Assessing START follow-on
The new U.S.-Russian arms control agreement is a modest step toward warhead reduction, but it's a significant step forward for Washington and Moscow's relationship.
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START follow-on: The Senate calculus
It took nearly a year of protracted negotiations for Washington and Moscow to reach consensus on a follow-on agreement to START. But is the toughest fight--Senate ratification--still to come?
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What Obama's Nuclear Posture Review accomplishes
It isn't everything those hoping for a truly transformative document wanted, but the Obama administration's remaking of U.S. nuclear strategy is a genuine achievement.
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This is the year for nuclear material security
Between President Obama's upcoming Nuclear Security Summit and the May NPT Review Conference, 2010 provides some good opportunities to build international support for better safeguarding the world's vulnerable fissile material.
Biological threats: A matter of balance
Yet again, the WMD Commission has given Washington a failing grade on its preparations to prevent bioterrorism. But the commission's concerns are misplaced.
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Grassroot efforts to impede bioterrorism
Scientists from around the world are partnering with industry to move beyond treaties and regulations as a way to ensure the appropriate use of biological tools.
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How to prevent the next biological agent attack
The investigation of the 2001 anthrax mailings demonstrates that the United States has a long way to go before it's capable of preventing a bioterrorist attack.
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Restricting the role of biosecurity
The focus of biosecurity should be limited to the prevention of the misuse of life science research for terrorist aims.
Enhancing cooperation between the health and climate sectors
Despite the well-known relationship between climate change and health, WHO has been only tangentially involved in major international climate efforts--a situation that must change.
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Bringing climate change into global governance
Even taken together, today's international governance organizations aren't capable of addressing the changing climate. The necessary step toward rectifying this problem: a new financial architecture that supports both adaptation and mitigation strategies.
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Reflections on the U.N. climate change negotiations in Bali
The elusive road map to a global climate agreement begins with science--which is exceedingly clear about what our targets must be.
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A neglected climate strategy: Empower women, slow population growth
Instead of pouring resources into expensive geoengineering research, we should pursue low-tech reproductive health and women's empowerment programs that have widespread social benefits and can reduce CO2 emissions.
Germany's slowing nuclear phaseout
A new conservative German government has thrown the country's nuclear power phaseout into doubt. But it's unclear just how long a reprieve its reactors will be given.
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The reality of France's aggressive nuclear power push
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is promising to sell his country's nuclear power technology to any country that wants it--but how plausible is his offer?
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2008 world nuclear industry status report: Western Europe
As nuclear power's contribution declines in Europe's overall energy mix, efforts to build new plants are being met with legislative and technical delays.
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Nuclear waste repository case studies: Germany
With Germany's political parties in disagreement about how to dispose of the country's high-level nuclear waste, its final disposition is in a state of gridlock.
Web Edition
Columnists
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Profile
Contending with the new “radioactive patriotism”
Stopping the spread of fissile material technology will require governments to make nonproliferation a high priority over the long haul.
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Profile
The olive branch in the West Bank
Showcasing a world where local Fatah, Hamas, and Israeli activists come together, a new documentary provides a snapshot of what peace looks like between Palestine and Israel.
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Profile
Neuroethicists are not saying enough about the problem of dual-use
Potential hostile misuses of neurotechnologies and neurological drugs should be examined as new dual-use issues emerge.
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Profile
Setback for WMD security
G-8 leaders' failure to renew WMD program puts the world at risk.
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Profile
Against counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
How much do we have to lose before the Obama administration realizes that counterinsurgency won’t win?
Analysis
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Right-Sizing the "Loose Nukes" Security Budget: Part 2
President Obama's goal to secure vulnerable nuclear weapons around the world demands not only a heftier security budget, but new policy initiatives to frame the mission.
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Bunker mentality: Is NNSA digging itself into a hole at Los Alamos?
Building a new facility to expand the U.S. capacity to make plutonium pits for nuclear warheads would be expensive, unsafe, and completely unnecessary.
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Right-Sizing the "Loose Nukes" Security Budget: Part 1
President Obama has committed the United States to a vital goal--securing vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide--but funding has fallen far short of the levels required to achieve it.
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Deconstructing the meaning of Iran's 20 percent uranium enrichment
Iran's enrichment to higher concentrations is currently neither a serious bid to manufacture fuel for its research reactor, nor a breakthrough toward a nuclear weapon. It is an effort to gain political leverage.
Op-Eds
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The passing of a climate prodigy
Reflections on the life and accomplishments of Stephen Schneider, 1945-2010.
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Missile defense: The future of NATO burden sharing?
In the event that forward-deployed nuclear weapons in Europe are withdrawn, the political role that these weapons perform within NATO could be fulfilled by the European missile defense architecture.
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Gimme shelter: The need for a contemporary civil defense program
Although typically derided as silly, simple civil defense measures such as sheltering-in-place could saves tens of thousands of lives in the event of a nuclear terrorism attack.
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Nuclear exchange: RRW for CTBT?
The Obama administration and Senate Democrats want to ratify the CTBT. But to gain Republican support, they will probably need to agree to fund a new nuclear warhead. Is such a trade-off worth it?
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Advice for the Blue Ribbon Commission
President Barack Obama has convened an expert commission to suggest nuclear waste disposal alternatives to the now abandoned geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. Here's what they should recommend.
Special Topics
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Solutions for Copenhagen
As the climate change meetings kick off in Copenhagen today, many skeptics suggest little progress can be made in the next two weeks. This isn't for lack of solutions. In fact, for months, Bulletin authors have been proposing ways in which to build and support international strategies toward slowing climate change. Are the world's politicians and diplomats listening?
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Semipalatinsk: 60 years later
Between 1949 and 1989, the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in what is today Kazakhstan. It did so with little regard for the local population's safety or health. Sixty years have gone by since the first test, but for the Kazakh people, the Soviet testing program still presents a complicated legacy.
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European missile defense reversed
It's official. The Obama administration announced today that the contentious Bush-era missile defense system proposed for Eastern Europe is no more. Russia welcomed the news; Poland and the Czech Republic were dismayed. But it's clear that administration officials agree with what Bulletin experts have said all along--the plan was rife with technical and political problems.
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Current Edition
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Assessing the 2010 NPT Review Conference
A necessary political success, this year's conference has far-reaching implications.
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Reassessing the nuclear renaissance
A historical perspective reveals some unanticipated possibilities for the next 20 years.
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Creating the ultimate nuclear reactor
Several next-generation nuclear reactor designs hold the promise of almost completely solving the worst concerns about nuclear energy. There is still a long way to go, however, before we see the "ultimate reactor" in operation.
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Involving the public in nuclear terrorism preparedness: Reflections on the Washington Nuclear Summit
The global challenge of nuclear and radiological terrorism demands a global response--and public involvement.