NUCLEAR WASTELANL Waste Containers Successfully Depressurized

Technicians successfully completed the depressurization of four flanged tritium waste containers and moved them to a waste staging location on site. The containers were placed in temporary storage in 2007. Over the years, pressure gradually built in the containers. Alleviating that pressure was necessary to safely prepare them for eventual shipment offsite.

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IGNORING DISASTERSRefinery Fires, Other Chemical Disasters May No Longer Get Safety Investigations

By Philip Steenstra, Rachel O’Brien, and Stuart Batterman

The typically thorough investigative process of chemical disasters, conducted by the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), will not happen in the case of the October 2025 disaster at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, California, because of the federal government shutdown and lack of funding for the organization. The CSB will be eliminated entirely under the proposed 2026 federal budget, raising the risk of more, and more serious, chemical disasters, not just in the U.S. but around the world.

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NUCLEAR EXPLOSION DETECTIONSpace-Based Nuclear Detonation Detection Mission Endures

By Kristen Meub

Final Global Burst Detection system from current series launches as next series prepares for future launches. The network of satellites, sensors, and ground stations can detect, time-stamp, and record electromagnetic pulse energy in specific bands, and X-ray and optical signals.

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WMDAs AI Worsens WMD Threat, Australia Must Lead Response

By Devon Whittle

When dealing with AI-enabled CBRN threats, we cannot afford to wait until the first catastrophic incident occurs. AI companies have acknowledged that frontier models have capabilities that, without adequate safeguards, could enable novices to create biological and chemical weapons.

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NUCLEAR WASTEModel Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems

By Zach Winn

The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.

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NUCLEAR WARPotential Environmental Effects of Nuclear War

In the 1980s, in response to the buildup of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals during the Cold War, scientists issued warnings about the potential for a “nuclear winter” scenario which would follow a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Since then, military, political, and technological changes have reshaped the nuclear weapons landscape, while scientific advances have deepened the understanding of and ability to model Earth system processes.

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CHEMICAL EXPLOSIONSTrump Quietly Shutters the Only Federal Agency that Investigates Industrial Chemical Explosions

By Tristan Baurick

Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now?

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