The Canary in the Nuclear Submarine: Assessing the Nonproliferation Risk of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Loophole

ABSTRACT

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) allows states to exempt nuclear material from international safeguards for use in nuclear submarine programs. This material, however, could be diverted for nuclear weapons purposes without the knowledge of inspectors, creating a potentially dangerous loophole in the treaty. This article argues that exercising that loophole today would amount to admitting a nuclear weapon program, making it a particularly poor pathway to a weapon for a potential proliferant. Still, if states like Brazil ultimately exempt nuclear material from safeguards for a nuclear submarine effort, they could set a dangerous precedent that makes it easier for others to use the loophole as a route to a nuclear weapon capability. There are several policy options available to mitigate the damage of such a precedent; most promising is the prospect of a voluntary safeguards arrangement that would allow international inspectors to keep an eye on nuclear material even after it has been dedicated to a naval nuclear propulsion program.     

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

The 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) produced a Final Document calling for an extension of the principles of the nonproliferation norm as well as steps toward complete disarmament. This article looks beyond the rhetoric, however, to examine recent decisions by great powers to expand nuclear trade with non-NPT countries and the implications of these decisions on the traditional nonproliferation norm of restraint. This article seeks to contribute to constructivist theory by supplementing existing accounts of norm creation and establishment with a new model of norm change. The article develops a case study of the 2008 US-India nuclear deal to highlight the role of elite agency in key stages of norm change, including redefinition and constructive substitution through contestation. It concludes that the traditional nonproliferation norm may be evolving in new directions that are not well captured by existing theoretical frames.     

The South African Denuclearization Exemplar

ABSTRACT

South Africa's nuclear disarmament is a unique historical case, notable in part for the dramatic shift from deception to cooperation. The unprecedented transparency it demonstrated in order to convince the international community of the veracity of their disarmament is heralded as an exemplar for verifiable denuclearization. Less known is how this case affords insights into how a nuclear weapon program can be clandestinely hidden by the ambiguity provided by an otherwise completely legitimate, peaceful, nuclear energy program. Using a variety of open sources, including newly declassified internal South African and US government reports, it can be shown that South Africa employed a variety of deceptive tactics before it disarmed, and even for nearly two years after becoming a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This article reviews that information to derive instructive lessons on the lengths that a nuclear proliferant state might go to conceal its true capabilities and intentions, and to thwart international discovery of the existence and full extent of an existing—or, in this case, a former—nuclear weapon program.     

武器装备人机界面操控性评价方法研究

针对武器装备人机界面操控性难以有效评价的问题,提出人机界面操控易用性的评价指标,利用信息距离对易用性进行分析,并建立武器装备人机界面易用性的评估模型,并通过实例进行武器装备易用性评价分析,为武器装备人机界面操控性设计优化及检验标准的制定提供了借鉴。     

Notes on contributors

In 1897 and 1898, Winston Churchill participated in what late Victorian Britain termed ‘small wars’, first on India's northwest frontier and then in the vast wasteland of the Sudan. Churchill chronicled his experiences in these conflicts in personal letters, dispatches to newspapers, and in his first two books, The Story of the Malakand Field Force and The River War. These writings provide a snapshot of a particular period in the formative years of the great statesman, demonstrating through Churchill's eloquent analyses many of the contradictions concerning the conduct of small wars that have emerged in the present era.     

基于证据理论的军械装备修理能力认证评估方法

借鉴AHP法建立军械装备修理能力认证评估体系,并构建其递阶层次模型。确立体系各级指标权重中,引入D-S证据理论对多专家意见进行融合;综合考虑专家的权重和不确定度,并采用单值转换分布概率算法对专家评价分数进行换算,改进了AHP法受专家经验、知识限制,主观性强等缺点。经算例分析,该方法能准确可靠地评价型号装备修理机构的修理能力,减少专家主观因素对评估结果的影响。     

基于AHP与熵权的舰艇编队信息作战能力模糊综合评估

在确立了舰艇编队信息作战能力评估指标体系的基础上,运用AHP和熵权法,得到评价指标的综合权重.通过模糊综合评判,得出综合评判总分.以舰艇编队的信息侦察处理能力为例进行综合评估.最后通过进一步研究分析,构建了一种数学模型,用于找出影响舰艇编队信息作战能力的薄弱指标.     

‘Immediate redress’: USS Potomac and the pirates of Quallah Batoo

Maritime interests in the twenty-first century are not immune to the growing number of irregular challenges and hybrid threats that have come to dominate land warfare. In order to better understand these challenges a study of naval history can help provide a vital foundation. In the early 1830s the United States Navy dispatched the frigate USS Potomac to Sumatra to investigate a pirate attack on the spice trader Friendship. Potomac's crew of sailors and Marines conducted a landing at the village Quallah Batoo and fought a pitched battle. As the navies of the world approach naval irregular warfare in the new century, studying past examples like Potomac's mission can help illuminate the principles of successful naval irregular warfare.     

基于广义模糊函数的MIMO SAR分辨特性分析

多发多收合成孔径雷达（MIMO SAR）是近年来发展起来的一种新型雷达体制。与传统SAR相比,MIMO SAR综合利用了波形分集和空间分集优势,如何衡量系统的分辨特性以及模糊特性成为亟待解决的问题。本文将模糊函数概念推广到MIMO SAR性能分析中,通过数学推导获得了广义模糊函数的解析表示,结果表明MIMO SAR系统分辨率不仅取决于发射波形参数以及合成孔径长度,还与发射波形集的正交性以及收发天线阵列流形密切相关,仿真实验验证了系统模型的有效性和相应分析的正确性。     

液体储罐泄漏数学模型的改进研究

在液体储罐泄漏过程中,罐内压力是随泄漏时间变化的量,泄漏强度也随罐内压力而变化,但在已有对液体流泄漏数学模型的建构中,在后果计算时没有全面考虑罐内压力以及罐内液体闪蒸导致空间的物质量,获得的结果用于后果评价,就必然与实际情况存在偏差.应用数学方法,对液体泄漏模型进行改进,改进后模型把罐内压力以及罐内空间的物质量作为变量,可较真实模拟出泄漏时泄漏强度、储罐内气体压力及泄漏量随时间变化的大小情况,并模拟了孔洞液体泄漏,得出不太可能发生灾难性事故的结论.