Digests and Blog

A German Luftwaffe Tornado fighter-bomber. By Oliver Meier As NATO works to revise its nuclear and deterrence strategy in time for its May 2012 Summit in Chicago, Germany is pushing for changes in the Alliance's declaratory policy and for a stronger role of NATO in arms control and disarmament. Yet at the same time, Berlin is trying to dodge a debate about the deployment of new types of U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe. The recent replies by the German government to a set of more than 100 questions asked by the Social Democrats in the Bundestag on Germany's nuclear arms control, disarmament and…

By Kelsey Davenport The Arms Control Association and the Partnership for Global Security released a report today that tracks the progress countries have made toward completion of the national commitments made at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit. The report concludes that approximately 80 percent of these commitments have been completed. To read the full report, The Nuclear Security Summit: Assessment of National Commitments, click here. While these achievements are laudable and countries should be commended for following through on their pledges of action, it is important to emphasize that…

By Daryl G. Kimball Today, the people of Japan and people the world over pause to remember the nearly 20,000 people killed and unaccounted for as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. An aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power, two weeks after the tsunami struck Japan. Japan is also still reeling from the man-made nuclear reactor meltdown calamity at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi complex, which will exact an enormous human, environmental, and economic price for decades to come. And, of course, we are still learning about the causes of Fukushima disaster, how…

North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex (AP). By Daryl G. Kimball Today, the U.S. State Department announced that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) has agreed to implement a moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions, long-range missile launches and other nuclear activities, including enrichment at its Yongbyon nuclear complex and to allow U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors in to ensure compliance. The State Department also said that the United States had agreed to finalize details of a proposed food aid package and to take other steps to improve bilateral ties. According to the…

On February 29, the U.S. State Department announced that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) has agreed to implement a moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions, long-range missile launches and other nuclear activities, including enrichment at its Yongbyon nuclear complex and to allow U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors in to ensure compliance. North Korea is the only country that has conducted nuclear test explosions in the past decade, with tests in 2006 and 2009. The State Department also said that the United States had agreed to finalize details of a proposed food aid…

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) celebrated its 15th anniversary February 17, 2012. Established in 1997 following the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the organization has matured and its global monitoring capabilities have improved, particularly in the paste decade. Speaking at an event marking the anniversary at the CTBTO’s headquarters in Vienna, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged all countries, particularly those whose ratifications are necessary for entry into force, to sign and/or ratify the Treaty without delay. To date, 157…

The Natanz enrichment complex. (UPDATED at 7:50pm EST) By Peter Crail and Daryl G. Kimball The latest quarterly IAEA report on Iran is now in circulation and provides an updated summary of Iran's nuclear activities and capabilities. The Feb. 24 report suggests that Iran is continuing to make steady progress expanding its enrichment capabilities, but it does not identify any breakthroughs. It also confirms initial impressions that Iran's announcements last week on a series of "nuclear advances" were hyped. Here is our brief summary of key takeaways: Fordow Repurposed Again The agency notes…

Image Source: The Guardian By Peter Crail Iran's formal response to the P5+1 expressing a willingness to discuss its nuclear program helps pave the way for the first such meeting in over a year. The two sides should now work to begin sustained negotiations aimed at ensuring that Iran meets its nonproliferation obligations. Another P5+1 round with Iran is a good start, but by itself will not likely produce a long-term deal that resolves the key issues. Resolving the nuclear issue will require sufficient pressure and inducements to convince Iran's current and future leaders they stand to gain…

By Tom Z. Collina A new study in the March 2012 issue of Science & Global Security suggests that North Korea carried out a small nuclear explosive test in May 2010. If true, this would be the third nuclear test by North Korea and its first that was not announced. CTBTO radionuclide monitoring station, Okinawa, Japan The study argues that because there was no seismic reading to indicate a nuclear explosion at that time, the explosive yield of any such event would have been less than 50 tons (or .05 kilotons). The fact that a test this small could have been detected at all is a promising…

A paper in the March issue of the journal Science & Global Security titled "Radionuclide Evidence for Low-Yield Nuclear Testing in North Korea" by Lars-Erik De Geer, Research Director at the Swedish Defence Research Agency claims that North Korea may have carried out a very low-yield nuclear weapon test explosion in May 2010. North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear test explosion in 2006 and again in 2009. The paper says that radionuclide data collected between 14 and 23 May 2010 at stations in South Korea, Japan and Russia suggest that North Korea carried out a very low-yield…