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The most difficult challenge for a terrorist organization seeking to build a nuclear weapon or improvised nuclear device is obtaining fissile material, either plutonium or highly enriched uranium (HEU). Experts acknowledge that obtaining HEU, uranium that has been processed to increase the proportion of the U-235 isotope to over 20%, is the most difficult challenge facing a state or non-state actor seeking to build a nuclear explosive. The large stocks of HEU in civilian use, many not adequately protected, are thus one of the greatest security risks facing the global community at present. This book contains chapters examining the various uses for this material and possible alternatives; the threat posed by this material; the economic, political and strategic obstacles to international efforts to end the use of HEU for commercial and research purposes; as well as new national and international measures that should be taken to further the elimination of HEU.
This book was published as a special issue of The Nonproliferation Review.
List of contents
1. Nuclear Terrorism and the Global Politics of Civilian HEU Elimination William C. Potter 2. Leveraging U.S. Policy for a Global Commitment to HEU Elimination Anya Loukianova and Cristina Hansell 3. Nuclear Medicine’s Double Hazard: Imperiled Treatment and the Risk of Terrorism Cristina Hansell 4. Phasing Out Civilian HEU in Russia: Opportunities and Challenges Elena K. Sokova 5. HEU Fuel Cycle Inventories and Progress on Global Minimization Ole Reistad and Styrkaar Hustveit 6. The Hard Cases: Eliminating Civilian HEU in Ukraine and Belarus William C. Potter and Robert Nurick 7. Practical Steps toward a World without Civilian HEU Cristina Hansell
About the author
William C. Potter is Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Cristina-Astrid Hansell is Director of the Newly Independent States Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Summary
This book examines the economic, political and strategic obstacles to international efforts to end the use of HEU for commercial and research purposes and recommends national and international measures that should be taken to further the elimination of HEU.
