Nuclear Issues

During the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, Belfer Center experts published reports and provided commentary and analysis on successes and continuing challenges in nuclear security around the world. Following are some actions they believe are needed to improve the security of nuclear facilities and reduce the possibility of nuclear theft and terrorism.

[Some recommendations are edited for space.]

The Project on Managing the Atom joined the Netherlands government, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in convening a research symposium on the sidelines of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) 2015 review conference. The symposium, Fresh Ideas for the Future, took place on April 28 in the UN headquarters in New York City.

Matthew Bunn is a professor of practice at Harvard Kennedy School and co-principal investigator for the Belfer Center’s Project on Managing the Atom. Bunn’s research focus is on nuclear theft terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and innovation in energy technology. During the Clinton administration, Bunn served as an advisor to the White House Office of Science Technology Policy, where he played a major role in U.S. policies related to the control and disposition of weapons-usable nuclear materials in the United States and the former Soviet Union. We asked Bunn about the current crisis in U.S.-Russian relations and its impact on nuclear security.

As a young man in the small city of Ogden, Utah, Brandon Parker found himself increasingly interested in the U.S. Air Force, a service where his step-father had made his career. Recruited by the Air Force Academy to play basketball, Parker didn't initially want to become a pilot. But after his initial flight-screening program, he called his mother out of excitement to let her know that he had found exactly what he was meant to do. Until recently, Lieutenant Colonel Parker commanded a nuclear bomber unit based in North Dakota. This year, Parker a research fellow with the Center's International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom, is conducting research on nuclear nonproliferation.

The Middle East Network of Arms Control Specialists (MENACS) aims to bring together young professionals who work on arms control and regional security issues from the Middle East to promote a better understanding of arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament in the region, and to facilitate indigenous processes and expertise. The network was the idea of Chen Zak, the Middle East project manager at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and a former research fellow with the Belfer Center.

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) is launching an initiative aimed at strengthening the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  This work, which is supported by a new grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, will focus on four main issues.

As threats from North Korea intensified this spring, Korean Peninsula experts from the Belfer Center provided insight and analysis.

Most of the global growth of nuclear power over the coming decade will occur in China. The safety and security policies guiding that growth are significant far beyond China, since an accident or act of terrorism would affect the use of nuclear energy around the world. In January, the Managing the Atom Project (MTA) held a workshop in Shenzhen, China, to discuss safety and security at China’s nuclear power and fuel cycle facilities.

A small sampling of Belfer Center perspectives on Iran and the country's nuclear program.

A small sampling of Belfer Center perspectives on the future of North Korean politics.