Moving Beyond Pretense: Nuclear Power and Nonproliferation

The U.S. President and nearly all his critics agree that the spread of nuclear weapons and the possibility of their seizure and potential use is the greatest danger facing the United States and the world. Looking at the way government and industry officials downplay the risks of civilian nuclear technology and materials being diverted to make bombs, one would get almost the opposite impression.
 
Most governments have made the promotion of nuclear power’s growth and global development a top priority. Throughout, they have insisted that the dangers of nuclear weapons proliferation are manageable either by making future nuclear plants more “proliferation-resistant” or by strengthening International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and acquiring more timely intelligence on proliferators. How sound is this view? How useful might civilian nuclear programs be for states that want to get nuclear weapons quickly? Are current International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear safeguards sufficient to block military nuclear diversions from civilian programs? Are there easy fixes to upgrade these controls? How much can we count on more timely intelligence on proliferators to stem the further spread of nuclear weapons?
 
This volume taps the insights and analyses of 13 top security and nuclear experts to get the answers. What emerges is a comprehensive counter-narrative to the prevailing wisdom, and a series of innovative reforms to tighten existing nuclear nonproliferation controls.

Get a first-hand account of this book on our blog: https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2018/01/11/north-and-south-korea/

Table of Contents

Foreword.....xi

1. Introduction: Nuclear Energy’s Security Story.....1
  Henry Sokolski

Part I: Nuclear Proliferation Matters.....15

2. Nuclear Proliferation—Looking Back, Thinking Ahead: How Bad Would the
Further Spread of Nuclear Weapons Be?......17
  François Heisbourg

3. The History of Proliferation Optimism: Does It Have a Future?...... 45
  Matthew Kroenig

4. Preventive War and the Spread of Nuclear Programs.......91
  Matthew Fuhrmann

Part II: Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons—Clarifying the Links....117

5. Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons—Clarifying the Links......119
  Victor Gilinsky

6. Scoping Intangible Proliferation Related to Peaceful Nuclear Programs:
Tracking Nuclear Proliferation Within a Commercial Nuclear Power Program ..149
  Susan Voss

7. Persuading Countries to Forgo Nuclear Fuel-Making: What History Suggests..185
  Richard S. Cleary

8. Centrifuges: A New Era for Nuclear Proliferation.......227
  R. Scott Kemp

Part III: How Well Can We Safeguard the Peaceful Atom?...... 263

9. How Well Will the International Atomic Energy Agency Be Able to Safeguard
More Nuclear Materials in More States?......265
  Patrick S. Roberts

10. International Atomic Energy Agency Inspections in Perspective .......303
  Olli Heinonen

11. Looking Beyond Iran and North Korea for Safeguarding the Foundations of
   Nuclear Nonproliferation.......311
  Pierre Goldschmidt

Part IV: Ignoring Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Intelligence.....323

12. Casting a Blind Eye: Kissinger and Nixon Finesse Israel’s Bomb.......325
  Victor Gilinsky

13. The 1979 South Atlantic Flash: The Case for an Israeli Nuclear Test........345
  Leonard Weiss

14. The Nonuse and Abuse of Nuclear Proliferation Intelligence in the Cases of
  North Korea and Iran.......373
  Robert Zarate

15. Facing the Reality of Iran as a De Facto Nuclear State........411
  Gregory S. Jones

Part V: Serious Rules for Nuclear Nonproliferation.........455

16. Serious Rules For Nuclear Power without Proliferation.........457
  Henry Sokolski and Victor Gilinsky

About the Contributors.....501

For any official, analyst, or party concerned about the spread of nuclear technology, this book is essential reading. Students writing papers on nuclear weapons may find this resource helpful in their research.

Government Book Talk Blog post -- Lessons in Global Security Part One  can be found here: https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2015/04/23/lessons-in-global-security-part-1/

NPEC  Nonproliferation Policy Education Center   June 2014  http://www.npolicy.org/thebook.php?bid=32

"This volume taps into the insights and analyses of 13 top nuclear and security experts to weigh the validity of their narrative.  The result is a comprehensive counternarrative that recommends a significant tightening of current nonproliferation controls."

Arms Control Today  January/February 2015 Books of Note  https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2015_0102/Books-of-Note

Posted January 9, 2015 by Kingston Reif

"In the introduction to this collection of 16 essays, Henry Sokolski, the book's editor, frames them as a 'counternarrative' to the 'upbeat view' that the risks of nuclear nonproliferation associated with the spread of nuclear energy projects can be safely managed." 

Wikipedia -- Henry D. Sokolski  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_D._Sokolski