NUCLEAR POWER, NUCLEAR WASTE
AP Photo
Fall 2011
"The Collapse of North Korea: Military Missions and Requirements"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 36, volume 2
By Bruce W. Bennett and Jennifer Lind
The upcoming transition in North Korea’s leadership will not inevitably bring about a collapse of government, but the potential consequences of such an event necessitate advance and combined planning. It is imperative that China, South Korea, and the United States develop a coordinated response, as each of these countries could take destabilizing action to protect their individual interests. A relatively benign collapse could require 260,000 to 400,000 troops to gain control of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, prevent humanitarian disaster, manage regional refugees, and ensure stable U.S.-Chinese relations. Civil war or war on the peninsula would only increase these requirements.
AP Photo
September 16, 2011
"Preventing the Next Fukushima"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Science, volume 333
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"If nuclear power is to grow on the scale required to be a significant part of the solution to global climate disruption or scarcity of fossil fuels, major steps are needed to rebuild confidence that nuclear facilities will be safe from accidents and secure against attacks."
September 16, 2011
"China's Nuclear Safety Regulatory System: Current Status and Challenges"
Presentation
By Yun Zhou, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Although China is one of the major contributors in the global nuclear expansion, China's nuclear power industry is relatively young. Its nuclear safety regulators are less experienced compared to those in other major nuclear power countries. To realize China's resolute commitment to rapid growth of safe nuclear energy, detailed analyses of its nuclear safety regulatory system are required.
August 18, 2011
Russia in Review
Media Feature
An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for August 12 - 18, 2011
August 15, 2011
Bury Our Nuclear Waste — Before It Buries Us
Op-Ed, TIME / time.com
By Eben Harrell, Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Nuclear waste has long been seen mostly as an environmental issue — but it's a critical global security issue too. Plutonium has been created only twice on earth. After the Gabon mines reaction, the next significant batch of plutonium arrived 2 billion years later in U.S. labs; it destroyed Nagasaki. Let's bury our nuclear waste — and, if necessary, nuclear waste from other countries — before it has the chance to bury us.
Kyodo via AP Images
July 11, 2011
"The Ballad of Fukushima: In the Wake of Disaster, Japan’s True Character Emerges"
Op-Ed, Jakarta Globe
By Anindya Bakrie, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
“The Ballad of Narayama” comes to mind, writes Belfer Center International Council member Anindya Bakrie, upon hearing how elderly engineers, along with other specialists, offered to work in the crippled Fukushima plant so that younger Japanese could avoid exposure to radiation hazards that could leave them childless or even kill them.
June 29, 2011
"Harvard’s Managing the Atom Responds to Nuclear Suppliers Group Adoption of Stronger Guidelines on Limiting Transfers of Enrichment and Reprocessing Technologies"
Press Release
At its plenary meeting from June 23 and 24 in the Netherlands the NSG adopted by consensus important new guidelines that strengthen controls over the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing facilities, equipment and technology. The NSG decision is consistent with the recommendations of a recent report by the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
July 1, 2011
"A Multinational Fuel Consortium: Obstacles, Options, and Ways Forward"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, issue July 2011
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The World Nuclear Association estimates that by 2030, 600 nuclear reactors will be in operation around the world; 60 countries are considering nuclear power, out of which 10 to 25 are expected to bring nuclear power plants on line by 2030. This could lead, writes Olli Heinonen, to the construction of additional uranium enrichment plants, which, with adjustments, can produce material for nuclear weapons.
[A full version of this article is available at http://bos.sagepub.com/content/current]
June 2011
"Research, Development, and Demonstration for the Future of Nuclear Energy"
Policy Brief
By Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Valentina Bosetti, Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom, Michela Catenacci and Audrey Lee, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2009–2011
Dramatic growth in nuclear energy would be required for nuclear power to provide a significant part of the carbon-free energy the world is likely to need in the 21st century, or a major part in meeting other energy challenges. This would require increased support from governments, utilities, and publics around the world. Achieving that support is likely to require improved economics and major progress toward resolving issues of nuclear safety, proliferation-resistance, and nuclear waste management. This is likely to require both research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of improved technologies and new policy approaches.
June 21, 2011
Mostly Getting Nuclear Safety at the IAEA--But Missing Nuclear Security
Op-Ed
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
At Monday’s opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ministerial meeting in Vienna on what to do about nuclear safety after Fukushima, Director-General Yukiya Amano laid out a sensible five-point plan for improving global nuclear safety.
But Amano missed a crucial point: Disasters like Fukushima can be caused not only be accident but by terrorist action.
