ABOUT
The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) brings together scholars and practitioners who conduct policy-relevant research on key issues affecting the future of nuclear weapons, the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and nuclear energy—particularly where these futures intersect, for example in the management and protection of fissile material.
MTA’s current research focuses on three issues:
- Reducing the risk of nuclear and radiological terrorism: With its annual report, Securing the Bomb and a host of other publications, MTA plays a leading role in analyzing, proposing, and pushing for initiatives to keep nuclear weapons and materials out of terrorist hands and to secure nuclear stockpiles throughout the world.
- Stopping the spread and reducing the number of nuclear weapons: MTA researchers have long recognized the linkages between nuclear nonproliferation and progress toward the prohibition of nuclear weapons. MTA’s work focuses on the future of the nonproliferation regime, on practical steps for reducing nuclear stockpiles, and on regional proliferation challenges in the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia.
- Improving the safety and security of nuclear energy: Nuclear energy will have to grow substantially if it is to be a major part of the answer to the climate change challenge. MTA examines how nuclear energy could be made as cheap, safe, secure, and proliferation-resistant as possible – and how the problem of radioactive waste can be successfully addressed.
Our research is intended for a variety of audiences: experts in nonproliferation, energy, and international politics; policy makers; and the general public. The work of the project appears in publications such as the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, International Security, Foreign Policy, and Science and Global Security. Experts associated with the project also provide opinion pieces and commentary to a wide variety of media, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and the major news networks.
The Project sponsors an international group of resident fellows, who—like the project’s staff and faculty members—engage in individual and collaborative research. The purpose of fellows program is to train the next generation of nuclear researchers and scholars by exposing them to an interdisciplinary work environment—blending policy and technical concerns—and providing opportunities to interact with colleagues, faculty, and visiting policy makers and experts. In addition to pursuing their own research, MTA fellows participate in group seminars, and prepare themselves for future careers in academia and policy.
Major funding for MTA comes from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). In the past year, additional funding was provided by the Ploughshares Fund. The Project is a collaboration between the Belfer Center’s programs on Science, Technology, and Public Policy; International Security; and Environment and Natural Resources.
