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Nuclear Weapons

Satellite images show hundreds of missile missile silos under construction under inflatable domes at three missile fields and a training area in north-central China. Satellite images © 2021 Maxar Technologies and © 2021 Planet Labs, Inc. All rights reserved. For media licensing options, please contact fas@fas.org

China’s nuclear missile silo expansion: From minimum deterrence to medium deterrence

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

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Credit: The Presidential Palace and Information Office (Russia). Accessed via Wikimedia Commons. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

North Korea restarted nuclear reactor for plutonium production, IAEA says

By Susan D’Agostino | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Dove of peace. Street art in Berlin. Credit: Marko Kafé. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons.

We can’t prevent tomorrow’s nuclear wars unless we imagine them today

By Marina Favaro, Sara Z. Kutchesfahani | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

A choir of Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) sing

As atomic bomb survivors age, they’re motivating the next generation on disarmament

By Masako Toki | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

atomic bomb memorial mound hiroshima

Atomic bomb survivors—A model for us in COVID-19 era

By Robert Jay Lifton | Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Atomic Bomb Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Credit: Michael Helmer. Public domain image accessed via Wikimedia Commons.

Opinion: In an era of climate change and COVID, Hiroshima reminds us of another existential threat.

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

Rescue and clean-up crews search for casualties following the barracks bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983. If negotiators hope to revive the Iran nuclear deal, they must address the billions of dollars’ worth of civil judgments by US victims of terrorism against Iran. Photo credit: United States Marine Corps. Public domain image.

US courts say Iran owes terrorism victims billions. That’s an obstacle to a new Iran nuclear deal.

By Christopher A. Bidwell | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

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