Ever since the possibility of nuclear fission arose in the minds of the physicists of the 1930s, nuclear weapons seem to have had a momentum of their own. In charge of them, and driven by them, are the nuclear decision-makers. This book takes the reader behind the tests and deployments of bombs and missiles to reveal who takes the decisions to develop nuclear weapons and what kind of people they are. Ranging from the laboratories where 'Star Wars' weapons are being invented, to the Design Bureau where Soviet missiles are developed, to Mururoa Atoll, testing site of the French neutron bomb, to the lake-side compound in the Beijing, from which the modernisation of Chinese nuclear weapons is directed, to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, where warheads for British nuclear weapons are designed, the author asks: who is in charge of nuclear weapons?
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Foreword by Scilla McLean Preface Introduction The Weapons Laboratories The Defence Contractors The Military The Defence Bureaucracies Presidents, Prime Ministers and Politburos Secrecy Parliaments Financial Control Public Opinion The Arms Controllers Conclusions Index
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780333446768
Publisert
1987-06-08
Utgiver
Vendor
Palgrave Macmillan
Vekt
385 gr
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
140 mm
Aldersnivå
Research, UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Forfatter