Japanese nuclear weapons program

<p>During <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, <a href="/facts/Empire_of_Japan/gMpNKg2W">Japan</a> had several programs exploring the use of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fission/LfkIylvm">nuclear fission</a> for military technology, including <a href="/facts/Nuclear_reactor/8xqjIbge">nuclear reactors</a> and <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapon/QVdBcMdm">nuclear weapons</a>. Like the <a href="/facts/German_nuclear_program_during_World_War_II/Eot0thNx">similar wartime programs in Nazi Germany</a>, it was relatively small, suffered from an array of problems brought on by lack of resources and wartime disarray, and was ultimately unable to progress beyond the laboratory stage during the war. 
</p><p>Today, Japan has no known nuclear weapons programs. It is a signatory in good standing of the <a href="/facts/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty/yE0ekVtm">Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty</a> and has enacted <a href="/facts/Japan%27s_non-nuclear_weapons_policy/TfwD0NHE">domestic legal prohibitions against producing nuclear weapons</a>. However, it is unique among non-nuclear weapons states in that it possesses a full <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fuel_cycle/flBannfd">nuclear fuel cycle</a>, as part of its <a href="/facts/Nuclear_energy_in_Japan/oBzqCkqo">civilian nuclear energy industry</a>, and advanced developments in the industries necessary to make nuclear weapons. As a result, it is often cited as a primary example of a <a href="/facts/Nuclear_latency/vuttIYc2">latent or threshold nuclear state</a>, capable of developing weapons in a very short timespan should its government decide to do so.
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Japanese nuclear weapons program open-in-new

Japanese nuclear weapons program