Periodically, ISIS updates its estimates of global inventories of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU). The most detailed description of fissile material inventories remains Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996: World Inventories, Capabilities, and Policies.[1] Earlier updates to that study were presented in the ISIS report The Challenges of Fissile Material Control and at various locations on the ISIS web site.
This update is a set of reports, tables, and charts that detail inventories of plutonium and HEU throughout the world. Resources limited ISIS's ability to compile this information into a book or comprehensive report.
The estimates in this study are often given as a value as of the end of a calendar year. Many estimates are given as of the end of 2003, but others can only be derived through the year 2002. For example, estimates of civil unirradiated plutonium inventories depend on official declarations of key states, and typically these declarations are not released promptly. Every effort was made to present the estimates that are as current as possible.
Uncertainties are a key part of these estimates. In summary tables or figures, these uncertainties are omitted, but the uncertainties remain an integral part of the estimate. These uncertainties, which in some cases are large, reflect the limited state of knowledge of some stocks, something a central estimate cannot do.
ISIS is continuing to refine its estimates and produce new assessments. These findings are expected to be added once they are completed. Forthcoming is a breakdown of civil HEU held by individual countries.
ISIS welcomes comments about this update and earlier work.
Chapter I: Global Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Stocks: Summary Tables and Charts
Chapter II: Plutonium Watch: Tracking Plutonium Inventories
Chapter III: Civil Plutonium Produced in Power Reactors
Chapter IV: Separated Civil Plutonium Inventories: Current Status and Future Directions
Chapter V: Guidelines for the Management of Plutonium(INFCIRC/549): Background and Declarations
Chapter VI: Status and Stocks of Military Plutonium in the Acknowledged Nuclear Weapon States
Chapter VII: Civil Inventories of Highly Enriched Uranium
Chapter VIII: Military and Excess Stocks of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) in the Acknowledged Nuclear Weapon States
Chapter IX: ISIS Estimates of Unirradiated Fissile Material in De Facto Nuclear Weapons States, Produced in Nuclear Weapon Programs