The LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program faces significant overruns and delays, casting an unwelcome spotlight on America’s aging US nuclear arsenal and contrasting sharply with the rapid modernization efforts of near-peer adversaries China and Russia. The National Interest (TNI) reported this month that the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM, developed in tandem by the US […]

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Because several generations have passed since the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare – some may think the threat from nuclear weapons has receded. But international developments, including nuclear threats from Russia in the war in Ukraine, have brought a broader awareness of the vulnerability to […]

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A South Korean delegation visiting Japan in an attempt to stop the release of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the Pacific Ocean has called on Tokyo to suspend and “completely reevaluate” its plan considering the threat to marine food chains and the existence of safer alternatives such as solidification. Speaking […]

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This is the third and final installment of a three-part series. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. The landmark successes of the EAST tokamak are propelling China into the leading position worldwide in the field of magnetic fusion. The reactor’s advanced design, the excellence and creativity demonstrated by the EAST team and the […]

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This is the second installment in a three-part series. Read part one here. Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, designated HT-7U in the Chinese fusion program) is located at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. EAST is the first tokamak device using exclusively superconducting coils. (France’s Tore Supra, in some […]

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This is the first installment of a three part series. Thanks in large part to the accomplishments of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), China has propelled itself to the forefront of international research on magnetic confinement fusion. Utilizing powerful magnetic fields to confine a hot plasma inside its toroidal vacuum chamber, the Hefei-based EAST […]

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The US has unveiled plans for a new reentry vehicle to be mounted on the next generation of the land-based leg of its nuclear triad. The announcement comes amid increased tensions with China and Russia, two of the world’s other leading nuclear powers, at what some see as the outbreak of a New Cold War. […]

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The North Korean nuclear predicament has haunted South Koreans for more than 30 years — yet the problem has gotten worse. While Seoul has always been uncertain about Washington’s commitment to extended nuclear deterrence, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently released an unprecedented and dangerously misguided level of support for nuclear weapons. In January 2021, […]

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The US Department of Defense and numerous private commentators allege that Russian-Chinese cooperation on fast breeder reactors will provide plutonium for large numbers of Chinese nuclear weapons. Assistant Secretary of Defense John Plumb told Congressional hearings on March 8: “It’s very troubling to see Russia and China cooperating on this. They may have talking points […]

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