Web Edition | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Technical concerns: Why Russia worries about missile defense

Ivanka Barzashka — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:46:22 -0700

Russia's Ministry of Defense held an unprecedented international conference in Moscow last week to explain "how NATO missile defense facilities … may affect Russia's forces of nuclear deterrence." Senior Russian military officials used the meeting, which included 200 participants from 50 countries, to publicly back President Vladimir Putin's decision to skip the NATO summit in Chicago later this mon

Flight from disarmament

M. V. Ramana — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:48:19 -0700

Editor's note: This article is largely drawn from Ramana's featured piece in the report "Assuring Destruction Forever," edited by Ray Acheson and published in April 2012 byReaching Critical Will.

Does India need ICBMs?

A. Vinod Kumar — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:03:49 -0700

With the successful launch of the Agni-5, India now is on the cusp of having an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capability. The Agni-5, an intermediate-range ballistic missile able to carry a nuclear warhead, has a range of 3,100 miles -- 300 miles shy of becoming an ICBM, according to internationally recognized standards (a capability that so far belongs only to China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

The Politics of Reduction

Kingston Reif — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:33:28 -0700

One of the perks of being a Republican president in the United States is the freedom to make drastic changes to US nuclear posture while Democratic presidents are forced to travel a much tougher road, often in the pursuit of far less ambitious goals. This pattern has been ongoing since the end of the Cold War and sadly continues unabated today.

Dream deterred

Kennette Benedict — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:59:13 -0700

The dream of a shield against nuclear bombs has been around since the earliest days of the nuclear age. The idea has always been deceptively simple: Build missiles that can shoot down nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles as they come across the ocean from the Soviet Union toward the United States (or vice-versa). Although this would be the equivalent of trying to hit a bullet with a bullet or an arrow with an arrow, there have always been political and military leaders who feel sure it can be done.

Negotiating with Iran: Expectations for Baghdad

Emily B. Landau — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:03:59 -0700

The only visible achievement of the talks between the major powers and Iran in Istanbul in mid-April -- 15 months after the previous round had been pronounced a failure -- was agreement to meet again in Baghdad.

"The new retirement" for nuclear power plants

Dawn Stover — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:44:59 -0700

America's senior citizens once dreamed of moving to a beach house in Florida or touring the nation's parks in a motor home when they turned 65. But the global financial crisis has taken a heavy toll on retirement plans. During the past four years, many seniors have watched helplessly as their homes plummeted in value and their 401(k) savings plans became 201(k)s.

Could less be more?

Fissile Materials Working Group — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:38:26 -0700

The outcome of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit left a lot to be desired, and much remains to be done to minimize the nuclear and radiological terrorism risk.

Chemical weapons destruction deadline missed

Alexander Kelle — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:47:35 -0700

April 29, 2012, marks the final destruction deadline for chemical weapons, according to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The United States will miss this deadline, as will the Russian Federation and Libya. This inability to comply with a crucial treaty provision that the US Senate approved and the Clinton administration ratified back in April 1997 may be puzzling to some, but it certainly should not come as a surprise.

Iran, Istanbul and the future

Thomas R. Pickering — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:09:26 -0700

The outcome at Istanbul neither pleased everyone nor broadly disappointed many.

Plastic-wrapped planet

Laura H. Kahn — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:11:19 -0700

We can thank billiard balls for our modern-day, plastic-filled lives. For most of human history, everyday items such as combs were made from expensive animal parts, like tortoise shells. Then, in the 1860s, billiards became a popular pastime. Unfortunately, elephants had to be killed so that their ivory tusks could be made into billiard balls, and soon elephants were rapidly being hunted to extinction. One enterprising New York billiards supplier even offered $10,000 in gold to anyone who could come up with a good substitute for ivory.

How to succeed in Baghdad

Lawrence J. Korb — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:39:21 -0700

As talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1) move to Baghdad, leaders and analysts alike are wondering whether diplomacy will be any more successful now than during previous negotiations involving the Obama administration. To answer that question, it is important to understand why the previous talks failed and what is -- or might be -- different now.

Restarting nuclear talks with Iran: Old problems, some new hopes

Ivan Oelrich — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:58:02 -0700

After a hiatus of 15 months, Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, called the P5+1, met in Istanbul to discuss Iran's nuclear program. Relations between Iran and the major powers have become so sour that, when the meetings ended, all sides viewed agreement to simply meet again next month in Baghdad as a major diplomatic triumph.

A security system commensurate with the risk of nuclear terrorism

Kenneth C. Brill — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:10:30 -0700

A hot mic shouldn't overshadow a dirty bomb. The Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul ended recently with two dominant story lines: President Obama's "hot mic" comments to Russian President Medvedev and the 53 participating governments congratulating themselves on the summit's outcomes. Both miss the key strategic problem that the Seoul Summit did not address: the need to unify the current patchwork, largely voluntary approach to nuclear security that is not commensurate with the risk or consequences of nuclear terrorism.

Climate change and the military in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Michael Brzoska — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:47:44 -0700

The perspective of national security actors on climate change is important, if for no other reason than one simple reality: Militaries are important political actors in most countries, and their views can influence the overall course a government takes. But there are other reasons. Armed forces use sizeable amounts of natural and financial resources, making them important factors in national energy balances and effective competitors for government spending on climate change.

Is suspension the solution?

David Nusbaum — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:36:33 -0700

In talks with the United States late in February, North Korea agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment in a specific facility at Yongbyon and to initiate a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. When the United States and North Korea made the bilateral "leap-day deal," the suspension of enrichment was rightly hailed as one of the great successes of the arrangement.

Preview: The North Korean launch

David Wright — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:41:32 -0700

In mid-March, North Korea surprised the world by announcing plans to launch a satellite into orbit sometime between April 11 and April 15 (US time), to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim il-Sung, the revered founder and long-time ruler of North Korea. The imminent launch seemed to fly in the face of the announcement two weeks earlier that the United States and North Korea had agreed to a set of steps that included a ban on long-range missile tests by Pyongyang.

The case for the CTBT: Stronger than ever

Kingston Reif — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:42:30 -0700

In his April 2009 speech in Prague, President Barack Obama outlined a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and pledged to "immediately and aggressively" pursue approval of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which prohibits any nuclear test explosions that produce a self-sustaining, supercritical chain reaction and creates a robust international verification regime.

2012 Nuclear Security Summit: What it was and wasn’t

Duyeon Kim — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:59:33 -0700

This week, world leaders descended on Seoul, South Korea, for the second global Nuclear Security Summit -- a project that started with President Obama's call to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years (by the end of 2013). Unfortunately, most of these world leaders did not storm the gates of the summit ready to fight for that deadline. Many walked into a meeting already overshadowed by various domestic agendas and geopolitics, putting a damper on the real purpose of the gathering.

The new abolitionists

Hugh Gusterson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:09:33 -0700

Philip Taubman's new book, The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb, recounts the story of five front-rank Cold Warriors who have become nuclear abolitionists in their old age.