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nuclear weapons

(Encyclopedia)nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction powered by atomic, rather than chemical, processes. Nuclear weapons produce large explosions and hazardous radioactive byproducts by means of either nuclea...

nuclear strategy

(Encyclopedia)nuclear strategy, a policy for the use of nuclear weapons. The first atomic bombs were used in the context of the Allies' World War II policy of strategic bombing. Early in the cold war, U.S. policy w...

disarmament, nuclear

(Encyclopedia)disarmament, nuclear, the reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world's nations. The atomic bombs dropped (1945) on Japan by the United States in World ...

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

(Encyclopedia)International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), coalition of nongovernmental organizations that was formed in 2007 to advocate for the banning of nuclear weapons. It is based in Geneva, Swit...

nuclear energy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Graph of binding energy per nucleon as a function of mass number nuclear energy, the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom and released through fission, fusion, or radioactivity. In these pr...

nuclear reactor

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Power reactor system nuclear reactor, device for producing controlled release of nuclear energy. Reactors can be used for research or for power production. A research reactor is designed to pr...

nuclear disarmament

(Encyclopedia)nuclear disarmament: see disarmament, nuclear. ...

nuclear physics

(Encyclopedia)nuclear physics, study of the components, structure, and behavior of the nucleus of the atom. It is especially concerned with the nature of matter and with nuclear energy. ...