ABSTRACT
In contrast to fissile materials, tritium is not a necessary component for nuclear weapons, it plays a key role when advancing from simple fission devices to fusion boosted or thermonuclear weapons (see Section 1.3.2). Most nuclear weapons of all recognized nuclear weapon states are believed to contain tritium. There is evidence that most de facto nuclear weapon states and countries which are suspected of carrying out clandestine nuclear weapons programs seek to use tritium in their nuclear weapons (see Section 1.7). Tritium has strategic significance because warheads can be built to be smaller and lighter while retaining the same yield. There are strong arguments calling for an international tritium control (see Section 1.5).
