Trump wants Kim back at the table. He must focus on coexistence, not denuclearization

Ankit Panda | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said the United States would scale back major military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The announcement rattled Seoul. Three days later, Trump went further, saying he hoped to meet Kim before the end of the year… If Trump wants to meet Kim again, he may still have a chance. But swiping at the alliance with South Korea is the wrong opening move, and he’ll need to rethink his approach to North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump admin sends Saudi nuclear deal that includes enrichment pathway to Congress

Davis Winkie, Zachary Cohen, and Alejandra Jaramillo | CNN

The Trump administration sent the nuclear cooperation agreement it had signed with Saudi Arabia to Congress on Monday, an administration official and multiple congressional aides told CNN. The civil nuclear deal, which could allow for uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, will go into effect in 90 days unless both houses of Congress pass disapproval resolutions, according to the Atomic Energy Act. However, the White House said in July the agreement would be off unless Riyadh joins President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords initiative that creates diplomatic ties with Israel… An administration official said that Trump’s “position has not changed … the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords.”

Poland does not want nuclear warheads on its territory, deputy defence minister says

Reuters / Yahoo

Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory, Deputy Defence ​Minister Pawel Zalewski said on Thursday. "No — that is what I ‌would like to say very clearly and openly. Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory," Zalewski told reporters when asked whether ​future U.S. military presence in Poland could include nuclear capability. "We ​want to participate in NATO nuclear deterrence, which does ⁠not mean having nuclear warheads on our territory," Zalewski said at ​NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Army Awards $2.2 Billion to Build Nuclear ‘Microreactors’ at 5 U.S. Bases

Brad Plumer | The New York Times

The U.S. Army announced on Wednesday that it would award up to $2.2 billion to five companies to build a new generation of miniature nuclear power reactors at military bases around the country… The Army is particularly interested in “microreactors” that are small enough to be mass-produced in a factory and shipped by truck or airplane to far-flung military installations to provide reliable electricity, without the need for frequent refueling. While roughly a dozen companies are developing designs for microreactors, none have been built yet.

India's nuclear ambitions may be blunted by limits on foreign reactor technology

Sarita Chaganti Singh | Reuters

A new draft framework risks diluting India's most substantial nuclear reform in decades by imposing additional approval requirements on foreign reactors, which threatens ​to steer companies toward domestic technology over imports and limit the flow of new capital and expertise, experts said. The draft framework follows New Delhi's new nuclear law, passed ‌last year, which opened the country's tightly controlled nuclear sector to private companies and seeks to attract foreign technology and investment.

Trump administration lays out nuclear waste plans in proposed bill text

Pavan Acharya and Francisco “A.J.” Camacho | PoliticoPro

The Trump administration wants Congress to designate its proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses as the country’s main nuclear waste solution, according to draft legislative text obtained by POLITICO, a move that would reverse four decades of federal policy. The legislative language, which has circulated on Capitol Hill and among the nuclear industry for weeks, would allow DOE to pursue multiple waste disposal sites at the future innovation campuses, funding them with a fee collected from nuclear-generating utilities. It would also formally disband the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, the independent scientific panel Congress created to advise the Department of Energy’s spent nuclear fuel program.