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
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.
US Department of State
June 2010
"The Prague Agenda – Why is Change So Hard?"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "The Prague Agenda – Why is Change So Hard?" at the “Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safeguards, and Security in the 21st Century,” Workshop at Brookhaven National Laboratory in June 2010.
AP Photo
May 25, 2010
"Managing Spent Fuel and Nuclear Waste Successfully—What Needs to Be Done?"
Testimony
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn testified to the "Blue-Ribbon Commission on the Nuclear Future" on Tuesday May 25, 2010, presenting testimony entitled "Managing Spent Fuel and Nuclear Waste Successfully—What Needs to Be Done?"
April 2010
Securing the Bomb 2010
Book
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of global efforts to secure and consolidate nuclear stockpiles, and a detailed action plan for securing all nuclear materials in four years. Securing the Bomb 2010 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available for download on the NTI website.
Department of Energy
January 2010
"Nuclear Terrorism: A Strategy for Prevention"
Book Chapter
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
"On the night of November 8, 2007, two teams of armed men attacked the Pelindaba nuclear facility in South Africa, where hundreds of kilograms of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) were stored. One of the teams opened fire on the site security forces, who reportedly fled. The other team of four armed men went through a 10,000-volt security fence, disabled the intrusion detectors so that no alarms sounded—possibly using insider knowledge of the security system—broke into the emergency control center, and shot a worker there in the chest after a brief struggle. The worker at the emergency control center raised an alarm for the first time. These intruders spent forty-five minutes inside the secured perimeter without ever being engaged by site security forces...."
U.S. NNSA
February 24, 2010
"Securing Nuclear Stockpiles in Four Years – Budget and Policy Requirements"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Securing Nuclear Stockpiles in Four Years – Budget and Policy Requirements;" a briefing for congressional staffers about the nature of the nuclear threat and suggested steps lawmakers could take to help achieve the President Obama's objective of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in 4 years.
AP Photo
Fall 2009
"Reducing the Greatest Risks of Nuclear Theft & Terrorism"
Journal Article, Daedalus, issue 4, volume 138
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
"Keeping nuclear weapons and the difficult-to-manufacture materials needed to make them out of terrorist hands is critical to U.S. and world security — and to the future of nuclear energy as well. In the aftermath of a terrorist nuclear attack, there would be no chance of convincing governments, utilities, and publics to build nuclear reactors on the scale required for nuclear energy to make any significant contribution to coping with climate change."
Fall 2009
"Enabling a Nuclear Revival—and Managing Its Risks"
Journal Article, Innovations, issue 4, volume 4
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Martin B. Malin, Executive Director, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn and Martin B. Malin examine the conditions needed for nuclear energy to grow on a scale large enough for it to be a significant part of the world’s response to climate change. They consider the safety, security, nonproliferation, and waste management risks associated with such growth and recommend approaches to managing these risks. Bunn and Malin argue that although technological solutions may contribute to nuclear expansion in the coming decades, in the near term, creating the conditions for large-scale nuclear energy growth will require major international institutional innovation.
November 19-20, 2009
"Protecting Stocks of Weapons-Usable Material Worldwide Against Global Terrorist Threats"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Evgeniy P. Maslin
Matthew Bunn and Evgeniy P. Maslin presented "Protecting Stocks of Weapons-Usable Material Worldwide Against Global Terrorist Threats" at the workshop on “Protecting Nuclear Programmes From Terrorism,” in Vienna, November 19-20, 2009, which was sponsored by World Institute of Nuclear Security and and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
