United States nuclear weapons stockpile

Russia and the United States possess over 95 percent of all nuclear weapons. Russia has an estimated 16,000 warheads, of which some 5,800 are active or operational, while the United States has approximately 10,000 warheads, with around 5,700 active or operational. France is thought to have about 350 nuclear warheads, the United Kingdom somewhat fewer than 200 operational, and China an estimated 145. India has reportedly produced sufficient fissile material to construct 100 or so nuclear warheads, but may have only about 55. Regional rival Pakistan is believed to have produced enough fissile material for some 90 nuclear warheads, with perhaps 50 to 60 currently available. Both India and Pakistan are believed to be increasing the size of their respective nuclear weapon stockpiles. Israel, which follows a policy of ambiguity as to whether it possesses nuclear weapons, reportedly has produced between 60 and 80 nuclear warheads and has sufficient fissile material to produce 115 to 190 warheads in total. North Korea, which publicly stated in 2005 that it possesses nuclear weapons and which conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, could, depending on its technical capability, have 5 to 15 operational warheads. 

During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States were reluctant to consider any type of disarmament. Even as many nations continued to develop and stockpile chemical weapons, and as new players undertook to arm themselves with the agents, nuclear weapons took center stage. The world of disarmament was dominated by test-ban treaties and nuclear nonproliferation pacts. 

The ultimate intention was to have a stockpile of 10 kg of tritium by 1970, with a production of 0.75 kg per year — the extra being needed for replacement as tritium deeays with a half-hfe of 12.4 years. Although tritium was received from the United States, some was also produced in the UK. A Ministry of Defence paper produced as part of the Government Strategic Defence Review of 1998 stated that The Chapelcross reactors are still used for producing tritium for nuclear weapons and are not subject to international safeguards inspection .The same paper also claimed that 6.7 kg of tritium were reeeived from the United States in exchange for plutonium. 

In July 1953, the USSR created the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, and in 1954 this rather innocuous-sounding ministry assumed overall responsibility for research, development, and production of nuclear weapons. By the time the USSR was dissolved in December 1991, it possessed a stockpile of many thousands of these weapons. Four newly formed states were identified as having these weapons on their soil Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. To ensure the security and facilitate the destruction of these weapons, all four states received international assistance, such as that provided by the United States under the CTR Program. As of 2006, only Russia continues to possess such weapons. 5 eea/so ARZAMAS-16 FUCHS, KLAUS EMIL JULIUS SAKHAROV, ANDREI DMITRIYEVICH. 

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