by Duyeon Kim The buzz word is increasingly “tactical nuclear weapons” whenever North Korea unleashes provocations. It buzzed again earlier this year when President Obama’s Weapons of Mass Destruction policy coordinator Gary Samore said that Washington would reintroduce U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea upon Seoul’s request. Citing his personal views in response to […]
Heritage Foundation Fails Test on another Treaty
by Kingston Reif Uncowed by its failure to convince the U.S. Senate and the American public to oppose the New START treaty, the Heritage Foundation is trying to gin up opposition to another international treaty that would greatly benefit U.S. national security: the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The CTBT prohibits all nuclear test explosions […]
Summary of the House Appropriations Committee Version of the FY 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill
by Kingston Reif On June 15 the House Appropriations Committee marked up (i.e. wrote) the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. The bill passed Committee by a vote of 26-20. Every Democrat except Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Visclosky (D-IN) opposed the bill. The full committee draft and the […]
Breaking Down the First New START Data Exchange
by Kingston Reif The ink is barely dry on the New START treaty, and Russia has nearly met the 2018 deadline for reductions. On June 1 the State Department released a fact sheet detailing the aggregate numbers for the strategic nuclear weapons limited by the treaty. New START limits the U.S. and Russia to no […]
Fukushima and the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit
I wrote an op-ed for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on March 18th on the implications of the Fukushima nuclear disaster for the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit. It can be found here.
There are two op-eds worth reading written by the Center’s Board members:
Frank von Hippel at Princeton University wrote in the New York Times on March 23rd on the need to learn from the Fukushima disaster and reduce dangers around the world. He writes, “We therefore must make existing reactors safer, develop a new generation of safer designs and prevent nuclear power from facilitating nuclear proliferation. As tragic as the Fukushima disaster has been, it has provided a rare opportunity to advance those goals.”
Matthew Bunn at Harvard University wrote in the Washington Post on March 23rd on ways to reduce a Fukushima-like disaster elsewhere. He writes, “Ultimately, regular independent, international reviews should be the norm in nuclear operations worldwide. All countries must demonstrate that they are doing everything practicable to prevent the next Fukushima — or something far worse.”
