Science for Nuclear Arms Control

About

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the threat of nuclear weapons use has re-emerged in the public debate. Today, there exist over 12,000 nuclear weapons globally, and large fissile material stocks allowing the production of many more. The threat of new states obtaining nuclear weapons persists. The current situation has triggered a new sense of urgency. This lecture series will introduce the topic, highlighting the roles of physicists.

The first talk will introduce what makes a nuclear weapon program, focusing on technical aspects and past proliferation cases. It will also look at the physics effects of nuclear weapon explosions. The second talk will address how the world deals with these weapons: What are the related politics, the role of states and the United Nations. What can civil society – including the academic research community – do? The third talk will highlight another important contribution by scientists: International agreements on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament require internationally developed verification measures to monitor compliance – or: science for peace. Current verification research will be presented, including particle detection.

The research of Prof. Malte Göttsche focusses on nuclear verification and disarmament at RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

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