Digests and Blog

By Greg Thielmann and Kelsey Davenport The IAEA Board of Governors Meeting in September 2012Photo Credit: IAEA The Associated Press reported from Vienna September 11 that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has received "new and significant intelligence" regarding the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, particularly in the area of computer modeling for the explosive yields of warheads. Close examination of previous IAEA reporting suggests that this intelligence may be significant, but it is not entirely new. The intelligence on computer modeling referred to by…

By Tom Z. Collina A report by the National Research Council (NRC) released today finds that the US Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) system deployed Alaska and California has "shortcomings" so serious that it recommends the system be completely redesigned, rebuilt and retested. The US taxpayer has spent over $33 billion on the current GMD, according to the report, which was funded by the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. Moreover, the report finds that "boost-phase" missile defense concepts will not work and that resources should be focused on mid-course intercept, where incomming targets…

By Kelsey Davenport Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Iranian President Ahmadinejad.Photo Credit: FARS With no new high-level talks between the P5+1 and Iran on the calendar, it may be time to consider alternative diplomatic means for engaging with Tehran on its contentious nuclear program. On Friday an interesting case was made for pursuing a "P5+1+1" strategy, which would include Turkey with the original six parties (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) currently negotiating with Iran. Mustafa Kibaroglu, a professor of international relations at Okan…

Presentation by Daryl G. Kimball Executive Director, Arms Control Association Moscow Nuclear Nonproliferation Conference September 7, 2012 Distinguished colleagues, it is an honor to address you at this important meeting on the value of and the path forward on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Since the opening for signature of the CTBT nearly sixteen years ago, the vast majority of the world’s nations have signed and ratified the Treaty. They recognize that nuclear testing is a dangerous and unnecessary vestige of the past and understand that the CTBT is a cornerstone of the…

Nuclear Testing Index, August 29, 2012 2,045: Total number of nuclear weapons tests before the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996. 9.14 days: Average time between nuclear blasts. 7: Total number of nuclear weapons test explosions after the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996. 831.4 days: Average time between nuclear blasts. 1,054: Total number of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, involving 1,148 detonations. 928: Number of nuclear weapons tests conducted in Nevada. 15 megatons: Total yield of the largest U.S. explosion, codenamed Bravo. 715: Total number of Soviet/…

Today is the official International Day Against Nuclear Tests, established in 2009 on the anniversary of the closure of the main former Soviet test site of Semipalatinsk, where more than 456 nuclear explosions contaminated the land and its inhabitants.Largely as a result of the courageous efforts of the Kazakh people to close down the Semipalatinsk site, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared a nuclear test moratorium on October 5, 1991. This, in turn, prompted a bipartisan coalition of U.S. legislators, including Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Oregon), George Mitchell (D-Maine), Rep. Mike…

Note: correction on Fordow centrifuge totals (3pm, Aug. 30) By Tom Z. Collina and Daryl G. Kimball The IAEA's latest quarterly report on Iran, now in circulation, finds that Tehran has installed more machines for uranium enrichment in its Fordow underground facility, but has not started to use them. This means that Iran has not significantly increased its rate of enrichment at this facility since the IAEA's previous report from May. Satellite image of Iran's Fordow enrichment facility near the city of Qom. Moreover, although Iran has enriched additional uranium to almost 20%--a level that…

By Daryl G. Kimball, with research support from Daria Medvedev and Wanda Archy Today is the official International Day Against Nuclear Tests, established in 2009 on the anniversary of the closure of the main former Soviet test site of Semipalatinsk, where more than 456 nuclear explosions contaminated the land and its inhabitants. Largely as a result of the courageous efforts of the Kazakh people to close down the Semipalatinsk site, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared a nuclear test moratorium on October 5, 1991. This, in turn, prompted a bipartisan coalition of U.S. legislators,…

By Daryl G. Kimball Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr.--an influential nuclear arms control practitioner, advocate, scholar, and mentor for new generations of weapons and security experts--died on August 10 at the age of 87 of cancer at his home in Washington D.C. Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr. in 2003 Spurgeon was known to his many colleagues and arms control acquaintances the world over as practical, professional, persistent, and incredibly knowledgable and well-connected. He was a walking, talking nuclear arms control Google search engine before there was an internet. His long career put him in the center of…

by Daryl G. Kimball The first nuclear bomb test in July 1945 and the surprise attacks on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 of that year ignited a global debate about the role, the morality, and the control of nuclear weapons that continues to this day. August 6 commemoration of the first atomic bombing in Hiroshima City. Then, as now, some judged that the catastrophic dangers inherent in nuclear weapons outweigh any justification for their existence or at least for large numbers of such weapons, leading them to seek meaningful nuclear restraints. Others considered nuclear…