Panel discusses Iran's nuclear program

A panel hosted by the Project for Nuclear Awareness discussed Iran's nuclear program and its implications for proliferation, which can be viewed on the C-SPAN Web site.

Obama signs off on new nuclear weapons production

Two strong articles have appeared in response to President Obama's decision to fund three new nuclear weapons production facilities. Greg Mello writes in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that Obama, despite his Nobel Peace Prize, never really articulated a disarmament agenda. Father John Dear laments in the National Catholic Reporter that the President's decision to "raise up a hopeful vision and, behind the scenes, ensure its dying" is an "Orwellian nightmare".

Nonproliferation Policy Education Center warns that nuclear power subsidies risk worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons

Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of NPEC, has warned that U.S. Department of Energy taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for new atomic reactors in the U.S. will set a bad international example that could be followed by foreign governments seeking to conceal nuclear weapon programs behind a nuclear power facade. He points out that a large-scale atomic reactor can generate enough plutonium each year for "scores" of nuclear weapons, if it is chemically separated from radioactive waste. In addition, the enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel fabrication can be readily diverted for the manufacture of bomb-grade high enriched uranium (HEU).