"NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION:
POLITICAL, LEGAL, AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS"

In 1997 the PIR Center started the annual lecture program “Nuclear Nonproliferation: Political, Legal, and Economic Aspects” at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) in collaboration with the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The program was the first of its kind in Russia.

The course of lectures is delivered in the master’s program for training experts in the area of nonproliferation and MPC&A.

The lectures and seminars are delivered by Director of the PIR Center Dr. Vladimir A. Orlov; PIR Senior Advisor, Professor Amb. Roland M. Timerbaev; PIR Deputy Director Prof. Yury Fedorov; PIR Senior Research Associate Dr. Dmitry G. Evstafiev; PIR Advisor Lt.-Gen. (reserve) Vasily F. Lata, PIR Research Associate, MGIMO Assistant Professor Ildar A. Akhtamzyan; PIR Research Council member Dr. Elina Kirichenko, PIR Research Council member, Minatom official Marina P. Belyaeva, PIR Research Council member, Counselor of the Department of Security and Disarmament Affairs at the MFA Vladimir Rybachenkov; PIR Research Council member, Major-General (retired) Vladimir Belous.

The structure of the course is as follows:

Lecture 1. Introductory lecture. Problems of nuclear nonproliferation. Bibliographical Review.

Lecture 2. Nuclear nonproliferation: history and evolution. The Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Lecture 3. The 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference. The nonproliferation regime in the late 1990s. The 2000 NPT Review Conference.

Lecture 4. IAEA and Agency safeguards.

Lecture 5. Arms race and vertical proliferation. Interdependence of strategic offensive and defensive arms.

Lecture 6. Nuclear weapon states: nuclear programs, military doctrines and nonproliferation.

Lecture 7. Regional aspects of nuclear nonproliferation: horizontal proliferation.

Lecture 8. Threshold states and their nuclear potential: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Lecture 9. Nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Lecture 10. Components of nuclear triad. The Strategic Missile Forces.

Lecture 11. Soviet-US and US-Russian agreements on strategic nuclear weapons.

Lecture 12. Nuclear arms control after the Cold War.

Lecture 13. Nonproliferation and arms control: multilateral process. The CTBT. The FMCT.

Lecture 14. The USSR and its successors. Nonproliferation issues.

Lecture 15. Non-traditional challenges to WMD nonproliferation.

Lecture 16. International proliferation threat reduction programs. The CTR Program.

Lecture 17. Control and disposition of surplus weapon-grade nuclear materials. The HEU-LEU deal. The Plutonium Disposition and Management Agreement.

Lecture 18. Russian legislation in the area of nuclear energy, nuclear safety and nuclear nonproliferation.

Lecture 19. International export controls and nuclear nonproliferation.

Lecture 20. National export control system in Russia.

At the end of this one-semester course (40 academic hours), students have to write a paper and must pass an exam. Then, the most distinguished students take up an internship at the PIR Center in Moscow and in Monterey and defend their diploma papers on the problems covered by the course.

Former listeners to the course are now working in the leading Russian research centers, including the Kurchatov Institute, the Dollezhal Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering, the Bochvar All-Russian Research Institute of Non-Organic Materials, the Dukhov All-Russian Research Institute of Automatics, the Specialized Research and Production Center of the Minatom – Eleron. They also made officials of the governmental agencies, including the Minatom, the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade, the State Customs Committee, Gosatomnadzor. They work in non-governmental organizations dealing with non-proliferation issues, such as the PIR Center.

The depth of the program, its four-year approbation, constant improvements and modernization create unique opportunities for its application in regional academic centers of the nuclear industry.

For more information about the project contact PIR Coordinator of Educational Projects Anton Khlopkov at phone: (095) 234-0525; fax (095) 234-9558 or by e-mail at khlopkov@pircenter.org