ABSTRACT
Weapons proliferation means that more nations than before come to possess nuclear bombs. By the year 1970, five nations had tested some form of nuclear weapon: in chronological order, the USA, the U.S.S.R., Britain, France, and China. Since 1970, India has also tested a nuclear explosive. The concept of proliferation in the sense of the above quotation means something rather different, however. The concern is that less-advanced nations might find a way to obtain nuclear weapons through civil energy-producing reactors and facilities supplied to them by technically more advanced nations, as for instance W. Germany currently holds a contract to supply civil energy-producing reactors and facilities to Brazil. The anti-proliferation argument is that such contracts as that between W. Germany and Brazil should be avoided (or broken if they exist already) except when drawn up under the restricted and very energy-inefficient conditions demanded by the US Non-proliferation Act.
