Pellets of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabricated from weapons plutonium at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the U.S. plutonium disposition program.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Funding for U.S. Efforts to Improve Controls Over Nuclear Weapons, Materials, and Expertise Overseas:
A 2009 Update
A new report by Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) Research Associate
Andrew Newman and MTA Co-Principal Investigator
Matthew Bunn assess the Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request for programs to improve controls over nuclear weapons, materials, and expertise worldwide.
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
AP Photo
June 18, 2009
"Assessing North Korea's Uranium Enrichment Capabilities"
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
In mid-June 2009, Pyongyang threatened to begin enriching uranium in an effort to expand its nuclear weapons program. While much is known about North Korea's plutonium production program, far less is understood about what enrichment capabilities Pyongyang currently possesses. Dr. Hui Zhang argues that the evidence seems to indicate that North Korea currently has a very limited capacity for enrichment.
AP Photo
June 19, 2009
"Don't Play Nuclear Chicken with a Desperate Pariah"
Foreign Policy
By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
"This game of escalation will go on and on until North Korea gets what it desires most from Washington: a reliable security assurance. Of course, no one likes to yield to dictators. But ultimately, playing chicken with a desperate and nuclear-armed North Korea is too risky to endeavor. The more isolated the North Koreans become, the more likely they will be to use the nuclear card in threatening two hostages: South Korea and Japan. Everyone loses that game"
AP Photo
February 2009
"Driving Carbon Capture and Storage Forward in China"
Energy Procedia, issue 1, volume 1
By Hengwei Liu, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group and Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), as an option in the portfolio of mitigation actions to combat climate change, is expected to have far-reaching implications for China. This paper (1) explores the strategic significance of CCS for China by making an extreme scenario analysis of Chinese power sector in 2030; (2) provides an overview of the recent CCS activities in China; and (3) identifies the major challenges with respect to CCS development in China and put forwards immediate strategies.
EL Generalissimo
June 9, 2009
"China Should Abandon All-Carrot Approach"
Global Times
By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Hui Zhang's Op-Ed, "China Should Abandon All-Carrot Approach," was published in The Global Times, Beijing. In the Op-Ed Zhang argues "China should show its willingness to contribute to international nonproliferation efforts," by "abandon[ing] its temperate approach to North Korea."
Photo by Beth Maclin
June 7, 2009
"Geospatial Science & Technology for Sustainable Development in Africa: Partnerships and Applications"
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
This conference, co-sponsored by the Association of American Geographers and the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, Harvard Kennedy School brought together members of public and private donor organizations with those from institutions and industry engaged in the application of geospatial science and technology to assess development needs, formulate responses to those needs, and successfully implement sustainable development programs in Africa. Its goal was to insure that public and private sector initiatives that rely on geospatial tools, techniques, and applications achieve a high level of integration in the areas of database requirements and standards, methodologies, and strategies for sustainability. Enhancing private sector linkages with government and nongovernmental initiatives already underway, as well as with ongoing academic and scientific research efforts, will help further capacity building and coordinate public policy applications across regions and themes.
Photo by Sharon Wilke
June 3, 2009
A Joint Workshop on Promoting the Development and Deployment of IGCC/Co-Production/CCS Technologies in China and the United States
By Lifeng Zhao, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2006-2008, Yunhan Xiao and Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
The workshop examined issues surrounding Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal plants, which turn coal into gas and remove impurities before the coal is combusted, and the related carbon capture and sequestration, in which the carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored underground to avoid releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Though promising, advanced coal technologies face steep financial and legal hurdles, and almost certainly will need sustained support from governments to develop the technology and move it to a point where its costs are low enough for widespread use.
AP Photo
March 2009
"Proposed Roadmap for Overcoming Legal and Financial Obstacles to Carbon Capture and Storage"
By Wendy B. Jacobs, Leah Cohen, Leah Kostakidis-Lianos and Sara Rundell
Many existing proposals either lack sufficient concreteness to make carbon capture and geological sequestration (CCGS) operational or fail to focus on a comprehensive, long term framework for its regulation, thus failing to account adequately for the urgency of the issue, the need to develop immediate experience with large scale demonstration projects, or the financial and other incentives required to launch early demonstration projects. We aim to help fill this void by proposing a roadmap to commercial deployment of CCGS in the United States.
