Matthew Bunn
Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Member of the Board
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 495-9916
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: matthew_bunn@harvard.edu
Chuck Kennedy, White House
Winter 2011
"All Stocks of Weapons-Usable Nuclear Materials Worldwide Must be Protected Against Global Terrorist Threats"
Journal Article, Journal of Nuclear Materials Management, volume 39.2
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Evgeniy P. Maslin
The danger of nuclear terrorism is real enough to justify urgent action to reduce the risk. Some terrorist groups are actively seeking nuclear weapons and the materials to make them; it is plausible that a technically sophisticated terrorist group could make a crude nuclear bomb if it acquired enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium; important weaknesses in nuclear security still exist in many countries and thefts of HEU and plutonium have already occurred; nuclear smuggling is very difficult to interdict; and the consequences of a terrorist nuclear detonation would be immense and far-reaching. Nuclear thieves could strike in any country. In this article, we outline a baseline set of adversary capabilities that all stocks of nuclear weapons, plutonium, or HEU should be protected against, no matter what country they are in, including both insiders and outsiders and a range of potential tactics. Bunn and Maslin recommend that countries facing more substantial adversary threats put even more capable security systems in place. The article calls for international cooperation, including technical and financial assistance where needed, to ensure that at least this baseline level of protection is in place for all nuclear weapons, plutonium, and HEU worldwide.
Beacon Power Corp. Photo
February 2011
Transforming the Energy Economy: Options for Accelerating the Commercialization of Advanced Energy Technologies
Report
By Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy; Professor of Physics, Harvard; Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Hanna Breetz, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program/Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom, Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program and Erik Mielke, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2010–2011
"The focus of the workshop was on the demonstration stage of the technology innovation cycle. Current policies do not adequately address the private sector’s inability to overcome the demonstration "valley of death" for new energy technologies. Investors and financiers fear that the technology and operational risks at this stage of the cycle remain too high to justify the level of investment to build a commercial-sized facility."
Babcock & Wilcox Photo
December 2010
Tranforming the Energy Economy: Options for Accelerating the Commercialization of Advanced Energy Technologies—Framing Statement
Report
By Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Erik Mielke, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2010–2011, Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program, Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy; Professor of Physics, Harvard; Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group
"There is broad political consensus that the current energy system in the United States is unable to meet the nation's future energy needs, from the security, environment, and economic perspectives. New energy technologies are required to increase the availability of domestic energy supplies, to reduce the negative environmental impacts of our energy system, to improve the reliability of current energy infrastructure (e.g., smart grid, energy storage), and to increase energy efficiency throughout the economy."
AP Photo
December 7, 2010
"Making Nuclear Energy Suitable for More of the World’s Energy Supply: Issues and Prospects"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Making Nuclear Energy Suitable for More of the World’s Energy Supply: Issues and Prospects" to the Energy Policy Seminar, on December 7, 2010.
November 13-15, 2010
"Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism" at the XVIII Edoardo Amaldi Conference on “International Security and the Role of Scientific Academies” Rome, Italy in November 2010.
November 4, 2010
"Preventing Nuclear Terrorism – In a World of Expanding Nuclear Energy"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Preventing Nuclear Terrorism – In a World of Expanding Nuclear Energy" to the Doomsday Clock Symposium on November 4, 2010, in Washington, D.C.
October 2010
Promoting Safe, Secure, and Peaceful Growth of Nuclear Energy: Next Steps for Russia and the United States
Report
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Evgeny Velikhov
The Managing the Atom (MTA) Project and the Russian Research Center’s "Kurchatov Institute" collaboratively authored a report entitled Promoting Safe, Secure, and Peaceful Growth of Nuclear Energy: Next Steps for Russia and the United States. This report is intended to provide recommendations for enabling large-scale growth of nuclear energy while achieving even higher standards of safety, security, and nonproliferation than are in place today.
October 15, 2010
"Managing Risks From a Nuclear Energy Revival"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Managing Risks From a Nuclear Energy Revival" at the Critical Perspectives: Contemporary Issues in International Relations Forum at the Fletcher School on October 15, 2010.
September 2010
The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Energy
Report
By Frank N. von Hippel, Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom, Anatoli Diakov, Ming Ding, Tadahiro Katsuta, Charles McCombie, M.V. Ramana, Tatsujiro Suzuki, Susan Voss and Suyuan Yu
In the 1970s, nuclear-power boosters expected that by now nuclear power would produce perhaps 80 to 90 percent of all electrical energy globally. Today, the official high-growth projection of the Organization for Economic Co‑operation and Developments (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) estimates that nuclear power plants will generate about 20 percent of all electrical energy in 2050. Thus, nuclear power could make a significant contribution to the global electricity supply. Or it could be phased out — especially if there is another accidental or a terrorist-caused Chernobyl-scale release of radioactivity. If the spread of nuclear energy cannot be decoupled from the spread of nuclear weapons, it should be phased out.
White House Photo/Pete Souza
July 22, 2010
Nuclear Energy and the Global Energy Crisis — U.S.-Russian Cooperation Can Help
Op-Ed, The Hill
By Evgeny Velikhov and Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Russia, the United States and other countries must cooperate to enable large-scale growth of nuclear energy around the world while achieving even higher standards of safety, security and nonproliferation than are in place today. This will require building a new global framework for nuclear energy, including new or strengthened global institutions. A U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia is a necessary step in this process and deserves strong congressional support.
