# Japan and Germany developing nuclear weapons. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733 "2004-07-31T16:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nonpolar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@nonpolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonpolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/1 "2004-07-31T16:34:38Z")
How easy would be for Country like Germany ,Japan or even Sweden to develop nuclear weapons?.All of those countries have highly sophisticated nuclear industry ,top scientists and in case of Japan- space program(ballistic missiles?). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/2 "2004-07-31T16:53:30Z")
> [@](#): > > During World War II Germany researched possibilities to develop a nuclear weapon. This program was however not finished. Nowadays Germany is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has an advanced science and technology base capable of producing a nuclear program, but the government even decided to taper off the civil use of nuclear energy. > [@](#): > > Japan conducted research into nuclear weapons during World War II. [14] ([http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/nuke/index.html](http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/nuke/index.html)) Japan signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. While Japan has the technological capabilities to develop nuclear weapons in a short time there is no evidence they are doing so. Japan’s constitution forbids it from producing nuclear weapons and the country has been active in promoting non-proliferation treaties. There exists some suspicion that there may exist nuclear weapons located in US bases in Japan. > [@](#): > > During the 50’s and 60’s Sweden seriously investigated nuclear weapons. A very substantial research effort of weapon design and manufacture was conducted resulting in enough knowledge to allow Sweden to manufacture nuclear weapons. However Sweden decided not to pursue a weapon production program and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. All from [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_nuclear_weapons). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/3 "2004-07-31T17:10:18Z")
I’m not sure if I’m missing something about this question… why would you think it would be difficult? Hell, India, Pakistan. and Israel all did it on the sly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more. I’m thinking maybe South Africa has some, but I don’t know if that’s been authoritatively verified. ---
**Author:** ![nonpolar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@nonpolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonpolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/4 "2004-07-31T17:22:07Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m not sure if I’m missing something about this question… why would you think it would be difficult? Hell, India, Pakistan. and Israel all did it on the sly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more. I’m thinking maybe South Africa has some, but I don’t know if that’s been authoritatively verified. Dohh! You right .But India ,Pakistan are still very poor and not fully free and democratic countries plus(most important thing) don’t have this bloody history like Germany and Japan does. Germany ,Japan have very strong economies if they were to have nukes ,US and maybe Russia would not be amused. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/5 "2004-07-31T17:31:10Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m thinking maybe South Africa has some, but I don’t know if that’s been authoritatively verified. South Africa did have nuclear weapons but destroyed them, making them the (I believe) sole nation to give up nuclear weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/6 "2004-07-31T17:31:32Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m not sure if I’m missing something about this question… why would you think it would be difficult? Hell, India, Pakistan. and Israel all did it on the sly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more. \*\* I’m thinking maybe South Africa has some\*\*, but I don’t know if that’s been authoritatively verified. South Africa working in conjuction with Israel detonated a nuke back in the seventies. With the fall of the afrikanner govt ,and the election of Mandela , South Africa turned over its nuclear arms to the US for diposal. Declan ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/7 "2004-07-31T17:31:40Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m thinking maybe South Africa has some, but I don’t know if that’s been authoritatively verified. South Africa **had** some, but they voluntarily dismantled their entire nuclear weapons program in the early nineties as the Soviet Union collapsed. More [here.](http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/SADisarming.html) ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/8 "2004-07-31T17:35:57Z")
Triple simulpost! But mine had a link, so nyah nyah nyah. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/9 "2004-07-31T17:39:28Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > South Africa did have nuclear weapons but destroyed them, making them the (I believe) sole nation to give up nuclear weapons. Not quite. According to my link, there is also Belarus, which inherited 81 nukes when the USSR broke up, but returned them to Russia four years later. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/10 "2004-07-31T17:40:40Z")
…or maybe five years. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/11 "2004-07-31T17:55:39Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Not quite. According to my link, there is also Belarus, which inherited 81 nukes when the USSR broke up, but returned them to Russia four years later. The Ukraine did so as well. But I’m not sure if I count giving back inherited weapons as being on the same level as destroying weapons you’ve created yourself. Although I guess it could said that the South Africa that destroyed the weapons wasn’t the same South Africa that created them in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/12 "2004-07-31T18:05:43Z")
> [@nonpolar](#): > > Dohh! You right .But India ,Pakistan are still very poor and not fully free and democratic countries plus(most important thing) don’t have this bloody history like Germany and Japan does. > Germany ,Japan have very strong economies **if they were to have nukes ,US and maybe Russia would not be amused.** (bolding mine) “Amused”? Are you suggesting tht the U.S. ought to be allowed to decide who shall have such weapons and who shall not 😕 Why would that be? You know, there **are** people whw find the possession of nuclear weapons by the U.S.A. and the U.K. to be less than coompletely hilarious. And not at all amusing, in fact. [http://www.banthebomb.org/magazine/tot2.htm-++++++++++++++-](http://www.banthebomb.org/magazine/tot2.htm-++++++++++++++-) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/13 "2004-07-31T18:07:25Z")
> [@nonpolar](#): > > Germany ,Japan have very strong economies if they were to have nukes ,US and maybe Russia would not be amused. The Japanese wouldn’t be amused if Japan had nukes either. The Japanese Constitution doesn’t forbid nuclear weapons per se, but it does say that Japan cannot declare war or use force or the threat of force to resolve international conflicts. And seeing as Japan is the only country that’s ever been the _victim_ of nuclear weapons, popular opinion tends to be against them. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/14 "2004-07-31T18:26:08Z")
OTOH, Japan does have a very well developed nuclear program, and could probably put together a couple nuclear weapons in a matter of months, if they felt it necessary. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/15 "2004-07-31T18:40:04Z")
The Nuclear Weapons Archive FAQ (used to be at [fas.org](http://fas.org)), has Section 7.5.2 and 7.5.3 devoted to Germany and Japan. [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq7-5.html#germany](http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq7-5.html#germany) (with Japan immediately below) The thinking goes that both nations have robust nuclear, technical and industrial capacity, and could probably break out and have nuclear weapons quickly. Actually, the FAQ says: > [@](#): > > According to proliferation assessments made by the U.S. government, no non-nuclear country is as well positioned to “break-out” and develop advanced nuclear weapons than Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/16 "2004-07-31T23:24:50Z")
I think it would be prudent to assume that any country with a nuclear power plant has nuclear-weapon capability. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-and-germany-developing-nuclear-weapons/257733/17 "2004-08-01T02:53:19Z")
As the example of Israel shows any industrialized country with a population of at least a few million should be able to develop nuclear weapons. The reasons not to do so are political: the major foreign political repercussions, plus also interior politics (it’s not that every country’s electorate would welcome this). With respect to Germany: Germany is not only a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (which can be left unilaterally, as North Korea has done) but also to the [Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany](http://www.usembassy.de/usa/etexts/2plusfour8994e.htm) - see Article 3 (1) of that treaty. It would _not_ be a good idea for Germany to break a treaty with the US, Britain, France and Russia.