paper also expatiates some terms related to the concept of the TIT and investigates on the development status of NW/NC TIT based on radiation signatures. The study concludes that the design of template structure is crucial to the establishment of an effective TIT and that starting from different research angles and aiming at the same goal of classification different template structures and corresponding template identification methods can be built up to meet specific identification requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a variety of important activities of the U.S. national laboratory system in relation to the resurgence of interest in nuclear energy. Over the past few decades, there has been a close link between the nuclear research programs of the U.S. and Great Britain. It also outlines the encouraging prospects for expanded nuclear research collaborations between the two countries which began with British participation in the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, and expanded into peaceful atomic energy development in the postwar period.