ABSTRACT
The nuclear arms build-up started in the 1940s and reached its maximum in the middle of the 1980s. Strategic nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union had also been deployed in three other former Soviet republics, Belarus, Kazahkstan and Ukraine. These accepted the obligation to accede in the shortest possible time to the Non-proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear weapon states. The task of eliminating huge numbers of nuclear warheads in a limited period of time has generated a complex set of problems. Germany supplied heavy-duty manipulators for remote handling of high-level and toxic radioactive materials as well as of nuclear warheads. Other problems are created by the weapons-grade materials which will become 'surplus' as a result of nuclear arms reductions. Russian and US nuclear reactors experts are conducting joint work to resolve the issue. The Russian side insisted that the cooperation should be related only to data exchanges, the shutdown of the production reactors and the monitoring of storage facilities.
