Ankit Panda | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In his second term, Trump has periodically talked up the prospect of engagement with North Korea. He has described the country as a “big nuclear nation”—much to the chagrin of U.S. allies in Northeast Asia—and underscored his “very good relationship” with Kim. ... The president’s instincts to seek engagement with North Korea provide an important opportunity for the United States, which faces a challenging global nuclear environment amid difficult relations with both Russia and China. The unbounded nature of North Korea’s nuclear and conventional military programs, the deepening alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang, and the intensifying risks of clashes between the two Koreas all create strong reasons for engagement.
Joon Ha Park | NK News
The United States and South Korea agreed to deepen coordination on nuclear and conventional deterrence during a meeting of the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group Group (NCG) in Washington, D.C, on Thursday, but omitted mentioning North Korea in the group’s joint statement for the first time.
Jacob Koshy and Suhasini Haidar | Hindu Times
The Centre introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday (December 15, 2025) the SHANTI Bill that aims to incentivise private sector participation, both Indian and foreign, into nuclear power production. It does this by replacing India’s existing laws — the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010, with the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025.
Kelly Livingston and Allison Mollenkamp | Roll Call
The Energy Department wants to build nuclear-powered artificial intelligence data centers on federal land using new public-private partnerships. Co-locating advanced nuclear reactors with data centers on DOE sites is part of the Trump administration’s bid to accelerate the development of both technologies, sources say, as research efforts tease out their “symbiotic relationship.” But questions remain about how these projects could affect local communities and the actual timeline for bringing more nuclear power online.
Tyler Rogoway | TWZ
We are getting some new information about America’s long-range Dark Eagle hypersonic boost-glide vehicle weapon system from Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent tour of Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. ... The Army’s Dark Eagle, also known as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), is a trailer-launched hypersonic boost-glide vehicle system that can travel long distances at hypersonic speeds (velocities in excess of Mach 5) while maneuvering erratically through Earth’s atmosphere. This makes it an ideal weapon for striking high-priority and time-sensitive targets that are extremely well defended. This includes critical air defenses, command and control nodes, and enemy sensor systems, among other targets. It is the first true hypersonic weapon slated for frontline U.S. service.
Robin Wright | The New Yorker
In September, 2022, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi ... led a convoy of nuclear experts toward the sprawling Zaporizhzhia power plant, in southeast Ukraine, which had been seized by Russia in the early days of its invasion. It is the largest nuclear facility in Europe and the first ever to be on the front line of a war. The dangers of a radioactive catastrophe were unprecedented. Grossi had to argue his way through Ukrainian checkpoints that refused passage. Then, in the no man’s land between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries, his team—wearing blue helmets and bulletproof vests marked “United Nations”—came under fire.