Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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AGA: Arbeitsgruppe Physik und Abrüstung

AGA 9: Verification

AGA 9.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2015, 09:30–10:30, EMH 225

Nuclear disarmament - technical means for verification — •Wolfgang Rosenstock — Fraunhofer INT, Appelsgarten 2, 53879 Euskirchen

Invariably nuclear weapons are of tremendous importance in our world. States possessing those weapons argue they need them for their national security. However article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) calls for a further treaty on complete nuclear disarmament under effective international control. There are many indicators for the presence of a nuclear weapon but the only definite signature is the detection of fissionable material like Uranium or Plutonium. I will present different physico-technical methods for the non-contact detection and identification of this special nuclear material on-site. While these methods and procedures may not to disclose any proliferation relevant details, they should nevertheless give non-nuclear weapon states highest confidence in the results especially. Achieving such confidence is the grand challenge. In addition these methods must be flexible since some nuclear weapon states are modernizing there arsenal, like the United States in the case of the W80 thermonuclear warhead. Furthermore these measurement techniques will be of great importance in preventing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation as well as nuclear terrorism.