By now, you are all familiar with the ABCs of nuclear weapons, including their construction and their effects. In the following assignment, you will use that knowledge to form an informed and realistic reply to the following question:

Your answer should be in essay form (but feel free to back it up with diagrams, tables, timelines, and so on), and should be at least 600 words in length (about three pages). There are no maximum length restrictions, but be sensible in your length-versus-content balancing act. Essentially, don't hand in a one page! Use the following points as a guide to forming your answer.

• Go on the Internet and find information about "nuclear smuggling" or trafficking operations involving uranium or plutonium. How much material was being transported? What kind of material was it? Do you think it's possible for such smuggling operations to have gone unnoticed? A good place to start is the website for the Federation of American Scientists.

• If terrorists were to built a weapons from scratch, what kind would it be? What obstacles might they face in doing so? Think about what is needed to build such a weapon, how much fissile material is required, and how easy/hard it is to acquire/assemble it.

• Is it financially feasible for a terrorist organization to build a nuclear weapon? Is it more reasonable to expect them to purchase a black-market weapon instead? Where is it likely for them to acquire the latter?

• Are there questions not posed here which should also be considered?