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Ploughshares Blog: Nuclear Materials

Plutonium Waste Begets Budget Waste
Many in Congress fumed last year when a green energy company – Solyndra – defaulted on a $535 million government loan, resulting from some bad management decisions and the market falling out from under the company. What happens when the government spends $5 billion on a poorly managed plutonium program that has no market? Read more »
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Posted by Ben Loehrke on January 23, 2013
MOX, Nuclear Budget, Nuclear Materials, United States
Livermore Marks Hiroshima Day by Looking Closer to Home
“In Hiroshima, there is a stone monument that says ‘Please sleep in rest. We will not repeat the same mistake.’ But we did. This time, by our own hands. Right now, in Japan, nuclear power plant radiation is affecting citizens physically and mentally as it was in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Read more »
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Posted on August 15, 2011
Japan, fukushima, Hiroshima, Nuclear Materials
A Warhead’s Life
The U.S. currently possesses nearly half of the world’s nuclear warheads. Each warhead type has its own story and takes its own path through the system. All of these warheads are born in the Department of Energy (DoE) and then reside with the Department of Defense (DoD). Many warheads eventually return to the DoE for dismantlement but some become “trapped” in the DoD through a seemingly endless cycle of upgrades, redeployments or storage in the stockpile. Below is an attempt to trace the path a warhead may take as it moves through the phases of its life-cycle (full view). Read more »
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Posted by Peter Fedewa on August 5, 2011
Department of Defense, Department of Energy, infographic, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Materials, United States
Improving Nuclear Confidence Between India and Pakistan
The largely positive recent meeting between Pakistan and India’s foreign ministers marks an uptick in bilateral relations, but the two countries still have a long way to go. Read more »
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Posted by Rizwan Ladha on July 29, 2011
South Asia, Nuclear States, Conflict Prevention, India, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Proliferation, Nuclear Materials, Pakistan, Conflict & Regional Security
A Man With a Clear Conscience
He warned us. On Jan. 27, 2003, Mohamed ElBaradei told the United Nations Security Council that his initial inspections had revealed no evidence of nuclear-weapons activities in Iraq. The next day, ignoring this new intelligence, President George W. Bush presented an urgent case for military action in his State of the Union address, and The New York Times, The Washington Post , and most leading experts followed Bush’s lead: Saddam was building a bomb, and war was the only way to stop him. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on June 20, 2011
Middle East & Persian Gulf, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Materials, Conflict & Regional Security, United States
Remembering the Prague Speech
On April 5th, 2009, two years ago today, young President Barack Obama rose to the podium in Hradčany Square at the heart of historic Prague, Czech Republic. In one of his most eloquent and significant foreign policy speeches, Obama took up the mantle of American leadership and reoriented U.S. policy towards the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world. Read more »
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Posted by Reid Pauly on April 5, 2011
Cooperative Threat Reduction, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Nuclear Materials, United States
Hiroshima to Fukushima: The Illusion of Control
By Joe Cirincione and Paul Carroll On March 11, there were 443 nuclear reactors operating around the world. On March 12, that number shrunk by four. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 25, 2011
Russia, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Nuclear Materials, United States
Media and Expert Resources on Japanese Nuclear Crisis
A deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan have left thousands dead and even more imperiled.  Critical situations at two nuclear power plants in Fukushima, Japan have left workers scrambling to restore stability inside the five reactor cores.  For reporters and researchers, Ploughshares Fund recommends the following nuclear experts for the best analysis on the evolving situation: Read more »
Posted by Reid Pauly on March 14, 2011
Japan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for American Progress, energy, fukushima, Health and Environmental Effects, Institute of International Studies, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Materials, Other
How We Dodged Libya's Nuclear Bullet
In a stunning trans-Atlantic announcement on December 19, 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush said Libya had agreed, after nine months of secret talks, to publicly disclose and dismantle all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs; to limit its missiles to a range of less than 300 km; and to open the country immediately to comprehensive inspections to verify its compliance. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 1, 2011
Middle East & Persian Gulf, Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Biological and Chemical Weapons, Proliferation, Nuclear Materials
Former CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson: "This is an issue of national security"
"We can no longer continue in this doctrine that we have used for many decades," said former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson at the premier of Countdown to Zero in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  "The world has changed profoundly and fundamentally."  Read more »
Posted by Kelly Bronk on August 27, 2010
Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Intelligence, Nuclear Materials, United States