What is the relationship between the economics of nuclear power and the proliferation of nuclear weapons? When security and arms control analysts list what has helped keep nuclear weapons technologies from spreading further than they already have, energy economics are rarely, if ever, mentioned. Yet, large civilian nuclear energy programs bring states quite a way towards developing nuclear weapons and it has been the poor economics of nuclear energy, more than any other force, which has hampered most states’ adoption of such projects.
Once again, Putin is rattling Russia’s nuclear sabers. This time, it’s by threatening Poland and Ukraine with the deployment of nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. In response, there’s been plenty of hand ringing. What has yet to happen, however, is any serious effort to unplug […]
As the year comes to an end, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi is working to secure Ukraine’s nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia against further military assaults. His aim in shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow is to get Putin and Zelenskyy to agree to […]
Now that Ukraine has taken Kherson, some experts fear Putin might feel cornered and yet resort to using nuclear weapons. Whether Putin will, of course, is uncertain. What isn’t, and what’s deeply weird in light of this worry, is that the United States continues to […]
As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepares to visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, we should be under no illusions: nothing it can do to check the plant’s safety can reduce the risks of it or other nuclear plants being hit in war. Those odds […]
When Russia first attacked the Ukrainian nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia in March, U.S. officials slammed Moscow for being reckless. Yet, when Russia announced earlier this month that it would hold a referendum that would effectively make the plant Russian property, U.S. officials were silent. Foggy […]
Earlier this week, in response to Russian assaults on nuclear plants in Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for the creation of a specialized Japanese nuclear security force to secure Japan’s nuclear plants against military attack. The governor of Fukui, which hosts Japan’s largest […]
Late last week, Bill Gates’ TerraPower nuclear reactor corporation struck an agreement with the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry to build a small, advanced modular fast power reactor in Wyoming. The nuclear plant, called Natrium, is touted as the path forward to […]
Our government seems on a tear to hug Mother Earth and to decarbonize the planet with advanced U.S. nuclear reactors. None of these plants yet exist; all still are being designed. Some of them, like Bill Gates’ Natrium fast reactor, are prodigious producers of weapons-grade plutonium. […]
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia signed a framework agreement with France’s major nuclear firm, EDF, to build a “potential” 1,600-megawatt electrical nuclear power plant. The Saudis certainly will have to weigh many factors before going final on the deal. Some of these — like cost and technical […]
Earlier last month, Secretary of Energy Granholm touted the Department’s commercialization of advanced fast reactors at the COPO26 Glasgow Climate Conference as a demonstration of America’s commitment to decarbonizing the planet. The State Department announced it’s organizing itself to support the export of such reactors. […]
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