Uranets vei til kjernekraft og kjernevåpen - en innføring i kjernefysisk flerbruksteknologi

This report provides an introduction to nuclear power production and nuclear weapons development. The report aims to give technical support for diplomats, politicians and advisors who need an understanding of states' nuclear programs, disarmament talks, nuclear deals, related sanctions or export control. The report should enable the interested reader to better understand basic nuclear technologies, without any prerequisite knowledge of the subject matter. In order to understand the main elements of states' nuclear programs, one must have some rudimentary knowledge of the nuclear fuel cycle. The steps associated with the nuclear fuel cycle include the processes on how nuclear fuel is produced, how it is used in a reactor, and how the spent fuel is handled after it has been removed from the reactor. The report focuses on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology. All states developing the nuclear fuel cycle will, however, have the option to later develop nuclear weapons. The report therefore also explains how seemingly peaceful nuclear processes can be exploited for weapons purposes. The report provides a simplified description of the atomic nucleus, radioactivity and radiation types, in addition to an explanation of the nuclear processes of fission, fusion and chain reaction. With this terminology in place, the report details each step of the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium is produced in underground or open pit mines and refined in mills and conversion plants, before it can be enriched through one of several possible methods and utilized as either reactor fuel or weapons material. Reactors of various types differ in their potential for plutonium production, which is the other viable weapons material. In order to access the produced plutonium, spent nuclear fuel must be reprocessed. This is also a possible part of the peaceful management of spent nuclear fuel. All of the mentioned processes and technologies are explained further in the report