• Can Europe Defend Itself Against a Nuclear-Armed Russia?

    National security expert details what’s being done, what can be done as U.S. appears to rethink decades-long support. Regarding the U.S. nuclear umbrella, which has covered Europe since the 1950s, Richard Hooker says: “Is it reliable? I wouldn’t think so. If Putin were to threaten or actually use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine or, let’s say in Estonia, would the administration respond with nuclear threats of its own? Personally, I have my doubts.”

  • Negotiating a New Iran Nuclear Deal

    In August 2019, the Institute for Science and International Security produced astudy at the request of the administration for an internal discussion. It is not the current administration’s or the Institute’s position, although the Institute supports the general thrust, especially the need to go beyond JCPOA limits and for Iran to provide the IAEA a verified complete nuclear declaration.

  • French Nuclear Deterrence for Europe: How Effective Could It Be Against Russia?

    Does France have the capacity to defend Europe? Would the deployment of the French nuclear umbrella in Eastern Europe make Europe strategically autonomous, giving it the means to defend itself independently?

  • B61-12 System Production Ends, Sustainment Begins

    A nuclear weapon milestone: in December, Sandia Lab has completed the last production unit of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb.

  • Can Israel Destroy Iran's Nuclear Program?

    U.S. intelligence has concluded that the odds of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program in the next few months are high, but the jury is out on whether Israel can destroy its archfoe’s nuclear facilities on its own.

  • Response to Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Article on Iran’s Short Timeline to a Bomb

    Iran can build a crude nuclear weapon too quickly, in about six months, after a decision to do so, but the regime risks being detected early after its decision to do so and all along its subsequent pathway to a bomb. That time is more than sufficient for a devastating military response by Israel, hopefully supported by the United States and other allies.

  • How Russia Neutralized Ukraine’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons

    When Ukraine declared its independence from the U.S.S.R in August 1991., Kyiv came into possession of the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world, after the Soviet Union and the United States.Anestimated 2,800-4,200 tactical nuclear weapons were relinquished to Russia in a move that may have changed the course of history.

  • Japanese Yakuza Leader Pleads Guilty to Nuclear Materials Trafficking

    Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan, New York, the other day to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries.

  • China Now Has More Than 600 Nuclear Warheads, Pentagon Says

    The stockpiling reflects a changing attitude toward nuclear weapons among Chinese military planners, report says.

  • Taleghan 2: Pre- and Post Strike Assessment

    On October 25, 2024, Israel launched an attack on Iran that destroyed multiple buildings within the Parchin Military Complex. One target stood out–a building used for nuclear weapons development purposes under Iran’s Amad Plan in the early 2000s.

  • Iran Increases Enrichment Activities to Dangerous Levels: IAEA

    The most recent IAEA report sounded an alarm about a dangerous increase in Iran’s enrichment activities at the Fordow enrichment plant. No longer constrained by the 2015 nuclear deal, from which the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew in 2018, Iran can now decide to produce10-15 kg of weapon grade uranium (WGU) per month, an annual rate of 120 to 130 kg WGU per year, enough for about five nuclear weapons. Iran could supplement this at any point by using its existing stock of 60 percent highly enriched uranium (HEU).

  • New Centrifuge Spins Lasting Partnership

    Sandia’s Weapons Evaluation Test Laboratory (WETL) is DOE’s only laboratory with two centrifuges that support full system-level testing. WETL is responsible for performing nonnuclear testing and evaluation of every weapon system in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

  • Stopping the Bomb

    When one country learns that another country is trying to make a nuclear weapon, what options does it have to stop the other country from achieving that goal? While the query may be straightforward, answers are anything but. One scholar identifies a suite of strategies states use to prevent other nations from developing nuclear weapons.

  • The History of WIPP

    In 1975, the nation asked Sandia to investigate the possibility of building a repository in New Mexico for the disposal of radioactive transuranic defense waste. Little did those assigned to the project know that the task would absorb most of their careers and become one of the most controversial and important projects in U.S. history.

  • NNSA Completes and Diamond-Stamps First Plutonium Pit for W87-1 Warhead

    During the Cold War, the United States could manufacture hundreds of plutonium pits per year. Pit production ceased in 1989, and NNSA continues to recapitalize production capabilities that atrophied in the post-Cold War era.