Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Publication Title

Global Security: Health, Science, and Policy

Keywords

60%-enriched uranium, nuclear weapon design, nuclear terrorism, Iranian nuclear programme

Abstract

In this work we show that approximately 60–70 kg of 60%-enriched uranium can be used to build a crude nuclear weapon with a kiloton yield. While too large to fit on a missile, such a weapon could be delivered by a shipping container. This analysis is motivated by the June 2025 Israeli and US attacks on Iran, especially the bombings of the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. The Iranian stockpile of approximately 440 kg of 60%-enriched uranium is, at the time of writing, inaccessible to IAEA inspectors and stored in secret. The rapid clandestine relocation of this material in June 2025 creates an opportunity for proliferators to divert an amount that could be used in the construction of an improvised gun-type nuclear weapon in the style of Little Boy.

Funding Source

Financial support for this publication comes from Cottrell Scholar Award #CS-CSA-2023-139 sponsored by Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Additional financial support provided by the College of Arts and Sciences DRC at Illinois State University. This article was published open access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Taylor & Francis.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

DOI

10.1080/23779497.2026.2741082

Comments

First published in Global Security: Health, Science, and Policy (2026): https://doi.org/10.1080/23779497.2026.2741082

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