Newly Unbound, Trump Weighs More Nuclear Arms and Underground Tests

David E. Sanger and William J. Broad | The New York Times

In the five days since the last remaining nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia expired, statements by administration officials have made two things clear: Washington is actively weighing the deployment of more nuclear weapons, and it is also likely to conduct a nuclear test of some kind… The indications started within hours of the expiration on Thursday of New START, which limited the number of weapons that the United States and Russia could deploy to roughly 1,550 each.

U.S. and Iran hold nuclear talks amid threats of regional war

Susannah George, Victoria Craw, and Lior Soroka | The Washington Post

U.S. and Iranian representatives met in Oman on Friday for talks over the fate of Tehran’s nuclear program, the first such negotiations between the two sides since U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June ended 12 days of war with Israel… “The subject of our talks is solely nuclear, and we are not discussing any other issue with the Americans,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state-run media Friday. Araghchi, who is leading negotiations on the Iranian side, said the talks were “intensive,” and carried out “in a very good atmosphere. It was a good start,” he said.

China rejects US claims of secret nuclear tests

CNA

China on Monday (Feb 9) denied US allegations it had conducted secret nuclear explosive tests, calling them "outright lies" and accusing Washington of making excuses to start up its own trials. At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Friday, Thomas DiNanno, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control accused China of conducting the tests, including one on Jun 22, 2020, and of preparing for more tests with massive yields.

Turkey Says It Could Be Dragged Into Nuclear Arms Race Over Iran

Selcan Hacaoglu | Bloomberg

Turkey would consider joining a regional nuclear arms race over concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said late Monday. Ankara does not wish to disrupt the tenuous balance of power in the region, which could trigger nuclear competition, Fidan said in an interview with CNN Turk. But “we may inevitably have to join the same race,” he added, in response to whether Turkey would see Iran’s development of nuclear weapons as a threat.

Nuclear startup TerraPower is moving fast. Some say too fast.

Francisco “A.J.” Camacho | E&E News

TerraPower is widely considered one of the strongest contenders to build advanced nuclear reactors for the U.S. grid. It also continues to have backing from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, its board chair who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the company… Others are worried that TerraPower is moving too fast, with its design getting less scrutiny as the Trump administration pushes regulators to deliver federal permits more quickly.

AI Is Here to Replace Nuclear Treaties. Scared Yet?

Matthew Gault | Wired

For half a century, the world’s nuclear powers relied on an intricate and complex series of treaties that slowly and steadily reduced the number of nuclear weapons on the planet. Those treaties are gone now, and it doesn’t appear that they’ll be coming back anytime soon. As a stopgap measure, researchers and scientists are suggesting a bold and weird path forward: using a system of satellites and artificial intelligence to monitor the world’s nukes.