By Rana Agahi When a country gives up or loses a nuclear weapons program, what actually disappears? Unlike a warhead, laboratory or centrifuge, knowledge cannot simply be dismantled. Nuclear programs depend not only on machines and materials, but also on the tacit knowledge scientists gain through experience and cannot always pass on through instructions alone. […]
Non-Proliferation
$1 Trillion and Counting: A Deep Dive Into the Pentagon Budget
This year, the Trump administration asked Congress for nearly $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon and nuclear weapons in its annual President’s Budget Request — a huge increase over last year’s already massive request. This is a number that 59% of people believe is too high, according to recent polling from ReThink Media and the Costs […]
Plutonium for Private Industry: A Proliferation Problem
By Lyle Seeligson The federal government will soon be handing over nuclear bomb material to private companies. In May, the Trump administration announced its intent to allow nuclear energy start-ups to use the Department of Energy’s excess plutonium pits — dangerous nuclear explosives collected from decommissioned Cold War-era warheads — to make nuclear fuel for […]
Nuclear Terrorism is Still a Threat. Why are We Cutting Funding Preventing It?
By Lyle Seeligson The need to address nuclear terrorism remains urgent. So why is the federal government cutting funding for the programs that prevent foreign and domestic terrorists from causing a nuclear disaster? According to the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre director, “the threat [of nuclear terrorism] has never been so high as it is today.” […]
The United States has a responsibility to uphold non-proliferation norms. Here’s how it can.
By Conor Donlevy On December 2, 1942, Manhattan Project scientists working at the University of Chicago (including our sister organization’s founder, Leo Szilard) created the first sustained, man-made nuclear chain reaction underneath the stands of a football field using a pile of graphite and uranium. The reactor was dubbed the “Chicago Pile-1” and its success […]
