The diversion to military programmes of materials and technologies obtained from foreign suppliers for peaceful purposes has played a prominent role in the known cases of nuclear proliferation. The need to strengthen nuclear export controls has been identified by the G8 group of industrialized states and the European Union. This study examines the structure and activities of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a group of 45 states committed to applying effective controls on exports of an agreed set of items as part of a wider effort to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Nuclear forensics is the science of determining the history of a sample of radioactive material through the study of the material's characteristics. While nuclear forensic analysis has normally been associated with investigations and prosecutions in the context of trafficking of nuclear materials or nuclear terrorism, it has wider applications in various national security contexts, such as nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament, and arms control. The New Nuclear Forensics provides a survey and an analysis of the scientific discipline of nuclear forensic analysis, and the way it is applied to specific issues of international peace and security, from the 1940s to the present day. This book describes the various methods used in nuclear forensics, giving first a general introduction to the process followed by details of relevant measurement techniques and procedures. In each case, the advantages and limitations are outlined. It uses a language and methodology that opens the issue of nuclear forensics and its potential applications to a non-specialist readership.