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Advisory Panel Tells Congress the Nuclear Weapons
Complex is Too Big and Too Old
Douglas Birch, The Center for Public Integrity
December 17, 2014
A special panel appointed by Congress to examine the U.S.nuclear weapons complex reported in December that it is too big and too old, and recommended reorganizing the Department of Energy to give its weapons modernization work a larger political profile and a higher fiscal priority.
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Vermont Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down as Industry Evolves
Jennifer Levitz and Rebecca Smith, The Wall Street Journal
December 2014
The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant ended more than four decades of electricity production on Monday, moving to full retirement amid growing competition from cheap natural gas from the shale boom.
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Stop the Nuclear Treaty Breakdown Before It Escalates
Editorial Board, The Washington Post
The Obama Administration has been careful to say that some matters of bilateral interest with Russia can remain on the table despite the confrontation over Russia's seizure of Crimea and subversion in eastern Ukraine. One such area still under discussion has been the claim made this year by the United States that Russia violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles in Europe. Russia claims the United States also has violated the treaty. Yet this conversation is going nowhere. The treaty is valuable to both nations, and Russia, in particular, ought not to slow-walk resolution of a nettlesome disagreement.
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What It Will Take for Iran Nuceal Talks to Succeed
Ariane Tabatabai, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
December 18, 2014
Until November 23rd, the Iranian negotiators at the country's nuclear talks with six foreign powers seemed cautiously optimistic that a deal was within reach. For one year, the two sides had been working towards a comprehensive agreement that would curtail Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. Their deadline for reaching a conclusion was the next day, though, and by then, what many on both sides had thought was a done deal turned out not to be done at all. Instead the negotiation deadline was extended until June 30, 2015, and meetings resumed in Geneva this week. The Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), agreed in November, 2013 and outlining the terms of negotiation, will stay in place for another seven months.
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Low-Rish 'Worm' Removed at Hacked South Korea
Meeyoung Cho, Reuters
December 30, 2014
South Korean authorities have found evidence that a low-risk computer "worm" had been removed from devices connected to some nuclear plant control systems, but no harmful virus was found in reactor controls threatened by a hacker.
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Iran's President Pledges to Face Down Forces Opposing a Nuclear Deal
Thomas Erdbrink, The New York Times
December 15, 2014
Risking his political standing, Iran's president stressed on Monday that he was determined to cinch a nuclear deal and prepared to take on the conservative forces who would prefer not to see an agreement with the West, even if that means continued economic sanctions on Iran.
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Iran's Rouhani Pushes Back
Haleh Esfandiari, The Wall Street Journal
December 18, 2014
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani seems to have reached the end of his tether with hard-liners who oppose and obstruct his agenda.
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Reported Accomplishments of Selected Threat Reduction and Nonproliferation Programs by Agency for Fiscal Year 2013
Ashley L. Kobi, Partnership for Global Security
December 2014
This annual report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of cooperative threat reduction and nonproliferation programs around the globe by the Departments of Defense and the Department of Energy. These departments provide progress reports in their annual budget requests, Congressional testimony, and other public sources. This report aggregates that information and supplements the data with targeted outreach. Historically, this report has also included a summary of the Department of State's relevant activities. However, a lack of public information regarding the accomplishments of these programs in the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) has prevented their inclusion in this year's report.
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Symposium on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Nuclear Disarmament, Non-proliferation, and Energy: Fresh Ideas for the Future
Belfer Center
Announced December 15, 2014
The ninth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be held at the UN Headquarters in New York from April 27-May 22, 2015. This is the fourth such conference since the indefinite extension of the NPT in 1995. Participating governments will discuss nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy with a view to arriving at consensus on a number of issues.
Academic experts contribute to the review process through the generation of new ideas and concepts. Also, while governments are oftentimes bound by political and other practical constraints, scholars can contemplate issues more independently and with a longer time horizon. For that reason, the Netherlands government has taken the initiative to organize, together with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard University, and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute an academic symposium at the start of the 2015 Review Conference, to take place on April 28.
The main purpose of this event is to gather a view of worldwide research related to the NPT and to learn from scholars about present and future challenges and opportunities. The symposium aims to bring together early-career scholars from around the world to present their work on the three pillars of the treaty to members of the participating delegations and other review conference attendees. The symposium will help to expand the international network of researchers studying the NPT and strengthen future decision making with new ideas and knowledge.
The symposium will be a one-day event with panel discussions, poster board presentations, and a high level panel. The event will include lunch and a concluding reception. All three pillars of the NPT will be covered. The details of the program will be announced closer to the date of the event. The venue will be the ECOSOC room in the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
The Netherlands Government will offer support for travel and accommodations to selected participants who are invited either to give a presentation on one of the panels, or a poster board presentation. UNODA will publish papers from the symposium. The academic co-sponsors will select the presenters. For those interested in possibly participating as a presenter, please send an email by January 31, 2015 to atom@hks.harvard.edu. Those who register their interest will receive more detailed instructions on how to submit a paper/poster proposal.
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Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of
Nuclear Weapons:
Federal Ministry, Republic of Austria
December 8-9, 2014
A world without nuclear weapons is a goal shared by all humanity. Yet, so far, it has remained elusive. An estimated 16.300 nuclear weapons still exist nearly 25 years after the end of the cold war. Today, nine states are believed to possess nuclear weapons, but as nuclear technology is becoming more available, more states, and even non-state actors, may strive to develop nuclear weapons in the future.
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