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by Thomas B. Cochran (Author)
This book describes the origins, growth, and decline of the massive Soviet nuclear weapons production complex. It provides an overview of what is known about the environmental contamination that resulted from building tens of thousands of bombs, a legacy that will remain for many decades to come.
Author Biography
Dr. Thomas Cochran is senior staff scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and director of NRDC's Nuclear Program. He initiated NRDC's Nuclear Weapons Databook Project. He also initiated a series of joint nuclear weapons verification projects with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. These include the Nuclear Test Ban Verification Project, which demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing seismic monitoring to verify a low-threshold test ban, and the Black Sea Experiment, which examined the utility of passive radiation detectors for verifying limits on sea-launched cruise missiles. He has served as a consultant to numerous government and non-government agencies on energy, nuclear nonproliferation, and nuclear reactor matters. He is currently a member of the Department of Energy's Fusion Energy Advisory Board and Environmental Management Advisory Board. Previously he served as a member of DOE's Energy Research Advisory Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on the Clean Up of Three Mile Island and the TMI Public Health Advisory Board.
Dr. Cochran is the author of The Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor: An Environmental and Economic Critique (Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 1974); and co-editor/author of the Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume I: U.S. Nuclear Forces and Capabilities (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Press, 1984); Volume II: U.S. Nuclear Warhead Production (1987); Volume III: U.S. Nuclear Warhead Facility Profiles (1987); and Volume IV: Soviet Nuclear Weapons (1989). In addition, he has published numerous articles and working papers, including those in SIPRI Yearbook chapters, Arms Control Today, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He has co-authored (with Dr. Norris) the 302article on Nuclear Weapons in the 1990 printing of The New Encyclopedia Britannica (15th edition). Dr. Cochran received
