Nuclear Friend-Shoring? Issues With Uranium Enrichment Cooperation
Newell Highsmith and Toby Dalton | Lawfare
One additional option the U.S. government might consider to bolster uranium enrichment capacity would be nuclear “friend-shoring”—a trade practice in which supply chain networks are realigned to manufacture in and source goods from countries that are geopolitical allies…Friend-shoring could enable shared financing and make use of some potential partners’ sizable industrial capacity to help diversify sources of enrichment supply, insulate against future market disruption, and challenge Russian market dominance. The U.S. already has partnerships with Australia and a group of European countries for uranium enrichment facilities on U.S. territory. Critically, friend-shoring also could involve transfers of enrichment technology or equipment to partner countries for use on their territories.
Russia Vetoes US-backed UN Resolution to Ban Nuclear Weapons in Space
Mariya Knight, Richard Roth and Chris Lau | CNN
Russia on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations resolution that proposed a ban on the use of nuclear weapons in outer space amid US intelligence-backed concerns that Moscow is trying to develop a nuclear device capable of destroying satellites. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia described the UN draft as a “dirty spectacle” and a “cynical ploy” prepared by the resolution’s backers, the US and Japan.
Next-Generation Nuclear Developers Battle with ‘Regulatory Marathons’
Rachel Millard, Jamie Smyth and Ian Bott | Financial Times
Executives at Rolls-Royce expect UK regulators will take four and a half years to assess the safety of its design for a small modular reactor. Yet the UK engineering group must endure more lengthy approval processes in other countries where it wants to build its nuclear power unit…Rolls-Royce is one of many developers and officials backing a global drive to overhaul nuclear regulation amid concern the set-up is ill-suited to the nascent industry for small modular reactors (SMRs), which have attracted huge interest as countries look to find new sources of low-carbon energy.
Polish Leaders Plan to Talk Things Out on Nuclear Weapons
Jaroslaw Adamowski | Defense News
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk plans to discuss Poland’s potential involvement in NATO’s nuclear sharing program with President Andrzej Duda, Tusk said this week. The announcement came in response to Duda’s declaration that Poland was ready to host U.S. nuclear weapons, and that talks with Washington to that end had been ongoing.
Minot AFB to Receive $850 Million for Nuclear Weapons Upgrades
Michael Achterling and North Dakota Monitor | Defense News
Over the next 12 years, the DOD plans to upgrade each leg of the nuclear triad that consists of intercontinental ballistic missiles, bomber aircraft and nuclear ballistic missile submarines. The military’s Minuteman III nuclear ICBMs, which have been in service since the late 1970s, will be replaced with the Sentinel missile system.Col. Tytonia Moore, deputy director of ICBM modernization, said the Air Force will replace 400 Minuteman III missiles nationwide. Of those, 150 missiles are in North Dakota, which will lead to an estimated $850 million in funding to upgrade Minot Air Force Base facilities.
The Nuclear Threats that Loom Over Iran and Israel
Adam Taylor | Washington Post
Worryingly, norms appeared to be changing. Iran’s strike on Israel the weekend before had marked the first time it had struck the country from its soil. Last Thursday, an Iranian official warned that if Israel struck at their nuclear sites, they could reconsider their official stance on the development of nuclear weapons and potentially target Israeli nuclear facilities.