This study examines the relationship between knowledge and attitudes with respect to nuclear issues, including the nuclear freeze proposal, MX missle, and Strategic Defense Initiative. Adults (N=750) drawn from a list of registered voters in Los Angeles County were sent a 53-item questionnaire. Of the respondents, 64 percent were male, 53 percent…

A symposium was organized to reexamine the realities of vertical proliferation between the United States and the Soviet Union and to place into perspective the horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world, including the possible role of commercial nuclear power in facilitating proliferation. The four invited symposium…

Three papers on nuclear weapons and nuclear war, based on talks given by distinguished physicists during an American Physical Society-sponsored symposium, are provided in this booklet. They include "Caught Between Asymptotes" (Philip Morrison), "We are not Inferior to the Soviets" (Hans A. Bethe), and "MAD vs. NUTS"…

In the "United States v. the 'Progressive'," the United States government took a small left-wing magazine to court to prevent publication of an article on how a hydrogen bomb works. Amidst great controversy over what the article described and what data were secret and what were not, a federal judge granted an injunction against the…

Once they have nuclear power, most countries will divert nuclear materials from commercial to military programs. In excerpts from the book "Facing the Danger" (by Totten, S. and M. W., Crossing Press, 1984), five anti-nuclear activists explain how and why they have been addressing the nuclear connection. (RM)

Examines autobiographical narratives of three scientists from the wartime Los Alamos Laboratory. Finds an organizational structure manifest in ideological discourses for nuclear practice and sensemaking, permitting rationalization for working identities and labor objectives. Considers implications for the critical study of organizational…

Points out that policy decisions about nuclear weapons evolve from politics, bureaucracy, and technology, indicating that intelligent people can learn enough about technology to make judgments about policy issues. Suggests, however, that much more thinking is necessary to arrive at a coherent perspective about what constitutes nuclear weapons…

Focusing on long-term arms-race education, discusses what physicists can do to help provide students and the public with technical information needed to understand issues involved in the nuclear cold war. Suggestions provided focus on public programs, media, publications, education of physicists, arms-race courses, "enrichment in physics courses,"…

Three perspectives on President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which is intended to defend U.S. targets from a Soviet nuclear attack, are presented in separate sections. In the first section, "Soviet Interpretation and Response," Jerry F. Hough examines possible reasons for Soviet preoccupation with SDI. He discusses…

Describes the development and implementation of curriculum materials that discuss nuclear weapons and the evaluation of those materials by administrators, teachers, and students. Also discusses the place of the study of nuclear weapons in the curriculum and aims of the materials. Suggested student activities are included. (JM)

This is the syllabus of a course that explores the technology of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy for electric power generation, and considers some problems of nuclear weapons proliferation and technical alternatives. It provides a course description, a course outline, a list of required readings, and information on the films shown in the…

Describes a course focusing on science, technology, and the nuclear arms race. Two sample homework exercises and course topics are provided. Topics, with lists of questions that might be addressed, focus on nuclear weapons, alternatives to deterrence, and arms control. Approaches to teaching about the nuclear arms race are also provided. (JN)

This text was to have been the script for the National Air and Space Museum's exhibition of the Enola Gay, focusing on the end of World War II and the decision of the United States to use of the atomic bomb. The Enola Gay was a B-29 aircraft that carried the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb brought a…

This report provides an assessment of safety management, safety review, and safety methodology employed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and private contractors. Chapter 1, "The DOE Safety Framework," examines safety objectives for production reactors and processes to implement the objectives. Chapter 2, "Technical Issues,"…

Described is a unit of study on nuclear weapons from a course on nuclear technology. Provided are the elements of first strike attack designed for invoking students' interest and an explanation of each. (YP)