China's Plans to Recycle Nuclear Fuel Raise Concerns
Brian Spegele | Wall Street Journal
China’s plans to process spent nuclear fuel into plutonium that could be used in weapons is drawing concern from the U.S. that Beijing is heightening the risk of nuclear proliferation. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, in Beijing for talks, said Thursday that China's plans to build a nuclear-recycling facility presents challenges to global efforts to control the spread of potentially dangerous materials
U.S. Official Comes Out Strongly Against Major Powers in East Asia Pursuing Nuclear Reprocessing
Matthew Pennington | Associated Press
A senior U.S. official came out strongly Thursday against major powers in East Asia pursuing nuclear reprocessing that nonproliferation experts warn could lead to spiraling quantities of weapons-usable material in a tense region. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel "has little if any economic justification" and raises concerns about nuclear security and nonproliferation. The administration appears to be elevating its public expressions of concern over plans by Japan and China to produce plutonium for energy generation — a technology that South Korea also aspires to have.
Pyongyang Forecast: More Missiles Through May
Patrick Tucker | Defense One
North Korea’s launch of five missiles into the sea on Monday represents a “modest advancement” in technological capability for the Hermit Kingdom, but it may say more about the regime’s stability than its technical prowess.
As North Korea flexes Its Muscles, Some in South Want Nukes, Too
Anna Fifield | Washington Post
What would it take for South Korea to develop nuclear weapons? It’s a fringe idea that rears its head every now and then here. But North Korea’s advances in nuclear weapons technology and the frustration over how to deal with Kim Jong Un’s obstinate regime have led a small but growing number of prominent politicians and academics to wonder: Why not us, too?
Carter Open to DoD-wide Nuclear Weapons Fund
Aaron Mehta | Defense One
For the first time, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has shown public support for the idea of a national nuclear modernization fund, one which would cover all three legs of the nuclear triad. Appearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter said that a nuclear deterrent fund “may make sense.”
Pakistan Ratifies Nuclear Material Protection Pact
Economic Times
Pakistan today ratified an amendment to a legally-binding international instrument on the safety of nuclear material that expands its scope to cover atomic facilities and material in peaceful use, storage and international as well as domestic transportation.