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Scientific Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

  • Received 19.12.2025,
  • Revised 30.03.2026,
  • Accepted 26.05.2026
  • Published 01.06.2026
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Vol. 31, No. 2, 2026
  • Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; nuclear weapons; security policy; terrorist threats; radioactive materials
  • https://doi.org/10.63341/naia-herald/2.2026.59
  • Pages 59-69

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem of international legal mechanisms for controlling nuclear and radioactive materials. The paper used the formal legal method as the basic one, since it allows analysing legal norms, structures, and concepts. The study showed that the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons-grade nuclear materials was based mainly on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968, which established strict rules for the use of civilian nuclear materials and technologies worldwide and was monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. However, with the growth of the activity of international terrorist organisations in recent years, the current provisions on nuclear non-proliferation have proven to be imperfect and inadequate. The study stressed that security policies and civil defence should be based on the fact that terrorist organisations seek to obtain nuclear materials for attacks. Nuclear terrorism is widespread because the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons does not require its member states to protect nuclear materials and facilities from theft or terrorist sabotage. In fact, at the international level, the physical protection of nuclear weapons materials and civilian nuclear facilities (reactors, interim storage facilities, and fuel rod fabrication and reprocessing plants) varies considerably. Many countries do not have adequate protection for the transport, reprocessing, interim storage and disposal of usable and spent nuclear fuel, leading to loss, theft, smuggling, and illegal international trade in these materials. The practical significance of this issue lies in the fact that the analysis of the problems of international legal mechanisms for the control of nuclear and radioactive materials helps to assess the shortcomings of existing mechanisms and eliminate them, thereby ensuring the highest level of safety and control of nuclear and radioactive materials

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