• NUCLEAR WEAPONSNorth Korea’s Nuclear Tests Expose Neighbors to Radiation Risks

    Tens of thousands of North Koreans and people in South Korea, Japan, and China could be exposed to radioactive materials spread through groundwater from an underground nuclear test site. North Korea secretly conducted six tests of nuclear weapons at the Punggye-ri site in the mountainous North Hamgyong Province between 2006 and 2017.

  • IRAN’S NUKESIran Enriching Uranium to Near-Weapon-Grade 84%: IAEA

    IAEA inspectors found uranium particles enriched up to nearly 84 percent in Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment site. The 83.7 percent enriched uranium is just below the 90 percent purity needed for nuclear weapons. Experts say that Iran would need no more than 10-14 days to use the material to produce an atomic bomb.

  • SURVIVING NUCLEAR ATTACKSHow to Shelter from a Nuclear Explosion

    There is no good place to be when a nuclear bomb goes off. Anything too close is instantly vaporized, and radiation can pose a serious health threat even at a distance. Researchers simulated an atomic bomb explosion from a typical intercontinental ballistic missile and the resulting blast wave to see how it would affect people sheltering indoors.

  • SURVIVING NUCLEAR ATTACKSHow to Survive a Tactical Nuclear Bomb? Defense Experts Explain

    By Robert K. Niven, Chi-King Lee, Damith Mohotti, and Paul Hazell

    What would happen during a tactical nuclear bomb explosion, including the three stages of ignition, blast, and radioactive fallout? How one might be able to survive such an explosion?

  • NUCLEAR POWERA New Way to Assess Radiation Damage in Reactors

    By David L. Chandler

    A new method could greatly reduce the time and expense needed for certain important safety checks in nuclear power reactors. The approach could save money and increase total power output in the short run, and it might increase plants’ safe operating lifetimes in the long run.

  • NUCLEAR SCIENCEPreparing More STEM Students for Careers in Nuclear Science and Security

    New funds will support efforts to educate and train the next generation of scientists and engineers and provide innovative solutions to challenges related to nuclear security.

  • WATER SECURITYThe Cold War Legacy Lurking in U.S. Groundwater

    By Mark Olalde, Mollie Simon and Alex Mierjeski

    In America’s rush to build the nuclear arsenal that won the Cold War, safety was sacrificed for speed. ProPublica has cataloged cleanup efforts at the 50-plus sites where uranium was processed to fuel the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Even after regulators say cleanup is complete, polluted water and sickness are often left behind.

  • NUCLEAR RISKSZaporizhzhia: What Would Be the Consequences of an Accident?

    By Clare Roth

    Although it’s impossible to say for sure what consequences an accident at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant might have on human health in the environment nearby, experts can make some predictions.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSWhat Would Happen If a Nuclear Bomb Was Used in Ukraine?

    By Clare Roth

    Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and meltdowns at the Chernobyl and Fukushima power plants clearly affected people’s health. But experts say it’s hard to predict the fallout from a nuclear war today.

  • IRAN’S NUKESIran Nuclear Weapons Breakout Time Remains at Zero

    A new report from the Institute for Science and International Security summarizes and assesses information in the (IAEA) quarterly safeguards report for 7 September 2022. The main finding: Iran’s breakout time, that is, the time between a political decision to produce a nuclear weapon and the completion of such weapon, remains at zero.

  • UKRAINE WARAre Attacks on Nuclear Plants Legal under International Law?

    By Christoph Hasselbach

    As fears rise that there could be a nuclear disaster at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant, DW looks at the Geneva Conventions, to which both Russia and Ukraine are signatories. Targeting nuclear plants is not actually banned.

  • NUCLEAR THREATSSituation at Europe's Largest Nuclear Plant “Out of Control”

    By Stuart Braun

    After Russian forces occupied a Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in March, the situation has deteriorated, experts say. The IAEA said that the reactor — Europe’s biggest — is “extremely vulnerable” to meltdown after all safety measures had been “violated” by Russian forces.

  • ENERGY SECURITYDrones Approved for Aerial Inspections of Power Facilities

    Drones have allowed companies new ways to stretch the boundaries of current regulations. One of the latest wins for drone technology is a waiver from the FAA that gives Dominion Energy, one of the U.S. largest energy companies, permission to use drones to inspect power-generation facilities in seven states.

  • IRAN'S NUKESFurther Indications of Iran’s Renewed Interest in Maraging Steel for its Nuclear Enrichment Program

    By Sarah Burkhard and David Albright

    Maraging steel bellows are well known to be used in the IR-2m centrifuge, but Iran has not made any of these centrifuges in years, leading to speculation that the bottleneck was the maraging steel. A recent report has revealed Iran’s renewed interest in metal bellows in its advanced centrifuges.

  • NUCLEAR FORENSICSNuclear Forensics International Group Anniversary Meeting at Livermore

    After a little more than 25 years, the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group (ITWG) is returning to its roots in Livermore, California. Founded in 1995 in a meeting at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the ITWG met in Europe for 24 straight years from 1996 through 2019.