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Atomic Power Is In Again—and China Has the Edge

IN THIS ISSUE: Atomic Power Is In Again—and China Has the Edge, Nuclear Sector Must Overcome Decades of Stagnation to Meet COP28 Tripling Goal, North Korea Vaunts New Satellite’s Nuclear Attack Role in Propaganda Posters, Recent Nuclear Declassifications and Denials: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, US Faces Hurdles Next Year for Guam’s Missile Defense, Experts Warn, The Nuclear Shadows of the Russ

Published on December 7, 2023

Atomic Power Is In Again—and China Has the Edge

Sha Hua | The Wall Street Journal 

The country became the first in the world to put the latest generation of nuclear power technology into use, China said Wednesday, as a power plant with two new reactors started commercial operations in the eastern province of Shandong. The new plant uses fourth-generation reactors, which are considered to be safer and more fuel efficient by an international consortium of nuclear countries. The consortium has approved six types of such reactors, and China is trying to build all of them.

Nuclear Sector Must Overcome Decades of Stagnation to Meet COP28 Tripling Goal

David Stanway and Timothy Gardner | Reuters 

The global nuclear industry got a morale boost at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai after more than 20 nations vowed to triple capacity by 2050. But reaching that goal will require the industry to overcome regulatory hurdles, financing obstacles, fuel bottlenecks, and public safety concerns that have contributed to a long history of project delays and decades of stagnation. It took 70 years to bring global nuclear capacity to the current level of 370 gigawatts (GW), and the industry must now select technologies, raise finance and develop the rules to build another 740 GW in half that time.

North Korea Vaunts New Satellite’s Nuclear Attack Role in Propaganda Posters

Colin Zwirko | NK News

North Korean authorities have introduced six new propaganda posters to celebrate last month’s successful spy satellite launch, according to state media Thursday, seeking to rouse public support for military development even as the government calls for people to endure “hardships.”...One poster depicts the new Malligyong-1 military reconnaissance satellite over U.S. territory and three nuclear missile launch vehicles underneath. A new slogan declares North Korea has achieved “‘eyes’ looking down over 10,000 ri (long-distance)” to complement its “powerful ‘fist’ with 10,000-ri strike range.”

Recent Nuclear Declassifications and Denials: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

National Security Archive

Recent U.S. government decisions on the declassification of historical records on nuclear proliferation demonstrate the good, the bad and the ugly in the current national security secrecy system. On the plus side are releases that add historically valuable information to the public record, such as the opening of documents that were reclassified after having been released at the National Archives, a newly declassified Kissinger-Nixon telcon, and U.S. embassy messages from 1980 on nuclear nonproliferation policies. In contrast to these good releases are a number of bad and just plain ugly responses from the Pentagon and the U.S. Air Force, among others. 

US Faces Hurdles Next Year for Guam’s Missile Defense, Experts Warn

Jen Judson | Defense News 

Pentagon leaders who consider China a growing threat say 2024 will be a key year for the Army to bolster defenses around Guam, one of the most critically strategic islands in the Indo-Pacific region. During that year, the service plans to have in place a foundational capability to help stave off a potential attack. The Missile Defense Agency and the Army are seeking a combined $1.5 billion in the fiscal 2024 budget to begin preparing the island by moving assets into place and integrating capabilities. The effort is a test for the Army, which decision-makers have at times overlooked amid the focus on air and naval power in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Nuclear Shadows of the Russia-Ukraine War: A Chinese Perspective

Lyle Goldstein and Nathan Waechter | The Diplomat

Yet, a new and rather comprehensive survey of the issue published by one of China’s leading Russia specialists, Zhao Huasheng, a professor at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University, implies that the nuclear dimension of the Russia-Ukraine war is of major concern to Chinese experts on international relations…The Fudan professor lays out the contours of the Russia-U.S. “nuclear game” as follows: the Kremlin has relied on nuclear deterrence from the very start of the war and thus “nuclear deterrence forms the most fundamental tool.” However, the U.S. believes that Russia “would not dare to use nuclear weapons” and so the result is a continuous “logic of escalation … [with very substantial] risk.”

 

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