Abstract
In this Nuclear Notebook the authors highlight the key milestones and facts regarding the nuclear pursuits of the first five states to develop nuclear weapons—the United States, the Soviet Union and Russia, Britain, France, and China.
Though we are in the seventh decade of the nuclear age, the discipline of nuclear history is still in its infancy. Whereas the US Manhattan Project has been treated extensively, the role of nuclear weapons during and after the Cold War remains a fertile research area. More information is needed to understand the role of nuclear weapons in foreign policy and diplomatic relations. Better understanding the development of nuclear weapons programs could help to predict or prevent the rise of new ones. Additionally, incorporating the role of nuclear weapons into historical accounts not only greatly enriches, but also is essential to, our understanding of the past and present; for example, one cannot consider the US—Japanese relationship without examining the aspect of nuclear weapons.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, details of the development of the Soviet atomic bomb program came to light, revealing many interesting, previously unknown personalities. Descriptions also emerged of an archipelago of entire secret cities where Soviet scientists developed, tested, and built the bomb. Before the new Russian government imposed more restrictive information policies, many enlightening memoirs, official histories, and articles on the Soviet bomb program were published in the 1990s. Thanks to this information, researchers were able to evaluate how accurate US intelligence had been in understanding and interpreting the Soviet program before the end of the Cold War.
Britain continues to release a steady stream of primary documents related to the evolution of its nuclear weapons arsenal; these files supplement its excellent official histories by Margaret Gowing and Lorna Arnold. Even China, generally tight-lipped about its nuclear plans, has divulged essential information about its nuclear developments. Bringing up the rear among the original five nuclear weapon states is France, which has yet to publish an official account of its atomic bomb program.
The four newest nuclear weapon states—Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea—have so far disclosed very little information about their nuclear pursuits. In a future Nuclear Notebook we will attempt to outline what is known about the nuclear programs of these states.
The accompanying table () supplies, in a comparative way, some of the key milestones and facts regarding the nuclear pursuits of the first five states to develop nuclear weapons. The table is intended as a jumping-off point for anyone entering the field to undertake serious research on nuclear history—something the world needs more of.
Table 1. Nuclear pursuits, 2012
Funding
This research was done with a grant from the Ploughshares Fund and Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Additional information
Hans M. Kristensen is the director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in Washington, DC. His work focuses on researching and writing about the status of nuclear weapons and the policies that direct them. Kristensen is a co-author to the world nuclear forces overview in the SIPRI Yearbook (Oxford University Press) and a frequent adviser to the news media on nuclear weapons policy and operations. He has co-authored Nuclear Notebook since 2001.
Inquiries should be directed to FAS, 1725 DeSales St., NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC, 20036 USA; +1 (202) 546-3300.
Robert S. Norris is a senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. A former senior research associate with the Natural Resources Defense Council, his principal areas of expertise include writing and research on all aspects of the nuclear weapons programs of the United States, Soviet Union/Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China, as well as India, Pakistan, and Israel. He is the author of Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensible Man (Steerforth, 2002) and co-author of Making the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Westview, 1995). He co-authored or contributed to the chapter on nuclear weapons in the 1985—2000 editions of the SIPRI Yearbook (Oxford University Press) and has co-authored Nuclear Notebook since 1987.