Covering Nuclear Issues
A Workshop for Journalists
Resources
Index
Backgrounders / Fact Sheets
Nuclear Security
- An overview of challenges and opportunities to prevent vulnerable nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands by Fissile Materials Working Group
- Bio, cyber and radiological threat backgrounders by NTI
- Nuclear Threat Initiative – A Washington-based think tank with a number of resources on global nuclear policy, nuclear terrorism, and more, including the Nuclear Security Index, which assesses and ranks countries based on their security of weapons-usable nuclear material.
Arms Control and Nonproliferation
- Assorted fact sheets and country profiles by Arms Control Association
- 38 North – Informed analysis of events in and around North Korea.
Changing U.S. Policy to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War
- Limiting the President’s Ability to Start a Nuclear War by the Union of Concerned Scientists (USC)
Terms of Reference
- Arms Control Security Glossary – Arms Control security terms to become familiar with.
- Nuclear Glossary – Nuclear terms compiled by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Reporter Resources
- Safety Guidelines for Journalists: Radiation Incidents – A Safety Guide by Atomic Reporters and the Stanley Foundation.
- Rotterdam Recommendations for Improving Communications with Journalists to Enhance Public Safety in the Event of a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency – Recommendations from a nuclear security workshop with journalists on emergency preparedness and responsiveness during a radiological incident.
Video resources from Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Interactive Materials
India-Pakistan Nuclear Stability: Online course from leading nuclear experts focusing on the nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan in South Asia by Stimson Center
Nuclear Analysis Toolkit: Online training toolkit using techniques including satellite imagery, photo and video analysis to examine nonproliferation challenges by CNS
Governing Uranium: Examining the ‘life’ of uranium from production and consumption, pit to port, ore to bomb, and the safeguards that prevent proliferation by Stimson, DIIS, CSIS
NUKEMAP: people can pick an arbitrary locations and understand what a nuclear weapon would do those places, and how the different sizes of nuclear weapons change the results.
B-roll of WMD facilities and 3D models
Public Opinion on Nuclear Weapons
By ReThink Media
Recent Nuclear Analysis
Here’s what war with North Korea would look like / Vox, Yochi Dreazen
James Stavridis: ‘Low-Yield’ Nukes Are a Very High Threat / OPINION: Bloomberg
Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor S. Ivanov, and Sam Nunn: Preventing Nuclear Conflict in Europe / OPINION: Project Syndicate
Michael Krepon: How to Make the Nuclear Button Safer / OPINION: New York Times
Stirrings of a new nuclear arms race / The Harvard Gazette
Nuclear Security/Preventing Nuclear Terrorism
Matthew Bunn and Nickolas Roth, The effects of a single terrorist nuclear bomb
MTA’s Preventing Nuclear Terrorism
Arms Control Association review from 2016
NTI Index and other (e.g. on military materials)
IPFM reports on nuclear material stocks
William Tobey, The Threat of Nuclear Terrorism (PDF)
Reducing Proliferation Risks
Iran
- The Iran Nuclear Deal: A Definitive Guide
- Contain, Enforce, and Engage
- The Iran Nuclear Deal at Two (International Crisis Group)
- Matthew Bunn, “Making Life Harder for Iran’s Bomb Advocates”
- Sahar Nowrouzzadeh and Katlyn Turner, “How to ensure Iran never resumes reprocessing”
- William Tobey, “Tearing Up the Nuke Deal Now Would Hand Iran the Best of All Possible Worlds”
North Korea
Resources on supply-side controls
- Project Alpha
- Trevor Findlay, Proliferation Alert! The IAEA and Non-Compliance Reporting (PDF)
- Trevor Findlay, Unleashing the Nuclear Watchdog (PDF)
- Henry Sokolski and William Tobey, “A Poorly Negotiated Saudi Nuclear Deal Could Damage Future Regional Relationships”
Reducing the Risk of Nuclear Weapons Use
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
- Federation of American Scientists, 2018 Nuclear Posture Review Resource Page
- Vipin Narang, “Why Putting Low Yield Nuclear Weapons on Submarines is so Dangerous”
- Collection of Congressional Research Service Reports on Nuclear Weapons, WMD Proliferation and Related Topics
- Kingston Reif, U.S. Nuclear Modernization Programs
U.S.-Russia
- Alexey Arbatov (2017), Understanding the US–Russia Nuclear Schism
- Back from the Brink: Toward Restraint and Dialogue between Russia and the West
- Steven Pifer, Arms Control, Security Cooperation, and US-Russian relations
- Steve Andreasen, Isabelle Williams, Brian Rose, Hans M. Kristensen, and Simon Lunn, Building A Safe, Secure, and Credible NATO Nuclear Posture
South Asia
- Dalton and Perkovich, India’s Nuclear Options and Escalation Dominance
- Mansoor Ahmed, Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons and Their Impact on Stability
- John Carlson, “India’s Nuclear Safeguards: Not Fit for Purpose”
- Mansoor Ahmed, India’s Nuclear Exceptionalism
North Korea
- Matthew Bunn, “The United States and North Korea Could Stumble into Nuclear War”
- 38 North: Informed analysis of events in and around North Korea – The site’s objective is to bring the best possible analysis to both seasoned North Korea watchers and general audiences alike.
U.S.-China (e.g. Cunningham and Fravel)
- Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, Assuring Assured Retaliation: China’s Nuclear Posture and U.S.-China Strategic Stability
- M. Taylor Fravel and Evan S. Medeiros, China’s Search for Assured Retaliation: The Evolution of Chinese Nuclear Strategy and Force Structure
- Gregory Kulacki (Union of Concerned Scientists), The Risk of Nuclear War with China
- Also interesting is James M. Acton, et. al on Chinese/Russian perspectives on nuclear and non nuclear risks
Other general resources / organizations
Arms Control Association
Comprehensive information on arms control proposals, negotiations, and agreements, as well as the full text of the journal Arms Control Today.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nuclear Policy Program
Extensive resources on a wide variety of nonproliferation and arms control and disarmament topics.
Center for Strategic and International Studies Proliferation Prevention Program
Analysis from this Washington, DC think-tank focuses on nuclear security, nuclear power, nuclear proliferation, and arms control.
Federation of American Scientists WMD Resources
The Federation of American Scientists posts a huge quantity of information (and links to other sites) related to nuclear weapons technologies, arms control, and nonproliferation.
Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy
FAS’s Project on Government Secrecy works to challenge excessive secrecy and to promote public oversight, including but not limited to the Department of Energy and nuclear policy.
Fissile Material Working Group
The FMWG is a non-governmental coalition of more than 70 U.S. and international organizations working to provide action-oriented policy solutions to keep the world safe from nuclear terrorism.
Institute for Science and International Security
This research organization focuses on halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons and related technology, increasing transparency of nuclear activities worldwide, and achieving deep cuts in nuclear arsenals.
International Panel on Fissile Materials
The mission of this Princeton-based research group is to analyze the technical basis for practical and achievable policy initiatives to secure, consolidate, and reduce stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium.
Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center is an educational organization that promotes better understanding of strategic weapons proliferation issues.
Managing the Atom
The Project on Managing the Atom conducts and disseminates policy-relevant research on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Nuclear Threat Initiative
Website includes detailed databases in several areas, archives of the “Global Security Newswire,” and other information.
Project Alpha, Kings College
This is a research program based out of Kings College that studies illicit, proliferation-related trade and how to counter it.
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
The website of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (which shared the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize with one of its founders, Joseph Rotblat) provides a wide range of reports and summaries of workshops on key issues related to arms control, conflict, energy, and development.
Blogs
All Things Nuclear
The Union of Concerned Scientists’ blog on a range of nuclear power, non-proliferation, and nuclear weapons policy issues.
Arms Control Now
Arms Control Now is the blog of the Arms Control Association, an independent membership organization working to address the threat of nuclear weapons.
Arms Control Wonk
News and analysis from Jeffrey Lewis and other experts on arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation.
Iran Matters
Harvard’s Iran Matters is a one-stop shop for analysis and facts about issues relating to nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Nuclear Security Matters
Nuclear Security Matters provides accessible analysis from the world’s leading experts on nuclear security and nuclear terrorism.
Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog
Restricted Data is a blog about nuclear secrecy, past and present, run by Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science and an associate of MTA.
Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces
This blog provides Russian citizens and policymakers with information about nuclear weapons, arms control, and disarmament based on open scientific analysis.
Contacts
Women in Nonproliferation – A Twitter source list of female experts who work on nuclear nonproliferation issues
Experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation by topic
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