Fissile Materials Working Group | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Involuntary response

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:23:58 -0800

Earlier this month, widespread inaction on the increasing dangers posed by nuclear proliferation and climate change forced the Bulletin's Doomsday Clock to move one minute closer to midnight, indicating the mounting perils confronting humanity's survival. One factor pushing the clock forward to five minutes to midnight was the failure to ensure strict security and comprehensive international oversight for nuclear weapons and materials, which continue to accumulate in a few nations.

Radiological materials and the Nuclear Security Summit

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:07:18 -0800

With the second Nuclear Security Summit fast approaching, it is a good moment to reflect on one of the new issues with which the Seoul summit will attempt to grapple: radiological security. The first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington focused on weapons-usable nuclear materials -- highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The rationale behind a strictly defined agenda was to attract attention to the materials that pose the gravest dangers, as they can be used in a nuclear weapon.

Why the Conference on Disarmament still matters

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:44:40 -0800

It has expanded from 10 member countries to 65, negotiated seven international nonproliferation and disarmament treaties, and next March turns 52 years old. It is the Conference on Disarmament (CD) -- the world's only disarmament negotiating forum -- and, for almost 16 years, it has stagnated in deadlock. The ongoing stalemate has led some to question the forum's utility and even to suggest conducting negotiations outside of the multilateral body in order to obtain a treaty to halt the production of fissile materials. This would be a mistake.

Libya, Belarus, and dealing with dictators

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:59:14 -0700

Dealing with thuggish dictators reluctant to relinquish their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium (HEU) is a necessary component in the global effort to secure vulnerable fissile materials by 2013. Unfortunately, nuclear deals are often tentative and prone to collapse if a dictator's whims change. The successful nuclear deal with Libya and the stalled deal with Belarus are indicative of this dynamic, but it should not stop the United States and other nations from seeking deals to secure fissile materials that might otherwise be exploited by would-be nuclear terrorists.

Two treaties. One Congress. No time to wait.

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:31:36 -0700

While Washington, DC, is paralyzed by partisanship on most topics, there is one issue that commands overwhelming bipartisan agreement: the threat posed to US national security by nuclear terrorism.

Regime change for nuclear security

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:03:12 -0700

Almost no country in the world would refuse an invitation to join a collective declaration acknowledging nuclear terrorism as one of the most challenging threats to global security. However, defining a common view about how to advance practical measures that will prevent nuclear terrorism is not so easy. When it comes to nuclear security, it has always been difficult to go from statements to actions.

Chinese nuclear security practices

Fissile Materials Working Group — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:27:59 -0700

The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, was a milestone for nuclear security. Political leaders from 47 countries, including the United States, and multilateral organizations gathered to make a concerted global effort to protect vulnerable nuclear material and to prevent nuclear terrorism. Chinese President Hu Jintao -- putting aside China-US disputes over arms sales to Taiwan and the Dalai Lama's visit to Washington -- attended the summit, speaking positively of China's responsible and cooperative attitude toward international security.

Nuclear materials security: Cooperation is key

Fissile Materials Working Group — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:46:14 -0700

As South Korea prepares for the second Nuclear Security Summit, scheduled to take place in Seoul next March, the momentum for collective international action on nuclear terrorism must be sustained. In the months before the 2012 talks, states will have to work together to retain focus on the summit's ultimate goal -- securing vulnerable nuclear material worldwide -- or else risk taking a step backward in the fight against the menace of nuclear terrorism.

After bin Laden: Nuclear terrorism still a top threat

Fissile Materials Working Group — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:26:57 -0700

Osama bin Laden's death may represent a significant turning point in the US effort to defeat Al Qaeda, but the threat of nuclear terrorism will not lessen in the wake of his demise. Such threats, however, are preventable, and the United States must now take care to sustain the nonproliferation and threat reduction programs that will help stop terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials.

Promises, promises: A progress report one year after the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:36:52 -0700

Two years ago in Prague, President Barack Obama laid out his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Recognizing that this would not likely be achieved in his lifetime, he outlined practical steps by which the international community might strive for greater security in a world where nuclear weapons still exist. One of these steps was the four-year goal to secure all loose nuclear material -- almost immediately after his speech, concerns about nuclear terrorism and nuclear material security were prominent on the international agenda.

Congress's nuclear terrorism shortfall

Fissile Materials Working Group — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:34:51 -0800

The US National Security Strategy, released by the White House in May 2010, states that "there is no greater threat to the American people than weapons of mass destruction, particularly the danger posed by the pursuit of nuclear weapons by violent extremists and their proliferation to additional states." This is why the Obama administration is in the midst of an international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years. Republicans and Democrats alike have voiced support for limiting access to vulnerable nuclear materials to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Setback for WMD security

Fissile Materials Working Group — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:38:05 -0700

When the Group of Eight (G-8) last gathered in Canada in 2002, the summit meeting was an unarguable success for the future of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) security. The leaders launched a multilateral initiative, known as the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, and pledged $20 billion over 10 years to help Russia destroy their WMD stockpiles.

What is nuclear security worth in 2011?

Fissile Materials Working Group — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:57:37 -0700

If the car bomb in Times Square contained just one of the tens of thousands of radioactive sources that exist in the U.S. and it had successfully detonated, this American landmark would be uninhabitable for months or years to come. And, if the attack were with an improvised nuclear device instead, a large portion of Manhattan would have been destroyed. We were lucky in many ways that day, but these are real threats posed by ever-bolder terrorists, and our luck might not last forever.

Strengthening nuclear security: The legal agenda

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:54:58 -0700

President Barack Obama's upcoming Nuclear Security Summit has the potential to become a defining moment for international security in the twenty-first century, especially after the recent release of the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review. When he introduced this document, Obama said, "For the first time, preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism is at the top of America's nuclear agenda."

Deconstructing U.S. funding for nuclear material security

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:46:59 -0700

One year ago, President Barack Obama made a bold pledge to "secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years." His immediate follow-through, however, has been wanting. For instance, his fiscal year 2010 budget request to meet this goal was actually $200 million less than what the Bush administration allocated a year earlier for securing nuclear material abroad. In fact, the administration still hasn't defined what it actually considers vulnerable nuclear material. So, in essence, Obama has lost a full calendar year in his four-year quest.

Prioritizing investment in nuclear security education

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:56:39 -0700

To a large degree, the implementation of robust nuclear security depends on the availability of qualified and dedicated specialists. Unfortunately, such nuclear security specialists are in short supply and training programs for the next generation are limited as well.

This is the year for nuclear material security

Fissile Materials Working Group — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:37:01 -0700

A few weeks ago, an anti-nuclear group breached security fencing at the Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium. Undetected, the group spent more than an hour on a military base where U.S. nuclear weapons are supposedly stored. Worse yet, they then uploaded to YouTube a video showing exactly how they exploited Kleine Brogel's security weaknesses.

Replace peace activists with terrorists and the results could be devastating.

Reduce the civilian use of HEU now

Fissile Materials Working Group — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:43:20 -0700

Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is usually regarded as the fissile material most desirable to terrorists, given the relative ease with which it could be used to manufacture a simple nuclear explosive device. For similar reasons, it's also worrisome from a state-level proliferation viewpoint.

Preventing nuclear terrorism

Fissile Materials Working Group — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:43:30 -0700

The television drama 24 is currently portraying one of the most frightening and dangerous terrorist scenarios possible--an anti-American terrorist group with radioactive fissile materials intent on detonating a "dirty bomb" in New York City to render it uninhabitable for decades to come. Jack Bauer, the show's intrepid hero, is trying to track down the terrorists and capture the fissile materials before the terrorists have a chance to blow them up. Although television dramas often engage in hyperbole, the basic theme of this terrorist scenario is very real.