North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il acknowledging applause from soldiers as he inspects the Korean People's Army

After Kim Jong-il

By Mun Suk Ahn

Intelligence seems to suggest that Kim Jong-il's 26-year-old youngest son has been tapped as his successor, adding another layer of complexity to the already complicated North Korean nuclear situation.

Guatemalan women learning about systems of the human body in their language

A neglected climate strategy: Empower women, slow population growth

By Laurie Mazur

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.

Civilian gask mask drill held in Kiev, USSR

The other Berlin Wall: How the Soviet bioweapons program was revealed

By David E. Hoffman

When Soviet scientist Vladimir Pasechnik defected to Britain in 1989, he confirmed what the West had long suspected about Moscow's secret bioweapon efforts.

South Korean engineers inspect a newly fueled nuclear reactor

Why South Korea needs pyroprocessing

By Seong Won Park

A lack of space to store South Korea's spent nuclear fuel is becoming a critical limitation to expanding nuclear power there. Enter next-generation pyroprocessing and fast reactors.

  • Reprocessing isn't the answer

    With Yucca Mountain dead, the push to reprocess U.S. nuclear waste has begun anew--a bad idea according to one of the country's foremost scientists.

  • Reprocessing is the answer

    Advanced reprocessing technologies offer a path toward ending the use of fossil fuels, allowing the United States to be energy independent, and reducing the threat of proliferation.

  • The future of GNEP

    With or without GNEP, signatories are continuing to seek out nuclear technologies. Whatever the agreement, the international community's priority is on reducing proliferation risks.

Web Edition

Columnists

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Analysis

  • A technical evaluation of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant

    By Ivan Oelrich and Ivanka Barzashka

    An in-depth look at Iran's recently exposed secret fuel enrichment plant raises questions over intent and whether similar facilities will be discovered in the future.

  • The status of U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey

    By Alexandra Bell and Benjamin Loehrke

    Washington eventually will need to reassess its deployment of nuclear weapons in Turkey, but removing the weapons while maintaining positive relations with Ankara will take careful diplomacy.

  • After Kim Jong-il

    By Mun Suk Ahn

    Intelligence seems to suggest that Kim Jong-il's 26-year-old youngest son has been tapped as his successor, adding another layer of complexity to the already complicated North Korean nuclear situation.

  • The other Berlin Wall: How the Soviet bioweapons program was revealed

    By David E. Hoffman

    When Soviet scientist Vladimir Pasechnik defected to Britain in 1989, he confirmed what the West had long suspected about Moscow's secret bioweapon efforts.

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Op-Eds

  • Time to reconsider U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe

    By Bob van der Zwaan and Tom Sauer

    Washington continues to station 200 tactical nuclear weapons in five European countries, yet the reasons for deploying them there have become increasingly outdated.

  • A unique opportunity to reach a deal with Iran

    By Anton Khlopkov

    A win-win agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 nations is currently on the negotiating table--potentially the last best chance for a significant breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear crisis.

  • Confronting twenty-first-century nuclear security realities

    By Kenneth N. Luongo

    President Obama has outlined an aggressive strategy to address today's most dangerous nuclear threats. Here are six policies that will help make his agenda both successful and sustainable.

  • Why South Korea needs pyroprocessing

    By Seong Won Park

    A lack of space to store South Korea's spent nuclear fuel is becoming a critical limitation to expanding nuclear power there. Enter next-generation pyroprocessing and fast reactors.

  • Climate change could be the next great military threat

    By Lee Gunn

    Climate change is poised to challenge U.S. security at home and abroad by affecting military facilities, strategies, and resources. Adaptation must start now.

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Special Topics

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The evolution of ElBaradei

    Expected to be a conventional bureaucrat when he took office, Mohamed ElBaradei led the International Atomic Energy Agency through 12 years of tumult and set an ambitious course for the agency that some worry can never be realized. In a one-on-one interview and in interviews with those close to him, the Bulletin takes a look at the ElBaradei era and beyond.

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The John A. Simpson Collection. This collection of the Bulletin's most recent ten years honors John A. Simpson and was made possible by a generous gift from The Scorpio Rising Fund and additional donors

Current Edition

  • 2009 world nuclear industry status report

    By Mycle Schneider, Steve Thomas, Antony Froggatt, and Doug Koplow

    Although some countries plan to build new nuclear power plants in the near future, in aggregate the data indicates that nuclear power's influence will continue to dwindle across the globe in coming decades.

  • Interview: Michael Polsky

    By Bulletin Staff

    Even with the election of a renewable-friendly president and interest in clean energy booming, wind power entrepreneur Michael Polsky worries that a U.S. energy policy that encourages renewables is still a long way off.

  • Evaluating solutions to the nuclear waste problem

    By Charles McCombie

    Most global nuclear technology agreements lack an important characteristic: They don't address how to safely deal with spent nuclear fuel. But two proposals suggest that viable options do exist.

  • The real path to green energy: Hybrid nuclear-renewable power

    By Charles Forsberg

    A targeted use of nuclear power could solve the major problems of renewable energy sources by providing carbon-emission-free power for biofuel refineries and backup energy for solar, wind, and other renewable sources.

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