About the Nuclear Information Project
The Nuclear Information Project is a public education project that works to provide the public with factual information and analysis about the status and operations of nuclear weapons, the policies that guide their potential use, and developments in the fuel cycle.
The nuclear weapons portion of the project monitors the status of the nuclear forces of all the world's nuclear weapon states, including the number of nuclear weapons, their delivery systems, how they are operated, and the policies and guidance that shape the posture. Project director Hans M. Kristensen co-authors the Nuclear Notebook column in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and World Nuclear Forces overview in the SIPRI Yearbook, two of the world's most widely used references for information about nuclear forces. For Kristensen's bio, visit the FAS Staff page.
The fuel cycle portion of the project provides analysis on selected nuclear fuel cycle issues, such as uranium enrichment and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).
Because of their extreme characteristics, nuclear weapons frequently lead to excessive secrecy by governments and official institutions. However, sound policies and an informed public debate depend on access to factual information. As such, a central objective of the project is to challenge excessive nuclear secrecy and narrow the gap between prudent classification and excessive secrecy, empower the public with factual information about nuclear weapons policy and operations in order to challenge assumptions underlying the policy, and improve accountability in nuclear policy making. The project uses open sources and declassification of government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to research, analyze, and disseminate factual information about nuclear weapons policy and operations. For an overview of writings published by the Project, visit the publications page.
The information generated by the project is widely used by news media in the United States and abroad, governments, private and public institutes, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the general public. To see examples of when information published by the Project is used by media and others, visit the news page.
Funding for this project has been provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ploughshares Fund.
