Abstract Under the guiding principles of its nuclear policy—maintaining a minimum deterrent, asserting a no-first-use pledge, and avoiding a nuclear arms race—China is modernizing its…
Country or Region: United States
Abstract Three US national laboratories, which were established at the dawn of the Cold War, have long outlived their original mission of engaging in coordinated…
Abstract Although the Obama administration has highlighted the need to secure fissile material worldwide, domestic efforts to secure highly enriched uranium (HEU) have been sluggish…
Abstract A declared exit from commercial nuclear power in the United States is highly improbable. But a stealthy, gradual nuclear decline motivated by economics seems…
Abstract The past decade has seen a sudden surge in shale gas production in the United States, and a dramatic drop in natural gas prices.…
Abstract The authors write about US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, and how NATO’s new Strategic Concept, adopted in November 2010, places less importance on…
Excerpt In a 2012 progress report on federal energy initiatives, the Obama administration enthusiastically asserted that it was “jumpstarting” the nuclear industry. It noted that…
Excerpt On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was struck by an earthquake more powerful than the one it was engineered to handle,…
Abstract The nuclear industry has claimed that a Fukushima-type event is unlikely to happen in the United States, because few US nuclear power plants are…
Abstract In the United States, which trades three-fifths of its electricity in competitive markets, the prohibitive capital cost of new nuclear power plants ensures that…
Abstract Since the dawn of the nuclear era, more than two dozen nuclear power reactors have been permanently shut down in the United States. At…
Abstract The authors show that the United States has the ability to defend itself from long-range nuclear armed ballistic missiles if it builds the right…
Abstract The Black Sea region is the center of the world’s nuclear black market, with Russia being the known or suspected source of most nuclear…
Abstract As of early 2013, the United States has continued to reduce its nuclear stockpile, and retirement alone has accounted for a dip of over…
Abstract As of early 2012, the United States maintained an estimated 2,150 operational warheads. The arsenal is composed of roughly 1,950 strategic warheads deployed on…
