Monday, January 8, 2007

List of states with nuclear weapons...

I thought this was extremely interesting...

This is a list of states with nuclear weapons. There are currently eight states that have successfully detonated nuclear weapons. Five are considered to be "nuclear weapons states", an internationally recognized status conferred by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons these are: the United States of America, Russia (successor state to the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France and China. Since the formulation of the NPT, three non-signatory states of the NPT have conducted nuclear tests: India, Pakistan, and purportedly North Korea. Additionally, Israel is also strongly suspected to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons though it has refused to confirm or deny this, and there have been reports that over 200 nuclear weapons might be in its inventory. This status is not formally recognized by international bodies as none of these four countries are currently signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran has been developing uranium enrichment technology and stands accused by the United States of doing so for weapons uses. Iran insists that its intentions are limited to domestic nuclear power generation, despite plutonium traces being detected. As of February 4, 2006, the International Atomic Energy Agency referred Iran to the United Nations Security Council in response to concerns on their possible nuclear programs.

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World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color.

██ Five "nuclear weapons states" from the NPT

██ Other known nuclear powers

██ States formerly possessing nuclear weapons

██ States suspected of being in the process of developing nuclear weapons and/or nuclear programs

██ States which at one point had nuclear weapons and/or nuclear weapons research programs

██ States claiming to possess nuclear weapons

██ States without nuclear weapons

Source: List of states with nuclear weapons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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