IEER
SDA V6N4, V7N1 / E&S #6

Science for the Critical Masses:
The Nuclear Numbers


a. in metric tons
b. before losses
c. IAEA Dec. 1996


1 China and India are the only nuclear weapons states to have a no first use policy.
2 Israel is the only remaining undeclared nuclear weapons state.
3 May include some reserves.
4 100 WE-177 tactical aircraft bombs were retired in early 1998, leaving only Trident II deployed.
5 Number of assembled weapons unknown; materials estimated enough for 80 warheads.
6 Number of assembled weapons unknown; materials estimated enough for 10 to 15 warheads, possibly more.
7. Includes the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
8 Includes 156 "peaceful nuclear explosions."
9 Jointly with US.
10 Has announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.
11 Not ratified as of 9/9/98.
12 Total in and out of warheads.
13 May be as high as about 190 metric tons.
14 Russia has agreed to sell to the US 500 metric tons of HEU after dilution to low enriched reactor fuel. The deal is in trouble.

Sources: William M. Arkin, Robert S. Norris, Joshua Handler, Taking Stock: Worldwide Nuclear Deployments 1998, (Washington: Natural Resources Defense Council, March 1998); David Albright, Frans Berkhout and William Walker, Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997); and US DOE Openness Press Conference Fact Sheet, Dec. 7, 1993.



Sources: IAEA Information Circulars: INFCIRC/549/Add.1, March 31, 1998; INFCIRC/549/Add.3, March 31, 1998, and INFCIRC/549/Add.4/1, May 28, 1998. Germany, Italy and the Netherlands estimated through Dec. 1996 based on Albright, Berkhout, Walker, 1997. Estimates are for stocks and exclude plutonium irradiated in fast breeder and light water reactors.



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Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
Comments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer@ieer.org
Takoma Park, Maryland, USA

October 1998 (Updated May 1999)