Reducing the Greatest Risks of Nuclear Theft and Terrorism

Abstract

Keeping nuclear weapons and the materials needed to make them out of terrorist hands is critical to U.S. and world security - and to the future of nuclear energy as well. In the aftermath of a terrorist nuclear attack, there would be no chance of convincing governments to build nuclear reactors on the scale required for nuclear energy to make any significant contribution to coping with climate change. The fundamental key to success will be convincing policy-makers and nuclear managers around the world that nuclear terrorism is a real threat to their country's security, worthy of new investments of their time and resources to reduce the risks, something many of them do not believe today.