Tides of Change: China’s Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarines and Strategic Stability
Tong Zhao | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In recent years, China has expended considerable efforts to build a sea-based nuclear force for the primary purpose of enhancing its overall nuclear deterrent. Although Beijing’s goal is limited and defensive, the practical implications of its efforts for regional stability and security will be significant.
Bolton Rejects Russian Entreaties to Stay in Nuclear Treaty
Andrew Kramer | New York Times
Despite warnings that withdrawal could lead to a new nuclear arms race, the United States national security adviser rejected Russian entreaties on Tuesday to remain committed to a disarmament treaty. The adviser, John R. Bolton, suggested after a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin and other Russian officials that little progress had been made in resolving President Trump’s complaint that Russia has reneged on the pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or I.N.F., Treaty.
Russia will Target European Countries if they Host U.S. Nuclear Missiles: Putin
Olesya Astakhova and Andrew Osborn | Reuters
President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would be forced to target any European countries that agreed to host U.S. nuclear missiles following Washington’s withdrawal from a landmark Cold war-era arms control treaty.
Pence Leaves Open the Possibility of Nuclear Weapons in Space: ‘Peace Comes Through Strength’
Robert Costa | Washington Post
Vice President Pence on Tuesday declined to rule out the idea of deploying nuclear weapons in space, saying that the current ban on their use is “in the interest of every nation” but that the issue should be decided on “the principle that peace comes through strength.” “What we need to do is make sure that we provide for the common defense of the people of the United States of America, and that’s the president’s determination here,” Pence said in an interview with The Washington Post, when asked whether nuclear weapons should be banned from orbit.
The Hope in Europe
Mark Hibbs | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Here in Europe, the reaction by thinkers and governments at the end of the weekend to the decision by President Donald Trump to walk away from the INF Treaty did not fully sync with the initial deploring response from many policy pundits in Washington. Whether more circumspect Euros were right or not to see Trump’s October 20 campaign message as an opportunity may become known in few weeks or even a few days. Certainly, when looked at along a 10-year trajectory, this development would appear to point instead toward less stability in US-Russian security relations, not more.
An Alternative to the Continued Accumulation of Separated Plutonium in Japan: Dry Cask Storage of Spent Fuel
Masafumi Takubo and Frank Von Hippel | Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament
As of the end of 2017, Japan had a stockpile of 48 tons of separated plutonium. It will take more than a decade for Japan to convert most of that plutonium into “mixed-oxide” (MOX) fuel and load it into power reactors licensed to use such fuel. This is a very costly program. Including the cost of reprocessing, MOX fuel costs about ten times more than the low-enriched-uranium fuel that otherwise would be used by these reactors. Yet Japan has a policy to start separating more plutonium from spent reactor fuel as soon as the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant can be put into operation – currently projected for 2021 after 24 years of delay due to a variety of technical problems and upgrades in safety requirements.