Nuclear Weapons Latency Calculation to Verify the Historical India Case
Date
2021-07-07
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Abstract
The breakout time and the nuclear weapons latency were calculated for India’s first peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE). Breakout time is defined as the time required to acquire the minimum amount of weapons-grade plutonium needed for a nuclear explosive device (NED). The nuclear weapons latency is defined as the time needed to make a nuclear weapon. The nuclear weapons latency tool (NWLT) that was developed at Texas A&M University was used to analyze the historical case of PNE by India in order to calculate the corresponding breakout time and nuclear weapons latency. The tool uses the stochastic Petri net simulation method by employing three other software Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Excel, and MATLAB. The correctness of the method used by the NWLT in predicting these two parameters (breakout time and nuclear weapons latency) is verified in this study. The NWLT was found to be handy and easy to use. This tool can be used by scientists, engineers, policymakers, journalists, or scholars to calculate and predict any country's nuclear weapons latency using the information available from the open literature. The study also generated ideas for future work to improve the scope and use of the NWLT.
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Keywords
Nuclear Weapons Latency Tool, Peaceful Nuclear Explosion, Petri Net.