In what I can only imagine to be an explicit acknowledgement of the importance of nonproliferation in the context of the renewed fervor for nuclear power – Fukushima notwithstanding – two new NGO initiatives have recently launched. The first, launched earlier this month, is courtesy of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Their new “Nuclear Initiative” will […]
When word of the possible fall of the dictatorship of Muammar Qadhafi began spreading across the wires, the very first thought I had was this: that’s great, but who has his reputed chemical weapons and what remains of his nuclear weapons program? Sure enough, the good people at the Associated Press wondered the same thing […]
In a June 9th blog post, I wrote about the work of researchers at The Ohio State University to use the global positioning system (GPS) to detect covert nuclear tests. Pretty cool stuff. Well, the researchers, Jihye Park, Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska and adviser Ralph Von Frese have written about their work in a piece for the […]
Readers of my blog will know that I have written several times about proliferation concerns related to using lasers to enrich uranium. Its my hobbyhorse because I think it is the very kind of crucible test which will indicate if we are serious about nonproliferation or not. The Cliff Notes version is that such a […]
Now that the Administration has begun to re-fulminate over the possibility of getting the CTBT ratified, Arms Control Wonk contributor Page Van Der Linden has begun posting a multi-part series on the subject. Her aim, in her words, is to present “the treaty from the points of view of people who were around the last […]
In advance of the upcoming meetings of the IAEA Board of Governors and General Conference, the Agency has issued two documents for its review which are of note: one quite useful, the other likely to provoke more than a few skeptical chuckles. The first is a compilation of the Agency’s ongoing activities to fulfill its […]
The U.S. Congress is not waiting for the UN Security Council to act on calls to sanction Syria for 1) attempting to build a covert nuclear facility with North Korean support, 2) brutally cracking down on protesters calling for reform and 3) assisting Hezbollah by providing it with ballistic missiles. On August 5, House Foreign […]
I don’t generally write on chemical or biological weapons here, but I thought I would do so today to remember a friend, colleague and world-class expert on such topics. Dr. Jonathan B. Tucker, until his very untimely passing at the end of July, was the Biosecurity Education Manager at the Federation of Scientists. Jonathan passed […]
The folks at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) continue their quest to educate with a primer on the global nonproliferation landscape. In a two-part video, Leonard “Sandy” Spector, deputy director of Center, and director of the DC office does a great job of reviewing not only the formal, enduring nonproliferation instruments but […]
In a June 30th post, I wrote about the long-time coming changes to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) rules on enrichment and reprocessing technologies. Now Mark Hibbs at Carnegie has written a good synopsis of the evolution of the so-called “clean text”, the ultimately agreed-upon changes, and their implications. Hibbs points out, for example, that […]
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Iran is stepping up its enrichment efforts, and that the man in charge is Fereydoon Abbasi, who narrowly escaped assassination along with his wife eight months ago. Abbasi, a nuclear physicist and member of the Revolutionary Guards, which manages Iran’s nuclear program, is in charge of the […]
A couple of days ago, I posted a discourse on the Administration’s return to Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In it, I expressed pessimism that this would happen before anti-CTBT stalwart Senator Jon Kyl retires at the end of next year. I also opined that it is, in fact, possible to assure […]
According to a Memorandum of Understanding document obtained by the National Journal, DOE and NRC are working together to simulate Japan’s Fukushima Daichii nuclear accident in order to validate its computer models for how reactor cores respond to accident conditions. The simulation is meant to inform NRC’s Fukushima lessons learned efforts. According to NJ, the […]
Throughout most of the Cold War, the United States maintained some 5,000 so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, including land mines, artillery shells, and bombs on fighter-bombers. The rationale for their presence–let alone their very existence–was always dubious at best. In a daring move of startling vision, former president George H.W. Bush unilaterally withdrew almost […]
A little while back, I wrote about a renewed Obama Administration push to get the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ratified by a recalcitrant Senate. I noted that, with the retirement of anti-CTBT stalwart Jon Kyl, the treaty MAY have a chance at getting done. However, his intent to retire has clearly not softened Senator Kyl […]