Mapping and analyzing nuclear weapons programs development

An in-depth review of the types of nuclear reactors and their relationship to the development of nuclear weapons was conducted in order to provide a better understanding of the intention of a state in the creation of an internal nuclear program. An analysis of countries that have developed nuclear weapons and countries that have not was conducted. Following this analysis, the relationship between the weapons program, or lack thereof, was compared to the research reactors possessed by the country. The political environment of the country was also taken into account in order to determine the motivations behind the nuclear weapons development. It was concluded that there are a myriad of factors at play in the decision made by a country to develop nuclear weapons. There is a direct correlation between the construction of research reactors that were previously utilized for weapons research and the pursuit of an independent nuclear weapons program. However, a political impetus is necessary for the proper motivation to develop nuclear weapons to exist.

Name thesis:degree_name

Bachelor

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Strei, Thomas J.III.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robert P. Redwine.

• Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127304

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127304