Nuclear Security News and Member Updates Roundup, January 2023

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

From a report of a Russian attempt to hack into U.S. national nuclear laboratories, to news of the discovery at Heathrow Airport of uranium embedded in metal bars, the first nuclear security stories of 2023 are certainly sobering. Also giving pause was the decision from the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to set the hands of its Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, suggesting that this point in history is the closest we have ever been to global catastrophe. We appreciate the board’s reminder of some hard realities at the start of the year: mounting nuclear security dangers of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s previous thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons, as well as humanity’s other challenges, including climate change. Yet these reminders of dark times have not stopped this community’s persevering efforts to make the world a safer and more secure place. As well stories of the threats the world faces, in the newsletter we also bring you the International Atomic Energy Agency’s continued efforts to prevent disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and Coordinated Research Projects to reduce illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, as well as activities from this community to strengthen implementation of the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials. All these pieces point to the importance of the work of this Forum’s members and provide fresh motivation to continue that work with determination.

Happy new year.

Christina McAllister

Interim Director, International Nuclear Security Forum

Join the conversation on Twitter: @INS_Forum

Updates

• The INSF welcomes its newest member organization:
  • The Critical Mass is an international security Do and Think tank implementing results-focused projects and sustainable security solutions by championing diverse expertise and innovation.  TCM is a trusted advisor and partner to sponsors and allies, and a builder of an inclusive global community of security-focused professionals with expertise and active project implementation in the CBRNE security & counterproliferation space. Learn more.
• The INSF call for proposals for the Nuclear Security Policy Menu series is still open. Find application details here.

Nuclear Security News

Impact: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine

• Ukraine Officials Says Time for UN Peacekeepers at Nuclear Plant: “Ukraine wants the United Nations (UN) to send peacekeepers to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant even without a deal with Russia to establish a safety zone there, the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company said. Ukraine has called for UN peacekeepers at the site since September. But the comment was the first time a Ukraine nuclear official has suggested publicly peacekeepers should be deployed in the absence of an agreement to create a safety zone at the plant…Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had hoped to mediate an agreement between Russia and Ukraine on a safety zone by January.”
• Ukraine Plant Must Be Seized from Russia, Nuclear Chief Says: “Ukraine must seize Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant back from Russia by force as efforts to establish a security zone around it evaporate, Kyiv’s top nuclear official said. Petro Kotin, the president of Ukraine’s nuclear utility Energoatom, cast doubt on calls by the [IAEA] for Ukrainian and Russian authorities to impose a security perimeter around the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine. ‘We do not think it is realistic,’ Kotin said in an interview late Tuesday of the IAEA’s effort to establish a security buffer. ‘There is a new year and there is no creation of this zone.’”
• Zaporizhzhia NPP Stable Despite Continued Shelling: “Though all six reactors at the ZNPP are in shutdown, the plant continues to receive the off-site electricity it needs for essential nuclear safety and security functions from the last operating 750 kV main external power line and now the restored 330 kV back-up line. In case of loss of external power, all the site’s 20 diesel back-up generators are ready to supply the site with the electricity needed for all safety related equipment… IAEA said the [IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya] team at the plant has been made aware of exhaustion and stress amongst the ZNPP operational staff. The team reported worrying levels of fatigue in the staff arising from the effects of increased working hours and additional shifts and the stress from the close exposure to the ongoing conflict.”
• IAEA Continues to Press for ZNPP Protection Zone: “IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is set to advance proposals for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around Zaporizhzhia NPP [(ZNPP)]. He will meet senior Ukrainian government officials during a forthcoming visit to Kyiv to discuss safety at the [ZNPP]. The IAEA has had a permanent presence at ZNPP for more than four months now. ‘I remain determined to make the much-needed protection zone a reality as soon as possible. My consultations with Ukraine and Russia are making progress, albeit not as fast as they should. I remain hopeful that we will be able to agree and implement the zone soon,’ Grossi said. However, in an interview with Italian public television RAI, during his recent visit to Italy, Grossi, speaking in Italian, said talks with Kyiv and Moscow had become more complicated. “It has become… a longer and more difficult (negotiating) table,” he noted.”
• IAEA Sends Staff to All Ukraine Nuclear Plants in Safety Bid: “The International Atomic Energy Agency is placing teams of experts at all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of severe accidents as Russia’s war against the country rages on, agency head Rafael Grossi said… The IAEA’s permanent presence at all of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, with at least 11 staff in total, marks an unprecedented expansion for the agency. IAEA technicians will also be at Chernobyl, the now-closed nuclear plant that was the site of a deadly nuclear accident in 1986 that spread fallout over much of Europe… The IAEA flags flying in Ukraine are ‘not just symbolic’ said Grossi. ‘They reflect and they will signify the presence of some of the best-renowned experts in safety and security who will provide advice, and technical support during this very difficult time to each facility facing different challenges and problems depending on the situation.’”
• Zelenskyy and Grossi Discussed Strengthening Nuclear Infrastructure Security: “President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who is now on a working visit to Ukraine. The Ukrainian President noted the active role of the IAEA in resolving issues related to nuclear security, which is extremely important against the background of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine…Zelenskyy noted the importance of the efforts of the Director General of the IAEA aimed at explaining to the agency’s member countries violations of nuclear safety standards by Russia and bringing to the world community the need for the speedy liberation of the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant.”
• Russia Says Ukraine Storing Arms at Nuclear Plants, Kyiv Denies Claim: “Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR)… accused Ukraine of storing Western-supplied arms at nuclear power stations across the country, an allegation dismissed as untrue by a senior Ukrainian official. The Russian spy agency provided no evidence and Reuters was unable to verify the claims. An SVR statement said that US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers, air defence systems and artillery ammunition had been delivered to the Rivne nuclear power station in northwest Ukraine…Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country has never used nuclear power plants (NPP) to store weapons…. ‘Ukraine has never stored any weapons on NPP territory, as falsely claimed by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. On the contrary, the Russian Federation seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and keeps its military there,’ he said on Twitter.”

International Architecture

• New CRP: Facilitation of Safe and Secure Trade Using Nuclear Detection Technology: “The IAEA has launched a four-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) with the aim of enhancing and facilitating safe and secure trade through the development and advancement of nuclear detection technology. This CRP aims to further strengthen global cooperation to prevent the illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials, which is a threat to the global trade and supply chains… From the nuclear security perspective, effective operation of nuclear detection systems at border locations is a key component of measures necessary to detect, prevent, and deter illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material in shipping containers. However, more practical and integrated nuclear detection systems are needed to balance nuclear security measures and the speed of commerce. For example, the presence of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs) in goods such as fertilizer, cement, and ceramics oftentimes sets off the alarm of radiation detectors. The alarm resolution process of inspecting every shipping container can create a delay in the shipment process and presents a time-consuming interruption for customs officers.”
• The US Imports Uranium from Russia. What if Sanctions End That?: “Russia’s state-owned nuclear power conglomerate, Rosatom, is suspected of supplying the Russian arms industry with components, technology and raw materials for missile fuel, The Washington Post reported…  The military goods were sent to more than half a dozen major weapons makers, aiding Moscow’s continuing assault on Ukraine. That has elevated prospects that the United States, and possibly the European Union, might place sanctions on Rosatom, which exports uranium for use in nuclear reactors…Can the source of supply be replaced quickly? This isn’t the case of an unplanned Ukrainian winter, American utilities made long-range plans even before the war broke out…But the scramble for more natural uranium supplies is already underway and prices, which had dipped, have recovered.”
• China’s Top Nuclear-Weapons Lab Used American Computer Chips Decades After Ban: “China’s top nuclear-weapons research institute has bought sophisticated U.S. computer chips at least a dozen times in the past two and a half years, circumventing decades-old American export restrictions meant to curb such sales. A Wall Street Journal review of procurement documents found that the state-run China Academy of Engineering Physics has managed to obtain the semiconductors made by U.S. companies such as Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. since 2020 despite its placement on a U.S. export blacklist in 1997… Such purchases defy longstanding restrictions imposed by the U.S. that aim to prevent the use of any U.S. products for atomic-weapons research by foreign powers. The academy, known as CAEP, was one of the first Chinese institutions put on the U.S. blacklist, known as the entity list, because of its nuclear work.”

Threats

• Exclusive: Russian Hackers Targeted US Nuclear Scientists: “A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts. Between August and September, as President Vladimir Putin indicated Russia would be willing to use nuclear weapons to defend its territory, Cold River targeted the Brookhaven (BNL), Argonne (ANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL), according to internet records that showed the hackers creating fake login pages for each institution and emailing nuclear scientists in a bid to make them reveal their passwords.”
• Uranium Was Embedded in Metal Bars Seized at Heathrow: “A discovery of metal bars embedded with uranium at Heathrow in late December has triggered an urgent counter-terrorism investigation, in an attempt to establish why it was concealed in an aeroplane shipment. Scotland Yard said the amount of contaminated material was ‘extremely small’ and posed ‘no threat to the public’ although some reports had suggested, incorrectly, that several kilograms of uranium itself were discovered.”

Weapons, Materials, and Facilities

• LANL Receiving Record Funding: “The bulk of the increased funding will support [Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL)] nuclear weapon production, including a new production goal of 30 plutonium pits per year by 2026. The U.S. Department of Defense is calling for a total of 80 new pits, which are key to producing nuclear weapons, between LANL and Savannah River Site in South Carolina each year. No new pits have been made in the U.S. since 2013. ‘This is the most demanding moment in the history of our nation’s nuclear enterprise since the Manhattan Project,’ National Nuclear Security Administration spokesperson Shayela Hassan wrote via email. The new plutonium pit goals were initially set by the Trump administration and continued by President Joe Biden, though he has been a strong voice against nuclear proliferation throughout his career in politics.”
• US Nuclear Agency Falls Short on Scheduling, Cost Estimates: “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report…  that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns…The GAO describes the modernization effort as the agency’s largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, noting that plutonium is a dangerous material and making the weapon cores is difficult and time consuming…At stake are billions of dollars in funding for improving infrastructure at the two locations [Los Alamos National Laboratory and Savannah River Site] and thousands of jobs.”
• IAEA Head Worries World Getting Complacent about Ukraine Nuclear Plant: “The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said…  he worried the world was becoming complacent about the considerable dangers posed by the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia atomic plant in Ukraine…Grossi, speaking to reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, said a nuclear accident could happen any day and reiterated the situation at the plant was very precarious.  ‘I worry that this is becoming routine, that people may believe that nothing has happened so far, so is the director general of the IAEA crying wolf?’ he said when addressing reporters during a visit to Ukraine.”

Security Culture

• Security Policy is More than Defence with Weapons: “Global military spending is at an all-time high of over two trillion U.S. dollars. Given the budget announcements for the next few years, this sum will continue to rise rapidly in the future. Nuclear weapons have come back into focus. After Russia’s surprising attack, which was hardly considered possible, it is understandable that now – as a first reflex – arms are being upgraded, that economic dependencies are being reduced and, of course, there are concerns about critical infrastructure. It is not only about traditional military threats. The boundaries between war and peace have become blurred. Hybrid warfare, the use of mercenaries, cyber warfare, destruction of critical infrastructure, undermining social cohesion with disinformation campaigns and election interference, sanctions and other measures of economic warfare have become the standard of international conflict.”
• US Senators Urge Joe Biden Not to Sell “Scarce” Nuclear Submarines to Australia: “Two top U.S. senators have urged president Joe Biden not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, warning it would diminish U.S. national security given the vessels are “scarce”. The intervention confirms the [United States] is under pressure not to sell its submarines before Australia is able to build its own as part of the Aukus alliance – meaning it could be decades before Australia gains nuclear submarines. A spokesperson for the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, played down the leak, saying ‘the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines is taking shape, and an announcement remains on track to be made in the first part of this year.’”
• Kim Jong Un’s Vow of “Exponential Increase in Bomb Production” is Overblown, Experts say: “Kim used a speech published on January 1 to call for an “exponential increase” in the country’s stockpiles of atomic weapons, implying output at an unprecedented pace. The North Korean leader also called for the mass production of so-called tactical nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield against [U.S.] forces and their allies…[UN] sanctions bar North Korea from importing a large array of components needed to quickly ramp up production. Without outside supplies, Kim’s regime must rely on a limited production network that includes an aging nuclear plant for making plutonium and a uranium-enrichment facility at its crown jewel Yongbyon nuclear site. Proliferation experts believe there’s a second suspected uranium-enrichment facility near Pyongyang and UN agencies say there are two uranium mines and a pair of uranium-concentration plants supplying the system.”
• South Korea Leader Dials Back Comments on Developing Nuclear Weapons: “South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol dialed back recent remarks that Seoul could develop its own nuclear weapons, saying in an interview that his focus is on working closely with the [United States] on North Korean proliferation. Noting that South Korea, a non-nuclear nation, is part of the decades-old Non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at curbing nuclear arms, Mr. Yoon said: ‘I can assure you that the Republic of Korea’s realistic and rational option is to fully respect the NPT regime…I’m fully confident about the U.S.’s extended deterrence.’”
• The US Soldiers Leaking Nuclear Secrets: “U.S. nuclear weapons are stored across Europe but their presence is neither confirmed nor denied, so Foeke Postma from Bellingcat went looking for them. Along with Editor Maxim Edwards, they discovered that U.S. soldiers had been leaking highly confidential locations of these nuclear weapons via flashcard apps, for years and years as well as hundreds of other secrets that were not meant to be in the public domain at all. It has been described as ‘one of the most monumental security breaches’ in recent years. And all of it was online and available at the click of a button.”

Evolving and Emerging Technologies

• NRC Certifies First US Small Modular Reactor Design: “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued its final rule in the Federal Register to certify NuScale Power’s small modular reactor. The company’s power module becomes the first SMR design certified by the NRC and just the seventh reactor design cleared for use in the United States. The rule takes effects February 21, 2023, and equips the nation with a new clean power source to help drive down emissions across the country… ‘SMRs are no longer an abstract concept,’ said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Kathryn Huff.  ‘They are real and they are ready for deployment thanks to the hard work of NuScale, the university community, our national labs, industry partners, and the NRC. This is innovation at its finest and we are just getting started here in the U.S.!’”
• 300 Nuclear Missiles are Heading your Way. You Must Respond. What Now?: “Three hundred nuclear missiles are screaming towards the [United States]. This is likely a pre-emptive strike by Russia to destroy all land-based intercontinental ballistic missile silos in the country. Anti-missile defences cannot knock out many of the incoming rockets, meaning 2 [million] Americans will die. Having been sworn in as U.S. president a few minutes previously, I am sitting in the Oval Office watching TV reports of escalating fighting in Europe. A secret service agent bursts into the room and tells me to leave immediately. I take the lift down to the White House crisis centre known as the Situation Room, where I am joined by my top national security officials, who brief me on the incoming attack. I have 15 minutes to respond. As the clock ticks down, I am presented with three options, all of which involve retaliatory strikes against Russia, projected to kill between 5 [million] and 45 [million] people. What do I do? Mercifully, I am watching all this play out through a clunky virtual reality headset strapped to my face. The polygonal avatars in front of me are crude enough that I am never going to mistake this exercise for reality. Even so, my head is spinning and my heart is racing as the drama unfolds amid throbbing alarms and raised voices. For a few minutes, I have been forced to think about the toughest decision that any individual will ever have to make in the history of humanity. The sense of responsibility is crushing. And the words of my national security adviser echo in my ears: ‘If you do not retaliate and the attack is real, what will you tell the American people afterwards?’”

Material Minimization

• Recent Discoveries in Phases of Uranium Oxide Advance Nuclear Nonproliferation: “The word ‘exotic’ may not spark thoughts of uranium, but Tyler Spano’s investigations of exotic phases of uranium are bringing new knowledge to the nuclear nonproliferation industry. Spano, a nuclear security scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory [(ORNL)], and her colleagues examined four previously understudied phases of uranium oxide: beta (β-), delta (δ-), epsilon UO3 (ε-UO3) and beta U3O8 (β-U3O8). Each phase has a unique fingerprint that can reveal when something out of the ordinary happened to lead to its creation, helping organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency investigate unintended mistakes or blatant misuse of nuclear material.”…While many scientists may be interested in uranium oxide phases, conducting experiments with radiological material requires special precautions and dedicated instrumentation for materials analysis—areas in which ORNL excels. The uranium oxides are common byproducts of uranium processing; this knowledge will help the nonproliferation community develop better tools to understand these materials.”

Member Organization Announcements and Updates

African Center for Science and International Security (AFRICSIS)

• AFRICSIS hosted the African Regional Webinar on Facilitating Adherence to the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (A/CPPNM) from January 17-18, 2023 with support from the U.K Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The webinar served to educate policymakers about the importance of acceding to and implementing the A/CPPNM as a critical national and nuclear security measure with broader regional and global implications for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism.

Amity Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Amity University

• The Amity Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (AINST), at Amity University Uttar Pradesh, India, shared a roundup of activities held over the course of the last year:
• AINST organized a workshop on “The Practical Applications of Nuclear Security” in collaboration with DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) and Texas A&M University, June 15- 17, 2022. Learn more.
• Students of AINST prepared videos to participate in the Nuclear Security Multimedia Competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s partnership with Nuclear Security (PNS) and CRDF Global and won first and second prizes. The competition was intended to promote nuclear security culture and the best practices among educational institutions, nuclear facilities, and research laboratories, and to inculcate innovative uses of technology to promote nuclear security culture. Learn more.
• Several women studying at AISNT were awarded the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Fellowship.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS)

• John Mecklin, Editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, announced a change to the Doomsday Clock on January 24, 2023, “A Time of Unprecedented Danger: It is 90 Seconds to Midnight.” The Security Board of the BAS moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. The BAS cited the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons, and the impeding challenges of climate change. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in August, the world has entered “a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.” Read the announcement.
• Lauren Sukin, an assistant professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote a piece in the BAS, “The US has a new nuclear proliferation problem: South Korea.” Her article recounts how Seoul has officially put its nuclear option on the table, for the first time since 1991. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared the country would consider building its own arsenal of nuclear weapons threats from North Korea continue to grow. While the United States has tried to mitigate South Korea’s nuclear ambition, few traditional nonproliferation or counterproliferation policies are well-poised to reverse the current nuclearization of the North. Sulkin argues that it’s time for a new approach. Read the article.

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

• Matthew Teasdale at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation published an article, “Protecting Against Disaster—The Need for a Security Assurance at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.” The article discusses how a Russian-made nuclear incident could yield catastrophic damage short of a nuclear attack. Even if by accident, the triggering of a reactor meltdown would introduce environmental and political challenges paralleled only by nuclear weapons, including transboundary radiation, cross-generational health effects, long-term psychological harm to residents as well quarantine of irradiated lands for decades. Teasdale notes that setting clear rules, especially when coupled with commitments to assist any country whose nuclear facilities are attacked (positive security assurances), would help reduce the danger posed by war near nuclear facilities. Read here.

Henry L. Stimson Center

• Christina McAllister and Sneha Nair reflected on the CBRN security victories and losses in the first two years of the Biden administration and provided analysis to highlight the most critical actions needed for the remainder of his presidential term. Read the analysis.
• Sneha Nair presented on the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials at the African Regional Webinar on Facilitating Adherence to the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material hosted by AFRICSIS on January 18, 2023.
• Sneha Nair presented on the importance of examining diversity and inclusion challenges in nuclear security and the broader nuclear community at the BASIC Emerging Voices Network 2023 Policy Cycle Launch on January 17, 2023. The policy cycle theme is De-siloing existential threats: challenging identity, power, and inclusivity in the nuclear policy field, and she spoke in her capacity as one of the co-chairs of the “Increasing equity, diversity, and inclusivity in the nuclear weapons policy field and within the community of practitioners working group.” Learn more.

James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)

• Professor Jeffrey Lewis at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey has been appointed to the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), which advises the U.S. Secretary of State on critical issues, including arms control, nonproliferation, outer space, emerging technologies, and cybersecurity. Learn more.

International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

• Timothy Wright, Research Associate, Defense and Military Analysis at IISS published a report titled “China Beyond Minimum Deterrence; Reading Beijing’s Nuclear Developments.” The report follows China’s reported upgrades and apparent additions to its submarine-launched and land-based strategic nuclear-armed missile forces and the potential arms control challenges these capabilities suggest. Read the report.
• IISS published a strategic dossier, “Missile Technology: Accelerating Challenges,” which examines the drivers, scope and consequences of the continuing development of ballistic and cruise missiles by the world’s most prominent users and producers. The report reviews the historical, current and future developments and procurement programs and their impact on regional and strategic stability, as well as a series of arms-control processes designed to prevent proliferation. Learn more.
• Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at IISS published a piece, “The New Stealthy US Bomber,” that takes a look at Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider. The B-21 is smaller, cheaper and easier to maintain than its predecessor, the B-2, and features new advances in low-observable technology. The B-21 will become the core airborne element of the United States’ deterrent force as Washington grapples to address the emerging challenge of two nuclear peers in China and Russia. Read more.

Odesa Center for Nonproliferation (OdCNP)

• Ali Alkis wrote a publication for the OdCNP, “OdCNP Nuclear Security Monthly Update: December Report.” The report provides an overview of nuclear security developments, including the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia, IAEA glossary publication, and “kamikaze” drone over part of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant. Read the publication.

Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP)

• The VCDNP published a Case Study, “Expanding Access to Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Power,” authored by Senior Research Associates Ingrid Kirsten and Anthony K. Scott. The case study evaluates expanding access to peaceful uses of nuclear power and the activities implemented by Ghana to complete Phase 1 and successfully transition into Phase 2 of the IAEA Milestones Approach. The report shares key aspects and lessons learned that could benefit other countries interested in or already pursuing new nuclear power programs. Discover more.
• VCDNP Senior Research Associate Hanna Notte is featured in the podcast “Babel” to talk about Russia’s interests in the Middle East and where they stand after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s growing economic and defence relationship with Iran, and how Arab states view Russia’s war in Ukraine. Listen here.

Individual Member Updates

• Artem Lazarev from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shared that UNODC contributed to the Africa Regional Webinar on Facilitating Adherence to the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, which was hosted online by the African Center for Science and International Security (AFRICSIS) on 17-18 January.
• Mycle Schneider shared that the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2022 (WNISR2022) Launch Event took place January 26, 2023. The event featured special comments by Dr. Ed Lyman, the Director of Nuclear Power and Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists on Nuclear Power and War, and presentations by M.V. Ramana, Professor at the University of British Columbia, Mycle Schneider, WNISR Coordinator, and Alexander Wimmers, Research Associate at the Workgroup for Economic Policy (WIP), Berlin University of Technology (TU).  The webinar presented the main findings of WNISR 2022 and current developments and challenges of nuclear power. Read the report.
• During a Council on Foreign Relations webinar, “State and Local Officials Webinar: U.S. Preparedness for Nuclear and Radiological Threats,” experts analyzed nuclear crises responses. J. Andrés Gannon, Stanton nuclear security fellow at CFR, discusses the likelihood of Russian deployment and use of nuclear missiles against Ukraine or its allies, and the implications for the United States should that occur. Jerrold T. Bushberg, chairman of the board and senior vice-president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, discusses preparedness for nuclear and radiological disasters at the state and local level in the United States.” Watch here.
• Shahneela Tariq authored an op-ed entitled, “Responsibilities-Based Nuclear Security Regime in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” for the Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research at the University of Lahore. Read the op-ed.

Opportunities

• The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has launched the New Voices on Nuclear Weapons Fellowship to empower new voices to start their career in nuclear weapons studies. Fellows receive a $9,000 USD stipend for living expenses and up to $1,000 USD for research expenses, in addition to professional development resources and networking opportunities provided by the Federation. FAS is seeking a diverse cohort of Fellows for the role and eligible candidates are individuals who are currently enrolled in, or have in the past year graduated from, a BA, MA, or vocational program, and interested in a career focused on nuclear weapons. Applications close on February 17, 2023. Learn more.
• The School for Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA),The University of British Columbia, Vancouver is seeking candidates for two postdoctoral fellows to work on topics broadly related to nuclear energy. The list of potential topics includes, but is not limited to, the management of radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants, risks and challenges associated with geological repositories, decommissioning of nuclear facilities, costs and waste production from reprocessing of spent fuel, new nuclear reactor designs (small modular reactors, advanced reactors, generation 4 reactors), and nuclear accidents. Appointments are for a twelve-month term, with a starting date that is mutually acceptable, with the possibility of renewal for another 12 months, contingent on satisfactory performance and funding. The salary will be dependent on experience but will be in the range of CAD 60,000 to CAD 65,000 per annum plus benefits. Please apply to Maahin Ahmed (Email: [email protected]) with a cover letter, an academic CV, a one-page research proposal, a relevant writing sample, and the names and contact information of two or three individuals who can provide letters of reference. Evaluation of applications will start on March 1, 2023 but incoming applications will be considered until the position is filled. Learn more.
• The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is accepting applications for a Research Assistant and Programme Administrator for Defence and Military Analysis Programme at its London Office. The position will assist the Defense and Military Analysis Programme in the implementation of the Missile Dialogue Initiative, a multi-year Track 1.5 project that seeks to strengthen international discussion and to promote a high-level exchange of views on missile technologies and related international security dynamics. Apply here.
• Nuclear Innovation Alliance has launched its Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp for students, recent graduates, and young professionals interested in the challenges and opportunities of implementing nuclear power programs. Applications are accepted until February 26, 2023. Apply here.
• CRDF Global is hiring a Program Manager for its Nuclear Security Team. View the vacancy.
• George Washington University is searching for a Program Manager for Nuclear Security Engagement. Apply for the role.
• The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking for an Associate Administrator for Defense Nuclear Security and Chief of Defense Nuclear Security. Learn more.