Nuclear latency

Nuclear latency or a nuclear threshold state is the condition of a country possessing all the technology, expertise and infrastructure needed to quickly develop nuclear weapons, without having actually yet done so. Japan is considered a "paranuclear" state, with complete technical prowess to develop a nuclear weapon quickly, and is sometimes called being "one screwdriver's turn" from the bomb, as it is considered to have the materials and technical capacity to make a nuclear weapon at will.

Alongside Japan, Iran is also considered a nuclear threshold state, and has been described being "a hop, skip, and a jump away" from developing nuclear weapons, with its advanced nuclear program capable of producing fissile material for a bomb in a matter of days if weaponized. Other notable nuclear threshold states are Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil.