Nuclear Proliferation

Nuclear power was the failed answer to the horrors of the atomic bomb - the so-called "Peaceful Atom." However, the two technologies are inextricably linked. Countries such as India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea clandestinely developed nuclear weapons using the infrastructure, technology and know-how of their "civilian" nuclear programs. Contained expansion of nuclear power across the globe only increases the chances of nuclear weapons development and is counterproductive to disarmament.

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Thursday
Mar282019

Trump administration authorized nuclear energy companies to share technological information with Saudi Arabia

Tuesday
Dec042018

Mueller to detail ex-NSA Flynn’s cooperation in Russia probe

As reported by Chad Day of the AP.

Flynn's central involvement in a scheme to work with the Russia nuclear power establishment, to build atomic reactors in the Middle East -- with clear nuclear weapons proliferation risks -- figures prominently in his ongoing scandal. See, for example:

Dec. 7, 2017

Flynn Said Russian Sanctions Would Be ‘Ripped Up,’ Whistle-Blower Says [in order to build atomic reactors in the Middle East]

As reported by the New York Times.

While nuclear greed appears to be the motivation, the end result could be nuclear weapons proliferation in an already very unstable and violent region.

 

June 9, 2017

Michael Flynn, Russia, and a Grand Scheme to Build Nuclear Power Plants in Saudi Arabia and the Arab World

As reported by Jeff Stein in Newsweek. The nuclear weapons proliferation risks -- and thus the risk of nuclear war -- are dire.

 

Feb. 20, 2017

Why Trump might bend nuclear security rules to help Saudi Arabia build reactors in the desert

As reported by Steven Mufson in the Washington Post.

Friday
Nov232018

Saudis Want a U.S. Nuclear Deal. Can They Be Trusted Not to Build a Bomb?

Tuesday
Feb202018

Why Trump might bend nuclear security rules to help Saudi Arabia build reactors in the desert

As report by Steven Mufson in the Washington Post.

The article quotes a number of voices skeptical of the nuclear weapons proliferation risks a nuclear power program in the Middle East would represent:

Henry Sokolski, the executive director of the nonprofit Nonproliferation Policy Education Center who served in President George H.W. Bush’s Pentagon, asked, “How do we feel about the stability of the kingdom? The reactors are bolted to the ground for a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 80 years. That’s enough for the whole world to change.”

...Many experts on Saudi Arabia say the kingdom wants its own program to deter or counterbalance Iran. “I think part of it is keeping up with the Iranians and trying to build up a nuclear infrastructure that could be turned into weapons capability,” Gause said. [F. Gregory Gause is a professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University.]

...“We have a tendency to use nukes as a way of ingratiating ourselves with countries around the world and then we get into a negotiation of whether there are safeguards,” said Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). “I think ultimately it’s going to come back to haunt us.”

...Saudi Arabia “would like us to cave to some degree on some elements of the 123 agreement,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But, he added, “the fewer Mideast nuclear weapons states, the better. And the fewer nondemocratic nuclear states, the better. And the fewer states where I can’t predict 10 years down the road what their attitudes will be toward the United States, the fewer of those countries that have nuclear weapons the better.”

Wednesday
Feb072018

Disarmament official: North Korea may be only months away from ability to strike US with nuke

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