The Nation: Backyard A-Bombs

Nuclear weapons have always been considered the deadly cudgels of superpowers. That may not be true in the future. According to a University of Virginia law professor, the possibility that lunatic-fringers and gangsters may some day be able to make their own nuclear devices is no longer just the stuff of science fiction but a reality.

Speaking before the American Nuclear Society and the Atomic Industrial Forum in Washington, D.C., Professor Mason Willrich, who chaired an international body of experts studying the problem, said that most scientists in the field "consider the design and manufacture of a crude nuclear explosive device to...

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