Non-Proliferation

California Gov. Jerry Brown and former U.S. Comptroller General Charles Bowsher are the newest members of the Board of Directors for the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nongovernmental organization committed to reducing the danger posed by weapons of mass destruction. “We are delighted to welcome these new board members,” former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), NTI CEO […]

President-elect Donald Trump unleashed a cascade of alarm and analysis at the end of the week with a tweet on the need for a stronger U.S. nuclear deterrent, which led to an interview in which he reportedly indicated his readiness for a new atomic arms race. Just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his nation to strengthen […]

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has issued a call for proposals for research on technological advances that could threaten nuclear stability. “With each major power investing heavily in nuclear and conventional modernization we are at the cusp of a new arms race, one that is especially hard to contain because the drivers of military advantage, from […]

A new report from the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) suggests confidence-building and transparency measures to prevent miscalculations between Russia and the West, and thereby reduce nuclear risk, in light of current political tensions and the deteriorating U.S.-Russian relationship. The recommendations in NTI’s Rising Nuclear Dangers: Steps to Reduce Risks in the Euro-Atlantic Region are […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has processed 2 kilograms of plutonium since beginning its program in September to permanently dispose of 6 metric tons of excess non-pit material, according to DOE. The site said Sept. 30 its personnel had begun downblending the material at the site’s K Area Complex. After dilution, […]

A new report from the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) suggests confidence-building and transparency measures to prevent miscalculations between Russia and the West, and thereby reduce nuclear risk, in light of current political tensions and the deteriorating U.S.-Russian relationship. The recommendations in NTI’s Rising Nuclear Dangers: Steps to Reduce Risks in the Euro-Atlantic Region are […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has processed 2 kilograms of plutonium since beginning its program in September to permanently dispose of 6 metric tons of excess non-pit material, according to DOE. The site said Sept. 30 its personnel had begun downblending the material at the site’s K Area Complex. After dilution, […]

Vienna – The United States and Russia have not held any discussions about resuming full implementation of the bilateral plutonium elimination agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended in early October, a senior U.S. State Department official said here Wednesday. Thomas Countryman, acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said in an […]

VIENNA – A top Interpol official said Tuesday that funding for the global police organization’s CBRNE defense operations is a matter of concern given its work in building the capacity of law enforcement agencies worldwide to prevent acts of nuclear or radiological terrorism. Doug Ledingham, acting assistant director of Interpol’s CBRNE subdirectorate – which focuses on the threat […]

VIENNA – The role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the global nuclear security architecture is taking further shape as it inherits the commitments of its member states from the defunct Nuclear Security Summit process and adapts to expectations for a mission expanding beyond its traditional nuclear safeguards and security work. A series […]

With just a handful of days left until the end of the 114th Congress, a number of bills filed this year on U.S. nuclear security and nonproliferation are on the precipice of failure. Many of the bills made little progress through the legislative process – though in a couple instances this was seemingly intentional. Amid Republican […]

The United States and Russia have not held any discussions about resuming full implementation of the bilateral plutonium elimination agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended in early October, a top U.S. State Department official said Wednesday. Thomas Countryman, acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said in an interview with NS&D […]

VIENNA — A senior Russian nonproliferation official on Tuesday emphasized the principle of state sovereignty in nuclear security activities and made a clear distinction between nuclear security and nuclear disarmament. Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control, said during the International Atomic Energy’s Agency’s (IAEA) International Conference on […]

VIENNA – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member states on Monday adopted a ministerial declaration that reaffirmed the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s role in facilitating international cooperation on nuclear security and recommitted themselves to enhancing their own national regimes for protection of weapon-usable materials. The IAEA is holding its International Conference on Nuclear Security this week to […]

VIENNA – U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will monitor the dilution and disposal of 6 metric tons of excess plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. Moniz announced during the opening ministerial segment of the IAEA’s International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

The conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017, which the House of Representatives approved Friday, strips out language from an earlier version of the bill that could have given the Energy Department a route to kill the embattled MOX project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In its last budget […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary Ernest […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) next week hosts its International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions. The event will be held in cooperation with a number of international organizations including Interpol, the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, and the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative. NS&D Monitor will be reporting on conference proceedings throughout […]

U.S. lawmakers, Obama administration officials, and international organization leaders made the case Wednesday that the United States would reap technical benefits for its national security if it ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The National Nuclear Security Administration and the State Department hosted an event on Capitol Hill on scientific innovation in nuclear […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) re-emphasized Tuesday that ratification of the global accord banning nuclear explosive tests should be a nonpartisan issue and that continued U.S. funding for the International Monitoring System (IMS) is crucial to keep existing monitoring stations functioning worldwide. Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the CTBTO Preparatory […]

Advocates for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hope President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term will put to rest attempts to shut down the troubled project. The MFFF would be used to honor a 2000 bilateral agreement that requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 […]

The 30th session of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty’s Special Verification Commission took place this week in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the U.S. State Department. The meeting, which had not been held since 2003, involved delegations from the United States, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine discussing “questions relating to compliance with the obligations assumed […]

Advocates for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hope President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term will put to rest attempts to shut down the troubled project. The MFFF would be used to honor a 2000 bilateral agreement that requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 […]

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has completed its first large-scale field test of mobile radiation detectors in Washington, D.C. this fall. The field test involved hundreds of volunteers carrying the “low-cost, high-efficiency” devices the size of smartphones throughout the city in a test of DARPA’s SIGMA program, which involves networked sensors that […]

Lassina Zerbo has been appointed to a second four-year term as executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organization. Zerbo assumed his current role in August 2013, having previously served as the director of the organization’s International Data Center. In announcing the news, the Vienna, Austria-based organization highlighted […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) assured Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) it is working to boost the security and tracking of radioactive materials, in a Nov. 2 letter made public Wednesday in response to Schumer’s October request that the agency suspend approval of Category 3 radioactive material licenses. Schumer made his request early last month in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) assured Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) it is working to boost the security and tracking of radioactive materials, in a Nov. 2 letter made public Wednesday in response to Schumer’s October request that the agency suspend approval of Category 3 radioactive material licenses. Schumer made his request early last month in […]

Lassina Zerbo has been appointed to a second four-year term as executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organization. Zerbo assumed his current role in August 2013, having previously served as the director of the organization’s International Data Center. In announcing the news, the Vienna, Austria-based organization highlighted […]