ABSTRACT
Civil nuclear power, currently supplying fourteen percent of the world's electricity, triggers concerns because of its inevitable technical connection with nuclear weapons. This chapter describes the civil nuclear program improves states' capabilities for nuclear weapons to some extent and increases regional tensions at times, nonproliferation drivers from civil nuclear power also have to be considered in predictions about proliferation. A civil nuclear program lives under the threat of sabotage or the theft of fissile or radioactive materials. Managing these nuclear risks requires exploring how a civil nuclear program affects states' proliferation risk and organizational culture since nuclear expansion will continue in many developing countries despite the Fukushima accident. Civil nuclear power benefits have been major constraints on nuclear diversion to potential military applications in response to North Korea's two nuclear tests, and on extreme nationalistic thinking from a few politicians and the public.
