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JUST RELEASED
Nuclear Authority:
The IAEA and the Absolute Weapon
Robert L. Brown
Georgetown University Press
Once dismissed as ineffectual, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has in the past twenty years emerged as a powerful international organization. Member states allow the IAEA to render judgment on matters vital to peace and security while nations around the globe comply with its rules and commands on proliferation, safety, and a range of other issues.
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Timeline: The IPCC's Shifting Position on Nuclear Energy
Suanne Waldman, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
February 8, 2015
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed in 1988 as an expert panel to guide the drafting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty's objective is to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a safe level.
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DOE Creates Office of Tech Transitions
Frank Munger, Atomic City Underground
The Department of Energy today announced creation of a new Office of Technology Transitions. According to the agency announcement, "The office will work closely with the national laboratories and engage with industry to commercialize technology and strengthen the global competitiveness of U.S. industries based on scientific and technological innovations."
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Roger G. Johnston, Nuclear Security Matters
February 11, 2015
In thinking about how nuclear security and safeguards can fail, it is useful to keep in mind why security usually fails in general. Most security managers and organizations have a good understanding of the assets they are trying to protect, the resources available to them to protect those assets, and the consequences should security fail (though this is sometimes greatly underestimated). They often have a reasonably accurate understanding of the threats they face-who might attack, why, how, when, and with what goals and resources. What is often lacking is a good understanding of the vulnerabilities-the weaknesses in the security that can be exploited by the threats-and how those vulnerabilities can be mitigated or eliminated.
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Hidden Uncertainties Uncovered in
Nuclear Forensic Measurement
Ryan Fitzgerald, Phys.org
February 3, 2015
A little detective work by nuclear physicists has uncovered hidden uncertainties in a popular method for precisely measuring radioactive nuclides, often used to make reference materials for forensic analyses such as radioactive dating.
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The Washington Post
February 8, 2015
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Modernizing Nuclear Arsenals:
Whether and How
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
2015
Between 2014 and 2023, the United States expects to spend $355 billion to modernize its nuclear arsenal. In subsequent decades, even higher expenditures are envisioned. But Washington is far from alone in modernizing its nuclear weapons. According to researchers from the Federation of American Scientists, "all the nuclear-armed states have ambitious nuclear weapon modernization programs ... that appear intended to prolong the nuclear era indefinitely." Disarmament advocates believe such modernizations are fundamentally at odds with the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons-while weapon states argue that, as long as nuclear weapons exist, arsenals must be modernized in order to keep them safe, secure, and effective. In a world where complete disarmament is nearly every nation's stated goal but disarmament seems by no means imminent, how should nuclear-armed countries approach the maintenance and modernization of their arsenals?
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Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety is
Adopted at Diplomatic Conference
Jeffrey Donovan, IAEA
February 10, 2015
The Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety has been unanimously adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS).
The Declaration, which is part of an ongoing international effort to strengthen nuclear safety in the wake of the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in Japan, was approved by consensus by the Contracting Parties to the CNS at a Diplomatic Conference held on 9 February 2015 at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Conference was called to consider a proposal by Switzerland to amend Article 18 of the CNS related to the design and construction of nuclear installations.
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Safety Board: Extending Life of Two Key Y-12
Facilities a Potentially Shaky Proposition
Frank Munger, Atomic City Underground
February 9, 2015
The government's revised strategy for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant depends not only on construction of a cluster of new facilities to process bomb-grade uranium but also leans heavily on extending the life of some existing production buildings - notably 9215 and Beta-2E - to continue their weapons-related roles and also to accept some new missions.
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Putin's Visit to Egypt Nets Plan to Build Nuclear Plant
The Associated Press, Washington Post
February 10, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart said on Tuesday that the two countries plan to jointly build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, as well as boost trade relations and investments.
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Have the Iran Nuclear Talks Reached an Impasse?
Haleh Esfandiari and Robert S. Litwak, Washington Wire
February 12, 2015
The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the group of six world powers bear out Einstein's observation that politics is more difficult than physics.
At this point in the diplomatic process, the talks focus on technical details of a prospective agreement. But the politics of nuclear diplomacy loom large.
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