Hypersonic Threats: The Need for a Realistic Assessment
Vladimir Dvorkin
Russia, the United States, China, and India are the prime movers behind the current development and testing of hypersonic cruise missiles. These missiles are intended for launching high-precision non-nuclear strikes against a range of targets and carrying them out in significantly less time than strikes conducted with existing cruise missiles. This state of affairs dictates, at a minimum, that the governments of these states will devote considerable effort to assessing the emerging threat posed by hypersonic weapons in all spheres of warfare and creating semi-strategic and technical protections from these systems.
Why the United States Did Not Demonstrate the Bomb's Power, Ahead of Hiroshima
Frank von Hippel and Fumihiko Yoshida | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Arthur H. Compton was one of the many past and future Nobel laureates who worked in the secret US nuclear weapons project during World War II. He directed the Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab) at the University of Chicago, where refugee Italian Nobelist Enrico Fermi supervised the construction of the first reactor, future Nobelist Eugene Wigner, from Hungary, led the design of the plutonium-production reactors subsequently built at Hanford, Wash., and future Nobelist Glenn Seaborg developed the first chemical process for extracting plutonium from irradiated uranium.
Climate Science, Nuclear Strategy, and the Humanitarian Impacts Debate
William Ossoff | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
In the wake of research published in the past decade on the long-term effects of nuclear war, a humanitarian impacts movement has formed and become a rallying point for disarmament activists, as well as a source of passionate disagreement among nations. Building on the nuclear winter research of the 1980s, more recent scientific studies have predicted severe and global environmental consequences for even a regional nuclear conflict, let alone a nuclear war between major powers. Some disarmament advocates point to these studies to reinforce moral arguments about the unacceptability of nuclear weapons.
B-52, B-1, B-2 Bombers Share Tarmac on Guam For First Time
Aaron Kidd | Stars and Stripes
B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers are sharing the tarmac at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam — the first time the aircraft have been inside U.S. Pacific Command territory simultaneously, according to a tweet by Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. Three B-2 Spirit stealth aircraft—America’s most advanced bomber, capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions—arrived Wednesday from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., for a short deployment to train in the Pacific as part of U.S. Strategic Command’s bomber operations.
China's THAAD Objection Thwarts UNSC's Push to Denounce N. Korea's Missile Launches
Yonhap News
The United Nations Security Council's push to adopt a statement to denounce North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches has fizzled out because China demanded the statement also include its opposition to South Korea's deployment of a U.S. defense system, sources here said Wednesday. As the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) discussed issuing the statement critical of North Korea's defiant launch of two ballistic missiles on Aug. 3, China insisted that the document should also state Beijing's opposition to the U.S.-led plan to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, the U.N. sources said.
China Halts Work on $15 Bln Nuclear Waste Project After Protests
David Stanway | Reuters
A Chinese city has suspended preliminary work on a proposed 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) nuclear waste processing plant following protests by local residents concerned about health risks. Reports that Lianyungang - a coastal city about 500 km (310 miles) north of Shanghai - was set to be chosen as the site for the project sparked protests that began at the weekend. The project, to be run by the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in collaboration with France's Areva, is due to start construction in 2020 and scheduled to be completed by 2030.