A reasonably large number of published studies has considered the link between reactor-grade plutonium and nonproliferation. Nevertheless some aspects of this problem have not been sufficiently studied and not all priorities have been correctly stated. In the present authors' view an adequate approach should be based on the answer to the following question: "What does the actual difference consist of between 'military' and 'civil' plutonium?" According to the current and widely adopted view, this difference is mainly determined by the content of the isotope plutonium-240. The present book offers an in-depth analysis showing that plutonium-240 is not the only crucial parameter that should define this difference, and that, in fact, the difference is determined by the presence of other plutonium isotopes.

The present book presents the results of analysis spanning the inventory of civil or reactor-grade plutonium and its characteristics that determine the technical risks of its proliferation.

    The book is based on a vast body of factual data and provides fair and diverse information on different aspects of nuclear testing history of the Soviet Union. Using the archive data, a group of specialists from the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Sciences prepared an unclassified summary of the basic scientific and technical facts related to the history of nuclear testing, particular features of nuclear testing technology, primary goals of nuclear testing programs, and operation of nuclear test sites. The objective of the authors is to provide specialists and the public with direct information on the features of the Soviet nuclear testing program.

    The book discusses the history of nuclear testing technology development and particular features of Soviet nuclear test sites. Nuclear testing provided for an elaborate series of engineering and logistics-related activities to verify the operation and study the parameters and injurious effects of nuclear devices and effects of a nuclear explosion, as well as to ensure environmental safety. It was important to observe nuclear testing limitation agreements that were in force during different periods. The transition to underground testing and reduction of the yield was a crucial step towards the improvement of the environmental situation. A significant scientific and technical achievement was the development of a cluster nuclear explosion technology. Among the nuclear tests of particular value were the joint Soviet-American tests conducted in 1988 at the Nevada and Semipalatinsk test sites.

    This volume continues a series of books devoted to the history of Soviet nuclear tests initiated in 1997. It addresses some military and political aspects of the history of the Soviet nuclear weapons and tests at different stages of the country's nuclear program and provides vast diverse factual information. The book, for example, discusses the content and the role in the nuclear weapons development of the 1991 and 1993 treaties on strategic arms control and reduction, and of nuclear test limitations.