The next meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is slated to meet next month with its current chair, the Netherlands, at the helm. At that meeting, the USG and Indian governments are hoping to get the other members to agree to making India a permanent member. They currently have observer status. I could not […]
When I first began in the field we like to call “Nukes and Spooks”, I was one of very few women in a sea of old white guys. (Sorry old white guys. We love ya, but there are just too many of you) I was a loud-mouthed, black clothes-wearing, not-so reformed goth girl from New […]
On this day in 1974, India detonated a low-yield device (8 kilotons) under the Rajasthan desert at Pokhran. Code-named “Smiling Buddha”, the “peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE)” was also the first confirmed nuclear test by a country outside the P5 nuke states codified by the NPT. India famously developed and executed the test weapon from materials […]
For those keeping count, or simply interested, George Perkovich, vice president for studies and director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also reviewed former IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei’s recent tome. He comes at it from a slightly different angle than Les Gelb in the NYT, providing excerpts of […]
The dialogue regarding the need to restrict transfers of Enrichment and Reprocessing (ENR) technologies just gained another participant. In a just-released report published by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, former State Department (and DOE and UNVIE) non-pro guru Fred McGoldrick focuses on multilateral approaches to accomplishing this […]
Now that things are settling down a wee bit over in Japan – at least from what my NRC buddies tell me – I thought it might be useful to focus in on the radiological situation which will determine which areas will be habitable, and when. In that regard, I’ve come across a couple of […]
I have written on the subject of fuel banks before, the idea being to prevent the spread of Enrichment and Reprocessing (ENR) facilities which are capable of producing weapons-grade fuel by providing reactor material produced at a multilateral facility through supply assurances. As I also noted, the IAEA Board of Governors approved a fuel bank […]
The chap who deigned to take on the Bush Administration, refusing to kowtow to their demands that he provide evidence of Saddam Hussein’s imaginary nuclear weapons program, has published his memoir. In “The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times”, Mohamed ElBaradei, three-term Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), details his […]
My very first post for this blog, on February 24th, discussed the need for consistency in U.S. policy regarding prevention of proliferation. I’d like to return to that subject to review recent Congressional action which, to my mind, helps to institutionalize some much-needed consistency in the context of Agreements for Cooperation, so-called 123 Agreements. The […]
Following my April 8th post, John Coster-Mullen wrote to me in response. Luckily, he didn’t dislike what I wrote. In fact, in a series of subsequent exchanges, he has breathlessly and enthusiastically shared with me a whole host of additional information he has obtained and developed in the course of his extensive research on Fat […]
Greetings from Brodnica, Poland. A quick thanks to my partner in blog, Jackie Miller, who is helping keep the flame alive while I attempt to have a bit of a holiday. I managed to pick up a signal from the Polish countryside and reviewed the latest goings-on in the world. Here, with thanks to Jon […]
Guest blogger Jackie Miller looks back at the highlights from the Obama administration’s 2010 nuclear spring, including the Nuclear Security Summit and the singing of New START.
One of the many hats I wear is that of co-founder of an informal group of arms control and non-pro types, generously funded by the AAAS, who meet periodically to hear from experts in the field about topics of interest to the community. On the heels of a speech made by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon […]
A funky little site called “Motherboard” recently posted an interview with a guy named John Coster-Mullen. Apparently, Mr. Coster-Mullen, a former truck driver with no college education taught himself how to reverse-engineer the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With jaw-dropping accuracy. So much so that Dr. Robert Norris, the highly regarded nuclear weapons […]
Kudos to the NYT, at least this time, for profiling David Brenner at my alma mater, Columbia University, who is trying to spread accurate information about radiation in the context of Fukushima. I commend this piece to all. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/science/earth/29brenner.html?src=recg