Nuclear Weapon Law and Legal Definition
Nuclear weapon means any weapon that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions. The nuclear reaction may either be fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction.
According to 18 USCS § 832, ‘nuclear weapon’ means any weapon that contains or uses nuclear materials. Nuclear material is defined as material containing any:
(A) plutonium;
(B) uranium not in the form of ore or ore residue that contains the mixture of isotopes as occurring in nature;
(C) enriched uranium, defined as uranium that contains the isotope 233 or 235 or both in such amount that the abundance ratio of the sum of those isotopes to the isotope 238 is greater than the ratio of the isotope 235 to the isotope 238 occurring in nature; or
(D) uranium 233. [18 USCS § 831(f)(1)]
