Nuclear Security: The Problems and the Road Ahead [Paperback]

Concern about the threat posed by nuclear weapons has preoccupied the United States and presidents of the United States since the beginning of the nuclear era.Nuclear Securitydraws from papers presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Nuclear Society examining worldwide efforts to control nuclear weapons and ensure the safety of the nuclear enterprise of weapons and reactors against catastrophic accidents. The distinguished contributors, all known for their long-standing interest in getting better control of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and reactors, discuss what we can learn from past successes and failures and attempt to identify the key ingredients for a road ahead that can lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The authors review historical efforts to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons, with a focus on the momentous arms control negotiations between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They offer specific recommendations for reducing risks that should be adopted by the nuclear enterprise, both military and civilian, in the United States and abroad. Since the risks posed by the nuclear enterprise are so high, they conclude, no reasonable effort should be spared to ensure safety and security.

George P. Shultzis the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a former U.S. secretary of state. He is the coauthor ofCommunicating with the World of IslamandIssues on My Mindand the coeditor ofEnding Government Bailouts as We Know ThemandGame Changers. He lives in San Francisco.Sidney D. Drellis a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor emeritus of theoretical physics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University. He is the coauthor ofGravest DangerandNew Terror. He lives in Palo Alto, California. Drell and Shultz previously collaborated onDeterrence,Implications of the ReyklóW