Glossary

ABC Weapons Atomic - Biological, and Chemical weapons (see also NBC weapons).

ABM Treaty - Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. A 1972 Arms Control Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia.) Allows both countries to have only one anti-missile system against ballistic missiles.

ACDA - US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

AECUS - Atomic Energy Commission. Existed from 1946 to 1974. Precursor of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Atoms for Peace - 1953 US proposal by President Eisenhower to withdraw fissile material from military stockpiles and make it available to an international body in order to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Baruch Plan - US proposal made to United Nations, July 14, 1946 to prohibit production and possession of nuclear weapons and to place peaceful use of nuclear energy under supra-national authority.

CCD - Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (1969-1978). Precursor of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), CCD evolved out of the Eighteen Nations Disarmament Conference (ENDC, 1961-1969).

CCD - Conference on Disarmament, also known as Geneva Disarmament Conference. Forum for disarmament and arms control negotiations that replaced CCD in 1978. The CD is not a formal UN agency or organization, but its personnel and institutional ties to United Nations are, nonetheless, very strong.

CFE Treaty - Treaty on the Conventional Forces in Europe. Treaty signed in Paris, November 19, 1990, mandating deep cuts in European conventional forces.

CFSP - Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (see also Maastricht Treaty and EU).

CIA - US Central Intelligence Agency.

CPI - Counter Proliferation Initiative. Launched in 1993 by the Clinton government to stop nuclear weapons programmes in certain countries by US military and/or political means.

CTB(T) - Comprehensive Test Ban (Treaty). Proposed treaty under negotiation at the Conference on Disarmament at time of this writing. Would ban all nuclear testing in all environments.

Cut-off Treaty - Proposed treaty to ban production of weapons-usable fissile materials (also FMB).

DOE - US Department of Energy.

DPRK - Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).

Dual Use - Technology, resources, and equipment that can be used for peaceful (civil) as well as military purposes.

EBRD - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

ENDC - Eighteen Nations Disarmament Conference. Disarmament conference founded in 1961 to foster disarmament talks not formally under the United Nations. ENDC was replaced by CCD in 1969, which in turn was replaced by CD in 1978.

EP - European Parliament. Consists of elected representatives of the EU member states.

EU - European Union. Current (July 1996) members are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom. Precursors are: the European Community for Coal and Steel (ECCS), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Community (EC). (See also Maastricht Treaty, CFSP, EP, EURATOM, WEU.)

EURATOM - 1957 treaty on the founding of European Atomic Energy Community. The six founding member states (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg) aimed at creating conditions for a flexible completion of a powerful nuclear industry.

FBR - Fast-Breeder Reactor.

FMB - Fissile Material Ban (see Cut-off Treaty).

Force de Frappe - The nuclear forces of France.

HEU - High-Enriched Uranium, enriched with at least 20% U-235.

Horizontal Proliferation - The increase in the number of Nuclear Weapon States (see also Vertical Proliferation and Latent Proliferation).

IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna). Founded in 1957. Responsible for promoting and safeguarding peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy.

ICBM - Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. Strategic nuclear missile with range greater than 5,500 kilometers.

ICJ - International Court of Justice in The Hague.

INF Treaty - 1987 Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces in Europe. Treaty obligates both parties to full dismantling of nuclear land-based missiles in the 500 to 5,500 kilometers range.

Latent Proliferation - Refers to so-called civil nuclear programs which enable the countries concerned to develop, within the framework of the NPT, military nuclear options beneath the threshold of actually becoming a Nuclear Weapon States (see also Horizontal Proliferation, Vertical Proliferation and Dual Use).

LWR - Light Water Reactor.

Maastricht Treaty - EU Treaty, agreed upon by the European Council in December 1991 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Fixes, among other things, the aim of a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

McMahon Law - US Law of 1946, prohibiting export of nuclear know-how and goods out of the USA.

MBA - Material Balance Area, component of bookkeeping of nuclear materials by the IAEA and EURATOM.

MLF - Multi-Lateral Force. Proposal in the early Sixties to allow European NATO members access to US nuclear missiles under certain conditions.

Morgenthau Plan - Plan drafted in 1944 by Henry Morgenthau, an assistent to US President Roosevelt, to split Germany after World War II into several states and areas, and to convert it into an agricultural country.

MOX - Mixed Oxide Fuel. Nuclear fuel comprising mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides.

MTCR - Missile Technology Control Regime. Export control regime set up by Western countries in 1987 to restrict spread of missile technology for military use. (Spread of civil missile technology is allowed under MTCR)

MUF - Material Unaccounted For. The difference, within the valid NPT safeguards system, between the calculated and the real quantity of nuclear materials.

NAM - Non-Aligned Movement, consists of (mainly Third World) states not belonging to NATO or (in the past) the Warsaw Treaty Organization.

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

NBC - Weapons Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons (see also ABC weapons).

NGO - Non-Governmental Organization.

NNWS - Non-Nuclear Weapon State.

No-first-use declaration - Declaration not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

NPG - Nuclear Planning Group. 1967 NATO committee that coordinates nuclear planning.

NPT - Non-Proliferation Treaty. Signed July 1, 1968. Forbids Nuclear Weapon States to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices to Non-Nuclear Weapon States. Forbids Non-Nuclear Weapon States to acquire such weapons and explosives. Came into force in 1970.

NRCUS - Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Replaced in 1974 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

NSG - Nuclear Suppliers Group. Informal group of countries that have adopted certain minimum guidelines for the export of nuclear technology and fissile material.

NWFW - Nuclear Weapon-Free World.

NWFZ - Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.

NWS - Nuclear Weapon State.

PNE - Peaceful Nuclear Explosion. Allowed under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Indian government declared its nuclear test on May 18, 1974, to be a PNE.

RAF - UK Royal Air Force.

R&D - Research and Development.

SALT - Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Negotiations held between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1969 and 1979 on reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. In 1974, SALT I Agreements were signed. In 1979, SALT II Agreements were signed, though never ratified. SALT negotiations were replaced by START negotiations.

START - Strategic Arms Reduction Talks. Bilateral negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union (and later Russia) on further reduction of strategic nuclear weapons.

Safeguards system - System of technical measures to prevent diversion of civil nuclear technology and material to military use. System is operated by IAEA.

SNT - Sensitive Nuclear Technology.

Stockholm Declaration - 1950 appeal for the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Initiated by the World Peace Council, and, within one year, signed by 500 million people all over the world.

Versailles - Refers to the Versailles Treaty of 1919/20 that concluded World War I. In this Treaty Germany was condemned to large reparations. In the Twenties and Thirties "Versailles" was a keyword for the rising Nazi's, who wanted revenche.

Vertical Proliferation - The increase of the number of nuclear weapons in the existing Nuclear Weapon States (see also Horizontal Proliferation and Latent Proliferation).

WEU - Western European Union. Security Treaty signed in October 1954 in Paris between the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. Will expire in 1998. Nowadays members are also: Spain, Portugal and Greece. The following five current (July 1996) EU member states are not member of the WEU: Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Finland.

Western European Platform - Founded in October 1987 in The Hague, at a meeting of the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the WEU member states, with the aim of identifying the principles of European security.

Zangger Commission - 1971 international commission to give recommendations on which nuclear technology falls under NPT Article III.2, thus requiring IAEA safeguards.