Nuclear Weapons

Physicist Steven Weinberg, January 28, 2008. Credit: Larry Murphy, The University of Texas at Austin. Used with permission.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate in physics and Bulletin board member, dies at 88

By Susan D’Agostino | Doomsday Clock, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion, Special Topics

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN. This field of ceramic nose-cones represents, in miniature, all the warheads in the US nuclear arsenal at the height of the Cold War, along with the nuclear submarines, bombers, and ballistic missiles designed to deliver them. Estimates put the warhead count at around 25,000. Denver sculptress Barbara Donachy created this installation to show what such a concentration of nuclear weaponry would look like all in one place. Her display contains 33,561 pieces representing 31,000 warheads, 1,799 ballistic missiles, 324 intercontinental bombers, and 37 nuclear submarines. Amber Waves of Grain installation by Barbara Donachy, Boston Science Museum, Boston, Massachusetts. February 13, 1985. Photograph copyright by Robert Del Tredici, The Atomic Photographers Guild. Used with permission.

Will Canada remain a credible nonproliferation partner?

By Susan O’Donnell, Gordon Edwards | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

chemical-filled Iraqi mortar shells being scanned for leaks

The many lessons to be drawn from the search for Iraqi WMD

By Terence Taylor | Chemical Weapons, Nuclear Weapons

A test version of the new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb to be deployed in Europe as part of a modernization program. Photo from a video by Air Force Staff Sgt. Cody Griffith.

Do Germany and the Netherlands want to say goodbye to US nuclear weapons?

By Michal Smetana, Michal Onderco, Tom Etienne | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Some long-term effects of UNSCOM: People are important, or, therein lies much of the problem

By Charles A. Duelfer | Chemical Weapons, Nuclear Weapons

Nikita Smidovich at a 2015 Global Conference on Biological Threat Reduction in Paris. Photo by World Organisation for Animal Health.

Perspectives on UNSCOM and UNMOVIC: An interview with Nikita Smidovich

By Henrietta Wilson | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

North Korea’s military parade on October 10, 2020

Nuclear Notebook: How many nuclear weapons does North Korea have in 2021?

By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda | Nuclear Notebook, Nuclear Weapons

Iranian President Rouhani in April visiting the exhibition of nuclear achievements. Credit: Official website of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. https://president.ir/en/120598.

Iran’s uranium gambit is a dangerous negotiating tactic

By Naysan Rafati | Analysis, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched during a test

A millennial’s view: ICBMs are ridiculous

By Noah C. Mayhew | Climate Change, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Voices of Tomorrow

J. Robert Oppenheimer. Credit: James Vaughn. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Accessed via Flickr.

Four senators ask Biden to clear Oppenheimer’s name

By Susan D’Agostino | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Maj. Gen. William F. Burns at the United States Army War College. Photo provided by the family and used with permission.

William Burns, behind-the-scenes advisor in US-Soviet nuclear talks, dies at 88

By Lawrence J. Korb, Arnold S. Kohen | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Time exposure showing the tracks of the missiles’ six dummy warheads, white-hot from air friction, arriving 8,000 km down-range near Kwajalein Atoll in the Western Pacific. The domes in the foreground house tracking telescopes. As a part of the post-Cold War reductions, the Minuteman IIIs were downgraded to one warhead each. Credit: US Air Force photos from National Security Archive and US National Archive collections respectively. Public domain image.

Biden should end the launch-on-warning option

By Frank N. von Hippel | Analysis, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion