Technology Transfers and Non-Proliferation

Technology Transfers and Non-Proliferation
Author: Oliver Meier
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2013-09-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 113444074X

This edited volume examines the issue of the proliferation of dual-use technology and the efforts of the international community to control these technologies. Efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) increasingly focus on preventing the proliferation and misuse of dual-use technologies: information, materials and equipment that can be easily applied for peaceful and hostile purposes. The threat of terrorist attacks with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, in particular, makes it necessary to develop a sustainable non-proliferation policy that effectively hinders the misuse of dual-use technologies. In this book, leading non-proliferation experts from different regions of the world reflect on the political, legal and technical obstacles with an aim to finding a better balance between control and cooperation in dual-use technology transfer regulations. This broad approach makes it possible to compare regimes which may be structurally different but are similar in the way they attempt to regulate dual-use technology transfers by balancing controls and cooperative approaches. This book will be of much interest to students of weapons proliferation, arms control, global governance, international organizations and international security.

Exporting the Bomb

Exporting the Bomb
Author: Matthew H. Kroenig
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2011-10-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 080145767X

In a vitally important book for anyone interested in nuclear proliferation, defense strategy, or international security, Matthew Kroenig points out that nearly every country with a nuclear weapons arsenal received substantial help at some point from a more advanced nuclear state. Why do some countries help others to develop nuclear weapons? Many analysts assume that nuclear transfers are driven by economic considerations. States in dire economic need, they suggest, export sensitive nuclear materials and technology—and ignore the security risk—in a desperate search for hard currency. Kroenig challenges this conventional wisdom. He finds that state decisions to provide sensitive nuclear assistance are the result of a coherent, strategic logic. The spread of nuclear weapons threatens powerful states more than it threatens weak states, and these differential effects of nuclear proliferation encourage countries to provide sensitive nuclear assistance under certain strategic conditions. Countries are more likely to export sensitive nuclear materials and technology when it would have the effect of constraining an enemy and less likely to do so when it would threaten themselves. In Exporting the Bomb, Kroenig examines the most important historical cases, including France's nuclear assistance to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s; the Soviet Union's sensitive transfers to China from 1958 to 1960; China's nuclear aid to Pakistan in the 1980s; and Pakistan's recent technology transfers, with the help of "rogue" scientist A. Q. Khan, from 1987 to 2002. Understanding why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance not only adds to our knowledge of international politics but also aids in international efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

Technology Transfers and Non-Proliferation

Technology Transfers and Non-Proliferation
Author: Oliver Meier
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2013-09-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134440812

This edited volume examines the issue of the proliferation of dual-use technology and the efforts of the international community to control these technologies. Efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) increasingly focus on preventing the proliferation and misuse of dual-use technologies: information, materials and equipment that can be easily applied for peaceful and hostile purposes. The threat of terrorist attacks with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, in particular, makes it necessary to develop a sustainable non-proliferation policy that effectively hinders the misuse of dual-use technologies. In this book, leading non-proliferation experts from different regions of the world reflect on the political, legal and technical obstacles with an aim to finding a better balance between control and cooperation in dual-use technology transfer regulations. This broad approach makes it possible to compare regimes which may be structurally different but are similar in the way they attempt to regulate dual-use technology transfers by balancing controls and cooperative approaches. This book will be of much interest to students of weapons proliferation, arms control, global governance, international organizations and international security.

Nuclear Safeguards, Security, and Nonproliferation

Nuclear Safeguards, Security, and Nonproliferation
Author: James Doyle
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2019-02-18
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0128032715

Nuclear Safeguards, Security and Nonproliferation: Achieving Security with Technology and Policy, Second Edition is a comprehensive reference covering the cutting-edge technologies used to trace, track and safeguard nuclear material. Sections cover security, the illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, improvised nuclear devices, and how to prevent nuclear terrorism. International case studies of security at nuclear facilities and illegal nuclear trade activities provide specific examples of the complex issues surrounding the technology and policy for nuclear material protection, control and accountability. New case studies include analyses of nuclear programs of important countries, such as North Korea, Iran, and Kazakhstan, among others. This is a thoroughly updated, must-have volume for private and public organizations involved in driving national security, domestic and international policy issues relating to nuclear material security, non-proliferation, and nuclear transparency.

Nuclear Non-proliferation and Arms Control Verification

Nuclear Non-proliferation and Arms Control Verification
Author: Irmgard Niemeyer
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2020-03-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3030295370

This book strives to take stock of current achievements and existing challenges in nuclear verification, identify the available information and gaps that can act as drivers for exploring new approaches to verification strategies and technologies. With the practical application of the systems concept to nuclear disarmament scenarios and other, non-nuclear verification fields, it investigates, where greater transparency and confidence could be achieved in pursuit of new national or international nonproliferation and arms reduction efforts. A final discussion looks at how, in the absence of formal government-to-government negotiations, experts can take practical steps to advance the technical development of these concepts.

Proliferation of Weapons- and Dual-Use Technologies

Proliferation of Weapons- and Dual-Use Technologies
Author: Margaret E. Kosal
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2021-07-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030736555

This book explores and analyzes the rapid pace of technological evolution in diplomatic, information, military, and economic sectors, which has contributed to a dynamic international policy environment. Global political stability is greatly influenced by innovations originating from numerous sources, including university labs, the technology sector, and military research. Collectively, these innovations guide the movement of people, ideas, and technology that in turn affect the international balance of power. The objective of this volume is to develop new insights into how the proliferation of innovative ideas, low-cost weapons, and dual-use technologies impact the changing global security landscape. Innovative and dual-use technologies can be used for beneficial purposes or defensive purposes. Alternatively they may be appropriated or employed for nefarious purposes by hostile military powers and non-state actors alike. Such actions can threaten global security and stability. As the complexity of technological innovations continues to increase, existing control mechanisms such as international regulations and security arrangements may be insufficient to stem the tide of proliferation over time. As such, this works seeks to assess and present policy solutions to curtail the threat to global stability posed by the proliferation of weapons and dual-use technology.

Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets

Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2013-07-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309270626

In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept-ignition -could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee's deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets ("the panel") was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the panel") will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand: 1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.

Societal Verification

Societal Verification
Author: Dieter Deiseroth
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2010-03-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 3837065820

Societal Verification has been discussed for decades under different names, like "inspection by the people" and "social monitoring". Although there is no agreed legal definition, societal verification connotes the involvement of civil society in monitoring national compliance with, and overall implementation of, international treaties or agreements. In contrast to official verification organisations and agencies employing professional experts, societal verification may involve the whole society or groups within it. There are two main forms of societal verification: (1) citizen reporting, which relies upon members of civil society (journalists, NGOs, think tanks, universities, mass media), and (2) whistleblowing by insiders (scientists, technicians, employees, others) working in the relevant disciplines, departments or industries who are encouraged and willing to report to the public or to the national or international verification regime regarding violations of the respective treaty of which they have become aware.

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation
Author: Allan S. Krass
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2020-11-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 100020054X

Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.