Nuclear power

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Nuclear powers in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (China, France, Russia, Great Britain, United States)
  • declared nuclear powers outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (India, North Korea, Pakistan)
  • unexplained nuclear powers outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (Israel)
  • Member States of Nuclear Participation
  • Former nuclear powers
    • Nuclear weapons by owner

    As a nuclear power, one is the state designated the over nuclear weapons has, plus the appropriate means of delivery has to be able to use the nuclear weapons. The USA , Russia , Great Britain , France and the People's Republic of China , as well as India , Pakistan , Israel and North Korea are considered nuclear powers .

    Official nuclear powers

    Nuclear powers (states that have nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty )
    country Initial ignition Active warheads
    (as of late 2012)

    Atomic bomb Hydrogen bomb
    United StatesUnited States United States July 16, 1945 November 1, 1952 1,950
    Soviet UnionSoviet Union Soviet Union / RussiaRussiaRussia  August 29, 1949 August 12, 1953 1,740
    United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom October 3, 1952 May 15, 1957 0.160
    FranceFrance France 3rd February 1960 August 24, 1968 0.290
    China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China October 16, 1964 June 14, 1967 0.240

    The figures mentioned are based on official information from the individual countries. In particular, the official data of the People's Republic of China and Great Britain are publicly questioned in expert circles as well as by former employees of the IAEA . In 1997, Great Britain stopped publishing an annual inventory report on its nuclear weapons program and, contrary to official statements, is supposed to work with the USA on the development of new nuclear weapons. It is also claimed that the new MOX reactor in Sellafield is being used for the production of weapons-grade plutonium.

    Mushroom cloud after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki

    United States

    The United States developed the first atomic bomb during World War II - originally out of fear that Nazi Germany would be the first to complete a nuclear weapon and use it in war. The USA tested a plutonium bomb for the first time on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert on the White Sands Proving Grounds ( Trinity test ). On August 6 and 9, 1945, they first used the new weapon in the attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . This makes the United States the only nation to date that has not only tested nuclear weapons but also used them against the civilian population of another country. The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union began around 1950, when the two superpowers amassed a gigantic arsenal of nuclear weapons. Another leap in development was the hydrogen bomb , which was tested for the first time in 1952 and was available for use from 1954.

    Soviet Union / Russia

    The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon on August 29, 1949. Essential research results from the US project had been obtained through espionage . The actual motivation for the development of nuclear weapons was to keep up with the rival USA in the Cold War that had been looming since 1945 , which ultimately led to the arms race between the two powers by 1950 at the latest . The first Soviet hydrogen bomb was tested on August 12, 1953 in Semipalatinsk . A further developed version with an explosive force of around 1.6 megatons was detonated in 1955.

    The development and testing of the first operational ICBM R-7 by the Soviet Union in 1957 caused the so-called Sputnik shock in the West .

    At the height of the Cold War , the Soviet Union developed the largest bomb ever developed, the so-called Tsar bomb. It had an explosive force of 50 MT, could hardly be used militarily and served primarily as a demonstration object. Originally, it was designed for an explosive force of 100 to 150 megatons, but during the test this was reduced by removing the outer uranium coating and thus the 4th stage of the bomb, as otherwise an irresponsible amount of radioactivity would have been released.

    Until about the end of the 1960s, the Soviet Union reached approximate nuclear strategic parity with the initially superior USA in the arms race.

    After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its nuclear weapons became the property of Russia , in accordance with the agreements in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 .

    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom conducted its first nuclear test on October 3, 1952 , Operation Hurricane off the coast of Australia. The British project received important data from the United States' Manhattan Project during the war , which is why it was so quick to succeed. Even after the end of the war, the two countries cooperated closely in the development of nuclear weapons. The US wanted an independent nuclear power to exist in Europe to keep the Soviet Union in check. Important findings continued to flow to Great Britain, so that the country was able to test its first hydrogen bomb on May 15, 1957 . The test also took place off Australia. (see list of nuclear weapons tests ; this can be sorted by country) Sellafield was an important research center ; it became world famous through the Windscale fire in 1957.

    France

    Under Charles de Gaulle , France pursued a very isolationist foreign policy. a. led to leaving NATO. In order to still play in the ring of superpowers, a separate atom bomb project was started at considerable expense. The nuclear tests initially took place in French colonies in North Africa, where certain parts of the population and also French soldiers suffered long-term damage from the radiation.

    The then President of France Jacques Chirac threatened in January 2006 that anyone who, as a leader, attacked France with terrorist means or was even considering the use of weapons of mass destruction would have to be prepared for a “decisive and adapted response”, either conventional or “of any other kind” could.

    People's Republic of China

    The People's Republic of China has so far tested 23 nuclear weapons above ground and 22 underground. The Lop Nor nuclear weapons test site is located in the Kuruk Tag Mountains near Lake Bosten in Xinjiang . In 1964, China declared that it would unilaterally refrain from using nuclear weapons for the first time. The last explosions took place in 1996.

    Actual nuclear powers

    These states have nuclear weapons, but have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    In principle, one can assume that all technologically and scientifically developed states with sufficient investment of money and personnel are able to develop an atom bomb within a short period of time. The technological knowledge is available in all industrialized countries, as is the majority of the required industrial systems.

    Israel

    The Israeli nuclear program began in the 1950s with support from France. Although the Israeli government has never specifically given information on the quantity and quality of its nuclear arsenal, it is certain that Israel has had atomic bombs since 1967 at the latest. In 1975, Israel offered nuclear weapons to South Africa for sale. More detailed information first became public in 1986, when Mordechai Vanunu , then a technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center , passed photos and documents on the Israeli nuclear program to the press. Based on Vanunu's revelations, the Israeli arsenal was estimated at 100 to 200 warheads in the early 1990s. Other estimates are between 75 and 130 warheads in the late 1990s; still others go up to 400.

    Little is known about possible nuclear weapons tests in Israel either. It is quite possible that Israel could do without full nuclear weapons tests (as opposed to testing individual components without a chain reaction ). First, the gun design that was also used on the Hiroshima bomb is so simple that testing can be eliminated. Second, it is speculated that Israel had access to data from either French or American nuclear tests. It is not clear whether the 1979 Vela incident south of South Africa was a nuclear weapon test with Israeli participation.

    In an interview on December 11, 2006 during his visit to Germany, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time alluded to Israeli nuclear weapons possession by criticizing Iran's uncontrollable threat potential to western nuclear powers such as Russia, France, the USA "and Israel" . In May 2009, the American government also broke its silence and demanded that it join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    India

    An Indian Agni-II - medium-range missile at the military parade on National Day 2004

    India has had nuclear weapons since May 18, 1974, and nuclear tests have been carried out. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimated India's arsenal at 30 to 35 warheads in 2002, globalsecurity.org at up to 150 in 2005. Since 1999 India has unilaterally foregone the option of a nuclear first strike.

    Pakistan

    The Pakistani nuclear weapons program was first mentioned on June 27, 1979 by the US representative on the IAEA Board of Governors. Corresponding systems are available in the country and are being developed. The program is being financed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Libya. The Pakistani government, on the other hand, stressed that it was not thinking of making its own atomic bomb; the core program serves peaceful purposes.

    Pakistan is believed to have had nuclear weapons since the early 1980s. These were developed under the direction of Abdul Kadir Khan and tested for the first time on May 28, 1998. The arsenal is estimated at 24 to 48 warheads, some sources estimate the number at up to 75. As part of its nuclear doctrine, the country explicitly reserves the option of a nuclear first strike .

    Prior to 1998, Khan sold instructions and equipment for building nuclear explosive devices. Libya's dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi bought the complete range, while Iran was particularly interested in uranium centrifuges. With North Korea he traded nuclear technology for blueprints for long-range missiles. In 2004 these deals became known. Pakistan's leadership claimed they were ignorant of Khan's business. The "father of the Pakistani bomb", revered as a national hero by the people, was never prosecuted for his actions. Khan publicly apologized on Pakistani television. In 2009, he raved about a nuclear partnership with Iran: both countries could form a strong Islamic bloc in the region “to oppose us from international pressure”.

    North Korea

    North Korea claims that it operates a nuclear weapons program in which it has produced plutonium for several atomic bombs. In February 2005, the country declared it had nuclear weapons. According to reports from the North Korean news agency KCNA , North Korea - despite international protests - tested a nuclear weapon for the first time on October 9, 2006 at 10:36 am (local time). Russian measuring stations registered a magnitude of 3.6. Definitive evidence that it was indeed a nuclear weapon test came from the test results of a US military aircraft that collected air samples over the area of ​​the underground explosion on October 11th. This makes North Korea the ninth nuclear power in the world. Since mid-April 2012, North Korea has also referred to itself as a nuclear power in its constitution . The Institute for Science and International Security estimates North Korea's nuclear arsenal at 12 to 27 warheads. According to North Korean information, a hydrogen bomb was tested on North Korean territory for the first time in 2017.

    Suspected nuclear weapons programs

    These states are assumed to have had or intend to produce nuclear weapons. Many facts about this are not known to the public; they are kept secret by governments or secret services or only made available to a few people.

    Iran

    The Iran does not carry nuclear weapons program by its own account. The USA and also the UN fear that Iran is unofficially working on a nuclear weapons program, even if this is not confirmed by permanent and intensive monitoring of the IAEA. It is not certain whether Iran already has the technical facilities to build nuclear weapons itself. On February 11, 2010, Iran's President officially declared the country a "nuclear state", but continued to deny any military intentions in this context.

    Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia's participation in the Pakistani nuclear program, which the country "financed to a not inconsiderable part" , is largely guaranteed . It is believed that Saudi Arabia was given an option on the bomb "when they feel the need". If the worst comes to the worst, Riyadh does not have to laboriously buy components for its own nuclear program. "The Saudis would have enough money to buy finished nuclear weapons," said Oliver Thränert, head of the security policy research group at the Science and Politics Foundation in Berlin . Earlier, direct contacts with Abdul Kadir Khan are proven. To what extent the armed forces of Saudi Arabia have access to Pakistani nuclear weapons is unclear. With the CSS-2 and the Ghauri II , the armed forces have nuclear weapons-compatible delivery systems .

    Nuclear strategy

    The entire nuclear strategy is characterized far more than ordinary military strategies by pure theory , speculation and imponderables, which is mainly due to the unimaginable effects that a single major nuclear weapon detonation would have. A distinction is made between the ability of a nuclear power to deliver the so-called first strike or second strike . First strike capability is given if the state in question has the capability to completely destroy an opponent's nuclear weapons with a first attack or at least to reduce their arsenal to such an extent that the damage from a possible counterattack appears "acceptable" from a political and military point of view. Second strike capability is the ability of a state to strike back with nuclear power even after a nuclear attack on its own territory. This potential primarily requires an early warning system to protect against surprise attacks, as well as a resilient guidance system for one's own forces. A large area of ​​deployment is very important, as is available to the two superpowers, as well as carrier systems that can withstand a nuclear attack, such as ICBMs bunkered on land , but above all sea-based ICBMs .

    Former nuclear powers and nuclear ambitions

    Nuclear Weapon Free Zones Treaties
    Contract (from) region Signatory /
    ratification     		Year signed /
    in force
    Antarctic Treaty Antarctic 45/45 1959/1961
    Tlatelolco Latin America / Caribbean 33/33 1967/1968
    Rarotonga South pacific 13/13 1985/1986
    Two-plus-four contract former GDR and Berlin 6/5 * 1990/1991
    Mongolia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Mongolia 1/1 1992/2000
    Bangkok South East Asia 10/10 1995/1997
    Pelindaba Africa 53 (54) / 40 1996/2009
    Semei Central Asia 5/5 2006/2009
    * ratified by all still existing contracting parties (the GDR no longer existed)

    The following states have previously owned or worked on nuclear weapons.

    Egypt

    Egypt began its nuclear weapons project in 1954, but did not attach great importance to the program. In 1961 the Insha reactor was built in Cairo with the support of the Soviet Union. After the defeat by Israel in 1967, Egypt abandoned the project and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Insha reactor is still in operation and the country is planning to build more power plants. It is also on the lookout for opportunities for its own uranium enrichment.

    Algeria

    In 1991, the United States learned about the secret construction of the Birine El Salam in Algeria . The Washington Post accused the country of seeking to develop nuclear weapons with the help of the Chinese government. The Algerian government at the time confirmed that it would build a reactor, but denied military purposes or secrecy. Under international pressure, Algeria placed the reactor under the control of the IAEA and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 1995. The nuclear energy program remained as intransparent as possible.

    Argentina

    Argentina set up the National Atomic Energy Agency in 1950, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica , to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. However, the country began a nuclear weapons program in 1978 under the military government. The project was abandoned after democratization in 1983. However, some unofficial reports, as well as US intelligence files, contain information that Argentina had a military nuclear power program that included the construction of a nuclear submarine during the 1980s. The reason for this was rivalries with neighboring Brazil , which in turn also had a nuclear weapons program. The program was canceled around 1980. At the beginning of the 1990s, Argentina and Brazil set up a bilateral authority which, with the help of mutual controls, is supposed to ensure that both states use all forms of nuclear technology exclusively for energy generation. On February 10, 1995, Argentina joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    Australia

    Australia tried to develop nuclear weapons in collaboration with the United Kingdom after World War II . The country made uranium and test sites in the Australian desert available for missile and nuclear weapon tests. The Australian government was also involved in the Blue Streak missile program. In 1955, a contract was signed with a British company to build the Hi-Flux Australian Reactor (HIFAR). This was seen as a first step towards building larger reactors that could produce sufficient quantities of weapons grade plutonium . In the 1960s, however, Australia gave up its nuclear ambitions and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970. In 1973 the treaty was ratified .

    Brazil

    In 1968, Brazil signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco , which bans the states of Latin America and the Caribbean from acquiring and possessing nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, in 1978 the military regime began a secret nuclear weapons project under the code name "Solimões". When the country returned to democracy in 1985, the elected government ended all programs for the military use of nuclear energy. The official move away from such efforts came on July 13, 1998, when President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed and ratified both the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He denied that the country had developed nuclear weapons.

    Pershing II at launch

    Germany

    The “ Third Reich ” already pursued a nuclear program, the so-called uranium project . This program ultimately contributed to the Manhattan Project in the USA, since the fear of a nuclear-armed Germany in the USA was too great.

    After 1955, as Federal Minister for Nuclear Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, Franz Josef Strauss planned the technological connection as part of the Atoms for Peace program, but a nuclear weapons program was never started. Accordingly, Germany still has no nuclear weapons. However, numerous nuclear weapons from the USA and the USSR were deposited on German soil in so-called " special ammunition dumps ". Like other NATO countries, the Federal Republic also has a nuclear share in US nuclear weapons that can be used on German weapon carriers. In addition, France has so far twice offered the German federal government a German share in the control and decision to use the French nuclear weapons. On both occasions, however, the federal government refused to do so, stating that the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek to acquire nuclear weapons and had therefore also acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1969.

    Iraq

    The Iraqi nuclear weapons program allegedly began as early as the late 1960s without Iraqi scientists ever succeeding in producing a working bomb. The program suffered setbacks from the destruction of the Osirak reactor, built with French help, by Israel in 1981 and the technology embargo during and after the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, which Russia and China also adhered to. In the second Gulf War "Desert Storm" in 1991, most of the equipment was destroyed. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, no evidence of a resumption of the nuclear weapons program and the existence of nuclear weapons of mass destruction was found.

    Italy

    In Italy a working group was set up in 1948 to prepare the construction of a research reactor, ship reactors and nuclear weapons. After delays, the failure of multilateral agreements and the refusal by the United States to supply Polaris missiles to the Italian Navy, the Italian nuclear weapons program was resumed in 1964 at the CAMEN military nuclear research center near Pisa , and then with the development of the Italian medium-range missile Alfa began. Italy acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968, but did not ratify it until 1975. This ended the Italian nuclear weapons program. Italy has had nuclear participation in US nuclear weapons since 1959.

    Yugoslavia

    In Yugoslavia , efforts to develop nuclear weapons began as early as the 1950s with research on uranium enrichment . In 1956, the Vinča plant for the enrichment of nuclear fuel was built; Research reactors were built in 1958 and 1959. For the latter, the Soviet Union provided heavy water and enriched uranium. As early as 1966, the production of plutonium began in the Vinča plant , which produced a few grams of weapons-grade plutonium. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was also cooperation with Norway in the area of ​​plutonium enrichment . In 1960 Tito suspended the program for reasons unknown, but resumed it in 1974 after India carried out the first nuclear tests. The program was continued after Tito's death, but now divided into two sections: one for military use and one for civil nuclear energy. The latter brought about the Krško nuclear power plant in 1983 , which is now operated jointly by Slovenia and Croatia to generate electricity. In 1987 the decision was made to stop all military nuclear projects.

    After the collapse of Yugoslavia , the Vinča laboratories, along with 50 kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), became the property of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . The National Nuclear Security Administration has been working with Serbia since 1996 to improve the facility's security standards. During the NATO attack on Yugoslavia in 1999, the Vinča plant was never bombed; the alliance was aware of the existence and danger of enriched uranium. In 2002, 48.4 kg of HEU were transported to Russia as part of the Nuclear Threat Initiative . Another 13 kg of HEU (together with 2.5 t of low-enriched uranium) were transported to Russia in 2010, after which Serbia no longer has any HEU stocks.

    Libya

    Libya signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1969. In the 1970s, a treaty was signed with the Soviet Union to build the civil Sirt nuclear power station. Muammar al-Gaddafi, however, declared that he wanted to develop nuclear weapons, since Israel also had nuclear weapons. Libya received a Soviet reactor in 1979 and also exchanged knowledge and material with Pakistan . In 1984 the country bought another reactor from the Soviet Union. In December 2003 it announced that it would abandon all weapons of mass destruction programs and allow international inspections; In 2004 it joined the nuclear test ban treaty. Existing trade embargoes against Libya were then lifted.

    Poland

    As of 1960, the People's Republic of Poland had 200 nuclear weapons and 70 launch devices that were handed over by the Soviet Union. At the end of the 1960s, the weapons were returned to the Soviet Union, which stationed its own nuclear weapons in its satellite states .

    Poland started a nuclear program in the 1960s. The first controlled nuclear fission occurred towards the end of the decade. The project was continued during the 1970s, and the researchers succeeded in generating fusion neutrons using convergent shock waves. In the years that followed, efforts focused on micro-nuclear reactions. Today Poland operates the Maria research reactor in Świerk near Warsaw under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Institute . The country joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and officially has no nuclear weapons.

    Republic of China

    The Republic of China (Taiwan) maintained a nuclear weapons program from 1964 to 1988, which was discontinued under pressure from the USA. In 1968 the country signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. According to a 1974 memorandum from the US Department of Defense, then US Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger said in a conversation with Ambassador Leonard Unger that the United States must withdraw its nuclear weapons stationed in Taiwan. The Republic of China says it is currently working on the Tien Chi , a short-range missile that could reach the coast of the People's Republic of China .

    Romania

    Romania signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970. Nevertheless, under Nicolae Ceaușescu , the country maintained a secret nuclear weapons program in the 1980s. The project ended with the fall of Ceaușescu. Romania today has a nuclear power plant with two operational reactors ( Cernavodă ), which was built with Canadian help. In addition, uranium is mined in the country and also enriched for use in power plants. A civil research program also exists.

    Sweden

    Sweden conducted nuclear weapons research during the 1950s and 1960s in order to be able to defend itself against a possible invasion of the Soviet Union . A research facility was to be built in Studsvik near Nyköping . The research complex at this location is still operated today by the company of the same name . The company Saab presented plans for a nuclear supersonic bomber, the A36 - the necessary to build a nuclear bomb expertise was available. However, after acquiring all the necessary knowledge, the country decided not to build nuclear weapons and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .

    Switzerland

    In Switzerland , the secret study commission for atomic energy (SKA) was formed in 1945 under the chairmanship of the physicist Paul Scherrer with the aim of a Swiss atomic bomb. In the 1960s, the production of 200 atomic bombs, 150 nuclear warheads for rockets and 50 warheads for artillery shells was planned as a counterweight to a possible nuclear armament of the Federal Republic of Germany. These efforts were only scaled back with the coordinated signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by Switzerland on November 27 and the Federal Republic of Germany on November 28, 1969.

    With the reactors Diorit (1960–1977) and Lucens (1968–1969), Switzerland had two heavy water reactors suitable for the production of weapons-grade plutonium. The program was abandoned in 1988.

    South Africa

    South Africa developed nuclear weapons under the apartheid government, in all likelihood in cooperation with Israel . In March 1975 the then defense ministers of Israel, Shimon Peres , and of South Africa, Pieter Willem Botha , held talks about the sale of Israeli nuclear weapons to South Africa. It is speculated that the Vela incident on September 22, 1979 was a nuclear weapon test in South Africa, which may also have been carried out with Israeli involvement. Before the end of apartheid, South Africa destroyed its six nuclear weapons with US support in 1991 in order to then join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and thus be able to reintegrate into the international community. Most South African nuclear weapons facilities had been dismantled by 1994, but some are still there.

    Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine

    After the collapse of the Soviet Union , there were three successor states of the USSR with nuclear weapons in addition to Russia: Ukraine , Belarus and Kazakhstan . Ukraine was at times the country with the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. All of these states were contracting parties to the START 1 Treaty, which was signed by the Soviet Union and the USA in 1991 and came into force in 1995. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and pledged to destroy their nuclear arsenal. Kazakhstan and Belarus became nuclear weapons free by 1996. The last Ukrainian warhead was destroyed in Russia in October 2001.

    Marshall Islands lawsuit against nuclear powers

    In 2014, the Marshall Islands sued the nuclear powers USA, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea before the International Court of Justice . In the opinion of the island state, the aforementioned states are not fulfilling their obligation to nuclear disarmament.

    See also

    Web links

    Wiktionary: atomic power  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

    Individual evidence

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    43. ^ Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) Chronology
    44. ^ Marshall Islands are suing nuclear powers diepresse.com
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