Non-Proliferation

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday approved the export of up to 144 kilograms of nuclear weapon-grade uranium to Belgium. The fuel elements, enriched to 93.2 percent, would be used to reload the Belgian Reactor No. 2 at the Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie-Centre d’Etude de l’Energie Nucléaire (SCK-CEN). The regulator, though, ruled that the license issued […]

Laura Holgate, the previous U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Vienna, Austria, Office of the United Nations, has joined the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a non-resident senior fellow. Holgate began her service in Vienna last year, returning to the United States in January […]

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. We’ll check in with one long, big-picture update every 25 days, with a regular flow of updates in between to keep you up on news affecting the U.S. nuclear deterrent during […]

Republicans in both houses of Congress on Thursday introduced legislation intended to press Russia to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, following reports that the nation has deployed a new cruise missile in contravention of the accord. The Intermediate-Range Forces Treaty Preservation Act, from Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), […]

The United States and Russia have significant opportunities to collaborate on cleanup of nuclear contamination and the prevention of nuclear terrorism, even as they remain antagonists in other spheres, according to a report issued this week by nongovernmental groups from both nations. The report, “Pathways to Cooperation,” resulted from a February 2016 meeting of experts […]

The United States and Russia have significant opportunities to collaborate on cleanup of nuclear contamination and the prevention of nuclear terrorism, even as they remain antagonists in other spheres, according to a report issued this week by nongovernmental groups from both nations. The report, “Pathways to Cooperation,” resulted from a February 2016 meeting of experts […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday revived his widely discredited claim that his campaign opponent, Hillary Clinton, sealed a deal to sell 20 percent of U.S. uranium to Russia while she was secretary of state. Trump emphasized the danger posed by uranium, which at high enrichment levels can power nuclear weapons. “We had Hillary Clinton give […]

Mum is the word on when shipments of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are scheduled to arrive at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina following a recent federal court decision against environmental groups seeking to block the transports from Canada. “In order to preserve operational security, DOE/NNSA does not comment on planned shipments of nuclear material,” a National […]

The United States and 20 other nations are following through on a pledge made at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit to reduce and eventually end use of nuclear weapon-grade uranium in the civilian sector. The nations laid out a four-part agenda in a Jan. 30 joint statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency, first reported […]

President Donald Trump has yet to lay out a straightforward message regarding his approach to nuclear arms control, but any pullback from the U.S.-Russian New START accord could be unfortunate at best, according to Thomas Countryman, who last month ended his decades-long career at the State Department as the agency’s top arms control official. “So […]

Mum is the word on when shipments of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are scheduled to arrive at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina following a recent federal court decision against environmental groups seeking to block the transports from Canada. “In order to preserve operational security, DOE/NNSA does not comment on planned shipments of nuclear material,” a National […]

The Russian cruise missile that the United States has for years characterized as breaching the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has been put into the field, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The 1987 accord, sealed by the United States and then-Soviet Union, prohibits nuclear and non-nuclear ground-based ballistic missiles with flight ranges between 500 and […]

Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress last week introduced legislation that would cut U.S. funding to international body that oversees Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The bills, from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), would prohibit funding for the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization, with the exception of money […]

One of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation technology development programs does not sufficiently track its project outcomes, the Government Accountability Office found in a newly released report. The NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) implements programs worldwide meant to eliminate and help prevent the spread of sensitive nuclear material. DNN features two programs […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday faced a fresh round of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and arms control advocates following a report that he had decried the New START nuclear accord during his first phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Citing several sources, Reuters reported that Trump during the Jan. 28 call had to ask an […]

One of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation technology development programs does not sufficiently track its project outcomes, the Government Accountability Office found in a newly released report. The NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) implements programs worldwide meant to eliminate and help prevent the spread of sensitive nuclear material. DNN features two programs […]

The House of Representatives this week approved refiled legislation that would require the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to document the value of its research and development spending. The “Gains in Global Nuclear Detection Architecture Act” of 2017 is identical to the bill U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) submitted last year. That […]

A federal judge on Thursday ruled against requiring the Department of Energy to produce a new environmental impact statement for shipments of highly enriched uranium from Canada to the agency’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The ruling opens the door for shipments to begin as soon as this month. Upward of 150 shipments, totaling […]

The future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should be shaped by strengthening its conventional and nuclear capabilities as well as bolstering dialogue with Russia, experts said Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The arrival of the Donald Trump administration has put NATO’s future  “in doubt to some degree,” […]

The State Department’s top arms control official is resigning today, apparently at the request of the Trump administration. He joins a large number of managers exiting the agency. Thomas Countryman has been acting undersecretary for arms control and international security since October 2016, after Rose Gottemoeller left the State Department last summer to join NATO […]

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ famous Doomsday Clock ticked another 30 seconds toward midnight on Thursday, illustrating the organization’s increased fears of global annihilation at the start of the Trump administration. The minute hand on the 70-year-old metaphor dropped from three minutes to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, closer than the world has been to […]

Environmental activist attorneys argued in federal court this week that an environmental assessment (EA) is needed before the Department of Energy trucks 6,000 gallons of liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Meanwhile, attorneys for the Energy Department want the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that there is […]

President Donald Trump suggested in an interview published Monday he would pursue a nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia, with sanctions relief as a sweetener, a notion that some Russian officials and now-former President Barack Obama dismissed as two separate issues. “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good […]

A senior Russian diplomat indicated this week the government has no interest in a potential U.S. offer of sanctions relief as a sweetener for nuclear arms reductions. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on Friday, suggested such a proposal in a recent  interview with the London Times: “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see […]

President-elect Donald Trump suggested in an interview published Monday he would pursue a nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia, with sanctions relief as a sweetener. “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced […]

Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho has pleaded guilty to conspiring to participate in the production of special nuclear material outside the United States without authorization by the Department of Energy, the Justice Department announced on Jan. 6. Ho, a naturalized U.S. citizen and nuclear engineer, faces up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ho served […]

The Obama administration has designated close to 500 additional nuclear warheads for disassembly, dropping the size of the in-service deterrent to 4,018 warheads, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday. The unilateral decision leaves roughly 2,800 warheads lined up for destruction, according to Biden. “And we have recommended that the next administration conduct a comprehensive nuclear […]

Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, condemned recent Russian actions in the world during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, while expressing support for cooperation between the two nations on areas of common interest. The former ExxonMobil CEO, who has close business ties to Russia, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the […]

Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho has pleaded guilty to conspiring to participate in the production of special nuclear material outside the United States without authorization by the Department of Energy, the Justice Department announced Friday. Ho, a naturalized U.S. citizen and nuclear engineer, faces up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ho served as a […]

The Department of Energy made significant advances in cleaning up the legacy of its Cold War nuclear weapons operations during the eight years of the Obama administration, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday in his Cabinet Exit Memo. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding “accelerated the cleanup of contaminated, often hazardous, legacy sites from the […]