1974

Congress divides the functions of the Atomic Energy Commission between two newly formed agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), responsible for advanced reactor development, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent panel appointed by the President to regulate the nuclear energy industry.

January 18
Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger announces the doctrine of limited strategic strike options, in which a wide range of deterrence options would be available before massive retaliation.

May 18
India conducts an underground nuclear test at Pokharan in the Rajasthen desert, code named the "Smiling Buddha." The government claims it is a peaceful test but it is in fact part of an accelerated weapons program.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is founded after India’s first “peaceful nuclear explosion” conducted on 18 May 1974. NSG establishes guidelines to regulate the transfer of sensitive nuclear material.

July 3
The Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) is signed in Moscow. The Treaty limits nuclear test explosion to under 150 kilotons (over ten times the yield of the Hiroshima bomb).

The United States and the Soviet Union agree to the Protocol to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Agreement, which limits ABM deployment to a single area.

November 23-24
President Gerald Ford and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev sign the Vladivostok Accord, which establishes a framework for future Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) between the United States and the Soviet Union on controlling nuclear weapons. The key feature is a ceiling of 2,400 total offensive strategic missiles and a further sub-ceiling of 1,320 launchers for MIRVed warheads.