Verfügbarkeit von Uran

Die Verfügbarkeit von Uran ist ein Schlüsselfaktor für den zukünftigen Ausbau sowie den mittel- bis langfristigen potenziellen Beitrag der Kernenergie zur Stromerzeugung. Im vorliegenden Diskussionspapier wird der aktuelle Wissensstand zu Uranressourcen und zur Uranproduktion beschrieben und auf dieser Grundlage Abschätzungen zur zukünftigen Versorgungssituation entwickelt

Rüstungskontrolle für die nächste Bundesregierung: Ein Empfehlungsbericht

Die nächste Bundesregierung wird in den kommenden Jahren vor drei schwierigen rüstungskontrollpolitischen Aufgaben stehen. Erstens muss sie an neuen Initiativen und Vertragswerken für bisher nicht regulierte, technologisch neue Waffengattungen arbeiten. Zweitens muss sie dabei helfen, die von akuten Krisen bedrohten, noch bestehenden Rüstungskontrollregime vor dem endgültigen Scheitern zu bewahren. Drittens muss sie ihren Teil dazu beitragen, die bewährten Mechanismen internationaler Rüstungskontrolle im Hinblick auf neue Herausforderungen weiterzuentwickeln. Keine dieser drei Aufgaben kann von den jeweils anderen losgelöst bearbeitet werden. Vielmehr wird die nächste Bundesregierung für das Gelingen einer solch ambitionierten Rüstungskontrollpolitik über eine Reihe von Zielkonflikten entscheiden müssen. Der vorliegende Bericht gliedert sich in neun Kapitel, die, jedes für sich, ein übergeordnetes Thema der Rüstungskontrolle behandeln und dabei konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen für die künftige Bundesregierung geben. Die Kapitel behandeln: die nukleare Rüstungskontrolle in Europa, den Atomwaffenverbotsvertrag, das Atomabkommen mit dem Iran, die nukleare Abrüstungsverifikation, das Chemiewaffenübereinkommen, die Cybersicherheit, die Regulierung vollautonomer letaler Waffensysteme, die deutsche Debatte um die Beschaffung bewaffneter Drohnen und die konventionelle Rüstungskontrolle in Europa

Simulation of Neutron Multiplicity Measurements using Geant4 - Open Source Software for Nuclear Arms Control

Nuclear arms control, including nuclear safeguards and verification technologies for nuclear disarmament typically use software as part of many different technological applications. This thesis proposes to use three open source criteria for such software, allowing users and developers to have free access to a program, have access to the full source code and be able to publish modifications for the program. This proposition is presented and analyzed in detail, together with the description of the development of "Open Neutron Multiplicity Simulation", an open source software tool to simulate neutron multiplicity measurements. The description includes physical background of the method, details of the developed program and a comprehensive set of validation calculations

What did they say? The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Diplomatic Statements

Abstract: Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction which are not comprehensively prohibited, including prohibitions on possession, development and use. Only for the prohibition of use exists a universal de-facto norm. Analyzing diplomatic statements made during the Review Process of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in the years 2000 to 2013 shows that a more comprehensive norm can be considered an emerging norm. The analysis carried out makes use of quantitative content analysis methods to process a large text corpus and the "norm life cycle" by Finnemore and Sikkink to assess the development of the comprehensive prohibition. Support for the norm is operationalized by calculating frequencies of ten terms which act as proxies for the comprehensive prohibition of nuclear weapons. It is found that several states accept and also require such behavior. Thus it can be considered a norm, which currently is in the phase of norm emergence, because it has gained enough support by several states to be considered a shared understanding. A hypothesis of growing support for the norm can also be confirmed by the dataset, surprisingly among states without nuclear weapons as well as nuclear weapon states.

Vintage electronics for trusted radiation measurements and verified dismantlement of nuclear weapons.

Information barriers are trusted measurement systems to confirm the authenticity of nuclear warheads based on their radiation signatures. Traditional inspection systems rely on complex electronics both for data acquisition and processing. Several research efforts have produced prototype systems, but it has proven difficult to demonstrate that hidden switches and side channels do not exist. After almost thirty years of research and development, no viable and widely accepted system has emerged. We pursue a fundamentally different approach: Our prototype of an inspection system uses vintage hardware built around a 6502 processor. The processor uses 8-micron technology and has only about 4,200 transistors. Vintage electronics may have a number of important advantages for applications where two parties need to simultaneously establish trust in the hardware used. CPUs designed in the distant past, at a time when their use for sensitive measurements was never envisioned, drastically reduce concerns that the other party implemented backdoors or hidden switches on the hardware level. We demonstrate the performance of a prototype system using an Apple IIe and a custom-made open-source data-processing board connected to a standard sodium-iodide radiation detector for low-resolution gamma spectroscopy. Data processing and analysis is exclusively done on the Apple IIe hardware. We show that subtle differences in radiation signatures can be detected in 2-3 minutes based on the result of a simple chi-squared test. Vintage electronics may therefore offer a new path toward fieldable, trusted information barriers