MANAGING MILITARY URANIUM AND PLUTONIUM IN THE UNITED-STATES AND THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION

Effective approaches to the management of plutonium and highly enriche d uranium (HEU)-the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons-are funda mental to controlling nuclear proliferation and providing the basis fo r deep, transparent, and irreversible reductions in nuclear weapons st ockpiles. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the ongoing dismantleme nt of tens of thousands of nuclear weapons are creating unprecedented stresses on the systems for managing these materials, as well as unpre cedented opportunities for cooperation to improve these systems. In th is article, we summarize the technical background to this situation, a nd the current and prospective security challenges posed by military s tockpiles of these materials in the United States and Russia. We then review the programs in place to address these challenges, the progress of these programs to date, and the work remaining to be done, in five areas: (a) preventing theft and smuggling of nuclear warheads and fis sile materials; (b) building a regime of monitored reductions in nucle ar warhead and fissile material stockpiles; (c) ending further product ion of excess fissile materials; (d) reducing stockpiles of excess fis sile materials; and (e) avoiding economic collapse in the nuclear citi es where substantial fractions of these materials and their guardians reside.