Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction

Webinar: The Russell-Einstein Manifesto at 70: Scientists Advancing Peace and Global Security
2025-07-31 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
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On 9 July 1955, Bertrand Russell delivered a public statement in London on the dangers of nuclear weapons. It was cosigned by Albert Einstein, in his last public political act, and has come to be known as the Russell-Einstein Manifesto. The Manifesto led in 1957 to the founding of the Pugwash Conferences for Science and World Affairs, which received the 1995 Peace Nobel Prize. This presentation will introduce Pugwash, its work during the Cold War, and its current status and priorities at a time of grave nuclear dangers and challenges. It will highlight some ways scientists today can act on the Manifesto’s call.
Speakers: –

Karen Hallberg, Secretary General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Matthew Evangelista, President White Professor of History and Political Science Emeritus, Cornell University
Talia Weiss, Physics Ph.D. student at Yale University, Director of International Student/Young Pugwash (ISYP)
Zia Mian (moderator), Co-Director, Princeton Program on Science and Global Security.

Resources:
Karen Hallberg Slides
Matthew Evangelista Slides
Talia Weiss Slides
Additional Readings:

Zia Mian, Out of the Nuclear Shadow: Scientists and the Struggle against the Bomb, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 2015
Fetter, R. Garwin, and F. N. von Hippel, Nuclear Weapons Dangers and Policy Options, Physics Today, April 2018
Zia Mian, Stewart Prager, and Frank N. von Hippel, Once More Into the Breach: Physicists Mobilize Again to Counter the Nuclear Threat, Arms Control Today, May 2021
Zia Mian, Stewart Prager, and Frank von Hippel, Confronting the bomb – Physicists have rallied against nuclear weapons for 80 years — and must do so again, APS News, March 6, 2025

Webinar: “Golden Dome”: A Costly, Destabilizing, and Ineffective Missile Defense System
2025-06-23 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
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In May 2025, President Donald Trump approved the Defense Department’s architecture and implementation plan for “Golden Dome”—a multilayered missile defense system incorporating ground-, sea-, and space-based components designed to protect all U.S. territory from any scale of missile attack by any country. In this webinar, three physicists specializing in missile defense will examine why the proposed system would be technically ineffective, carry projected costs in the hundreds of billions of dollars or more, and exacerbate global arms race dynamics. They will also discuss how “Golden Dome” could heighten crisis instability and ultimately increase the risk of nuclear war.
Speakers include

Dr. Laura Grego, Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists
Dr. Fred Lamb, Research Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Igor Moric, Research Scholar, Program in Science and Global Security (SGS), Princeton University
Dr. Zia Mian (moderator), Co-Director, Program in Science and Global Security (SGS), Princeton University

REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Igor Moric Slides
Fred Lamb Slides

Webinar:US Policy and Nuclear Threat Reduction Challenges in 2025
2025-02-28 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York)
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US Policy and Nuclear Threat Reduction Challenges in 2025
2025-02-28 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York)
Abstract: This webinar will share expert views on current and emerging crises and opportunities for nuclear threat reduction efforts in the United States, and introduce the near-term nuclear policy advocacy goals of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
REGISTER HERE
Topics and Speakers:

Moderator – Zia Mian, Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, and member of the Steering Committee Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
US nuclear weapons programs – Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project, Federation of American Scientists
The US Iron Dome program – Laura Grego, Senior scientist and Research Director, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
Opportunities for arms control talks – Xiaodon Liang, Senior Policy Analyst, Nuclear Weapons Policy and Disarmament, Arms Control Association
Physicists Coalition advocacy goals for 2025 – Stewart Prager, Professor emeritus of astrophysical sciences, Princeton University, and chair of the Steering Committee, Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction

University of Alberta | Oppenheimer and the Legacy of the Manhattan Project: Current Challenges in Nuclear Arms Control
2025-01-24 15:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk)
Abstract
Eighty years ago, Robert Oppenheimer led an industrial-scale effort with more than 130,000 employees
to create the nuclear fission weapons used to end World War II. With the United States and its allies facing
totalitarian aggressors in the European and Pacific theaters, many elite scientists, engineers and technicians
supported the Manhattan Project through their scientific and technological innovations.
Today, nine countries possess nuclear weapons. Nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy is increasingly difficult.
Important arms control treaties have been terminated: The Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, the Iran
Nuclear Deal and the Open Skies Treaty. Most recently, Russia has paused its participation in the inspection
regime of the New START treaty.
The colloquium will review consequences of nuclear war and nuclear terrorism and explain the system of
arms control treaties that have been put into place to contain this threat. We will then review the challenges
different arms control agreements have been facing.
Speaker
Dr. Matthias Grosse Perdekamp

How to Avert the Coming Arms Race | University of Saskatchewan
2024-12-03 03:30 - 04:30 (America/New_York) | Virtual
Abstract
China, Russia, and the United States are ramping up their nuclear weapons capabilities in a replay of the Cold War. We survived the nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union largely by luck. The close calls of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the War Scare of 1983 frightened leaders in both countries, and led to landmark arms control and arms reduction agreements. Intervention by scientists and the public played a major role. Triggered by the U.S. withdrawal from the Nixon-era Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, Russia and China are deploying new weapons to circumvent U.S. ABM capabilities, while the U.S. is modernizing its land, sea, and air-based nuclear weapons. Here I describe four major elements of a possible initiative to turn around this situation and assure strategic stability, while reducing nuclear arsenals. 1) Limit Ballistic Missile Defenses, 2) Eliminate silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, 3) Ban sub-strategic nuclear arms in Europe, and 4) Ban nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles. This talk was sponsored by the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, https://physicistscoalition.org/. We invite all scientists to join us.
About the Speaker
Robert J. Goldston is a Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University. He received his B.A. in Physics from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University. He was director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), 1997 – 2009. He is Associated Faculty with the Program on Science and Global Security, and was acting director in Spring 2015. Goldston won the American Physical Society “Excellence in Plasma Physics” award in 1988 and chaired the American Physical Society Physics Policy Committee 2007–2009. He won the Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award in 2001, the Nuclear Fusion “Most Outstanding Paper” prize for 2012, and was named a “Leading Global Thinker” by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2014. He is a long-time U.S. representative on the ITER Science and Technology Advisory Committee. He serves on the board of the Council for a Livable World.
Use this link to attend

Auburn University
2024-11-08
Speaker:
Dr. Stewart Prager
More information will be available closer to the event.

Actionable Ideas for Nuclear Threat Reduction | University of Alabama
2024-10-23
Abstract
In this talk, I will give a brief overview of the resurgent role of nuclear weapons in national security strategies, the threat that they pose to the public, and potential risk mitigation approaches. Recent events, including the U.S. withdrawal from arms control treaties and the pursuit of new nuclear weapons capabilities in the nine nuclear weapons states, suggest we may be facing a revived nuclear arms race with its dangerous consequences. In this context, during the past three years, a group of US physical scientists has held more than 100 colloquia on nuclear weapons, reaching more than 4,000 attendees, and recruited over 850 scientists to the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction through which scientists educate themselves and then help educate Congress about the renewed risks of nuclear war and the possibilities for reducing those risks. Members have engaged in several advocacy campaigns aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear weapons by preventing the resumption of explosive nuclear testing, extending the New START treaty, and promoting the adoption of a no-first-use policy.
Speaker: Dr. Angela Di Fulvio

Nuclear Fusion | Colloquium at Illinois State University
2024-10-22
Speaker: Dr. Stewart Prager
This talk is part of the Twelve Thousand Bombs seminar series.
The series on nuclear weapons included four eminent scholars and public figures speaking at ISU. The series, sponsored by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, was inaugurated in 2023 and aims to raise awareness of nuclear weapons issues in the Bloomington-Normal community.
“Nuclear weapons will be on everyone’s radar this election cycle as Americans assess the fitness of the candidates to exercise the president’s nuclear authority,” according to Dr. Matt Caplan, the series organizer and professor in the Department of Physics. “With the U.S. preparing to spend $1.5 trillion modernizing its arsenal, nuclear weapons policy may be a defining feature of the next president’s administration. This is not an issue that can be overlooked this election.”

U.S. Missile Defense Programs | Illinois State University
2024-10-08
Title: U.S. Missile Defense Programs: A Case Study in the Interaction of Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Abstract
During the past 70 years, the United States has spent $400 billion on ballistic missile defense, mostly on systems intended to intercept nuclear-armed intercontinental-range missiles that might be launched against the United States. But would these systems be able to defend effectively against an attack by such missiles? As I will describe, despite decades of effort, no missile defense system thus far developed has been shown to be effective against realistic ICBM threats. (ICBMs are ballistic missiles with a range of more than 3,500 nautical miles.) In particular, the capabilities of the current U.S. systems intended to defend against the nuclear-armed ICBMs that North Korea has deployed are relatively low, and are likely to remain low for at least the next 15 years. The ability of these systems to defend against the ICBMs deployed by Russia and China is even less. Despite the ineffectiveness of these systems, their existence—and proposals for new defensive systems—have spurred the deployment by U.S. adversaries of new nuclear weapons designed to overcome them. I will discuss how scientists and the general public can help address this danger.

About the speaker

Frederick Lamb is a Research Professor of Physics and of Astronomy, the Brand and Monica Fortner Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics Emeritus, and a core faculty member in the Arms Control and Domestic & International Security Program at the University of Illinois. An expert on space policy, ballistic missiles and missile defenses, and the technical aspects of nuclear test bans, he has been a consultant to the Defense Department, national laboratories, and Congressional committees. He co-chaired the American Physical Society’s 2003 study of boost-phase missile defense and is chairing its current study of missile defenses. The current focus of his scientific research is high-energy and relativistic astrophysics and dense matter. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the APS. He shared the 2005 Leo Szilard Award of the APS for his leadership of the 2003 study of missile defense and received the 2021 APS Five Sigma Physicist Award for his leadership of the current study. He shared the 2022 Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society for his contributions to the success of NASA’s NICER X-ray astronomy mission.

For more biographical information, see https://physics.illinois.edu/people/directory/profile/fkl

The Growing Danger of Nuclear Weapons (and What Physicists Can do About it) | University of Manitoba
2024-10-04
Colloquium Abstract
The world is in a precarious place right now and nuclear risk is higher than it has been in decades. The war in Ukraine has brought latent fears about nuclear war back to the surface. In recent years, the US has withdrawn from several arms control agreements that constrained US and Russian arsenals, and the last remaining treaty with Russia expires in 2026. Both the US and Russia are engaged in building a new generation of nuclear weapons. Physicists were, and still are, key actors in the nuclear weapons enterprise. From the very beginning of the nuclear weapons story, physicists have engaged policymakers about nuclear dangers and advocated for policies to reduce them. Given the growing risks, physicists need to renew their role in educating the public and policymakers.

Speaker
Tara Drozdenko

Reforming Nuclear Weapons policy, Plutonium Problems, and How Physicists Can Help | Simon Fraser University
2024-10-04
Colloquium Abstract: Physicists invented nuclear weapons over seventy-five years ago. Today, they still threaten humanity with catastrophe and, recently, this risk has been increasing. The US has over 1,500 deployed nuclear weapons plus thousands more inactive or retired. Current policy calls for maintaining and “modernizing” about 4,000 nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles, at the cost of several tens of billions of dollars per year and significant risks to the environment and public health. Physicists can play an important role in providing scientific oversight and advocating for reform. I will discuss issues associated with plutonium pit production as a case study.
Further details on the plutonium pit issue: Modern thermonuclear weapons contain plutonium pits, which are hollow spherical shells of plutonium metal, as part of their fission triggers. These pits are inherently difficult, costly and hazardous to produce. The Rocky Flats pit production plant, near Denver, Colorado, was closed because of environmental infractions in 1992. Since then, pit production expertise has been maintained at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Current US policy calls for the production of 80 pits per year by 2030, despite the National Nuclear Security Administration (within the Department of Energy) acknowledging that this is unachievable. Furthermore, the justification for this production goal is controversial, as is the construction of a new production facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which is to cost over ten billion dollars and will pose significant risks to the surrounding community. The public deserves better and more transparent study of the policy options.
Speaker: Dr. Curtis Asplund

Oppenheimer and the Legacy of the Manhattan Project: Current Challenges in Nuclear Arms Control | University of Toronto
2024-09-19 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Toronto)
Abstract
Eighty years ago, Robert Oppenheimer led an industrial-scale effort with more than 130,000 employees to create the nuclear fission weapons used to end World War II. With the United States and its allies facing totalitarian aggressors in the European and Pacific theaters, many elite scientists, engineers and technicians supported the Manhattan Project through their scientific and technological innovations.
Today, nine countries possess nuclear weapons. Nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy is increasingly difficult. Important arms control treaties have been terminated: The Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Open Skies Treaty. Most recently, Russia has paused its participation in the inspection regime of the New START treaty.
The colloquium will review consequences of nuclear war and nuclear terrorism and explain the system of arms control treaties that have been put into place to contain this threat. We will then review the challenges different arms control agreements have been facing.
Speaker: Dr. Matthias Grosse Perdekamp

Understanding the New Nuclear Arms Race: Views From Washington, Moscow and Beijing
2024-07-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
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This webinar delves into the multifaceted dimensions of the contemporary nuclear arms race, offering in-depth analyses from three of the world’s nuclear powers. Experts will explore the motivations, defense policies, and diplomatic postures of the United States, Russia, and China, providing the audience with a comprehensive understanding of each nation’s policies and perspective. The triangular approach aims to foster a nuanced dialogue on the implications for global security, arms control treaties, and the prospects for future nuclear disarmament efforts.
Speakers include:

Dr. Sharon Weiner, Associate Professor, American University
Dr. Timur Kadyshev, Senior Researcher, Inst. for Peace Research and Security Policy
Dr. Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dr. Zia Mian (moderator), Princeton Program on Science and Global Security

REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Dr. Timur Kadyshev presentation slides: View from Moscow (PDF)

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Sharon K. Weiner is an Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service and a visiting researcher at Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. She has extensive experience in Government, including as a program examiner with the National Security Division at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Timur Kadyshev is a Senior Researcher with the natural sciences module of the Research and Transfer Project Arms Control and Emerging Technologies. Previously he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the Moscow’s Center for Arms Control, Energy, and Environmental Studies, where he conducted research and supervised a course on Technical Aspects of Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Tong Zhao is a senior fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China, Carnegie’s East Asia-based research center on contemporary China. He is the author of “Tides of Change: China’s Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarines and Strategic Stability” and “Narrowing the U.S.-China Gap on Missile Defense: How to Help Forestall a Nuclear Arms Race.”
Zia Mian is a physicist and co-director of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security. He is a co-founder of the Physicist Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction and has served on the board of the Arms Control Association.

Reforming nuclear weapons policy, plutonium problems, and how physicists can help - Portland State University
2024-05-20
Abstract
Physicists invented nuclear weapons over seventy-five years ago. Today, they still threaten humanity with catastrophe and, recently, this risk has been increasing. The US has over 1,500 deployed nuclear weapons plus thousands more inactive or retired. Current policy calls for maintaining and “modernizing” about 4,000 nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles, at the cost of several tens of billions of dollars per year and significant risks to the environment and public health. Physicists can play an important role in providing scientific oversight and advocating for reform. I will discuss issues associated with plutonium pit production as a case study. Further details on the plutonium pit issue: Modern thermonuclear weapons contain plutonium pits, which are hollow spherical shells of plutonium metal, as part of their fission triggers. These pits are inherently difficult, costly and hazardous to produce. The Rocky Flats pit production plant, near Denver, Colorado, was closed because of environmental infractions in 1992. Since then, pit production expertise has been maintained at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Current US policy calls for the production of 80 pits per year by 2030, despite the National Nuclear Security Administration (within the Department of Energy) acknowledging that this is unachievable. Furthermore, the justification for this production goal is controversial, as is the construction of a new production facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which is to cost over ten billion dollars and will pose significant risks to the surrounding community. The public deserves better and more transparent study of the policy options.
About the Speaker
Curtis T. Asplund is an assistant professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department at San José State University. Prior to this, he was a visiting faculty member at Franklin & Marshall College, and earlier was a high school teacher for several years near Washington, D.C. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Columbia University and KU Leuven, and he earned his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied theoretical aspects of black holes and entanglement in quantum field theory. His interests in ethics, public policy, and the role of scientists in society emerged in his original stomping grounds of Southern California and were developed further in the liberal arts climate of his undergraduate alma mater, Oberlin College. His perspective on American military power is informed by growing up on and around U.S. military bases and having close family serving in the Marine Corps. Recently, he has studied nuclear weapons policy as a Next- Generation Fellow with the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.

College of William and Mary - The Continuing Risk of Nuclear War
2024-03-29
Abstract
With the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the public, including most physicists, and Congress, assumed, the danger of a nuclear war had ended as well.Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Indeed, the danger of accidental nuclear war may be increasing. US and Russian strategic missiles remain in a launch-on-warning posture in an era when hackers have penetrated some of our supposedly most secure computer systems and China appears to be moving toward a similar posture. Both Russia and the United States have committed to hugely costly programs to replace their nuclear weapons with new systems designed to maintain that status quo for the remainder of the century. Meanwhile, an offense-defense nuclear arms race is developing between the US and China, which is building up the number of its nuclear weapons that can reach the US as the US increases the number of its ballistic missile interceptors – nominally to defend against North Korea.
In the past, independent physicists have played leading roles in informing Congress and the world about the dangers and offering ideas for how to reduce them – both unilaterally and through agreements with our adversaries. The American Physical Society has supported the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction during its first two years to help renew the engagement of physicists and other physical scientists and engineers with Congress and the public on nuclear-weapons issues.
Following the colloquium, there will be a discussion of opportunities to contribute to this effort.
About the Speaker
Dr. Frank N. von Hippel, a theoretical particle physicist by training, is a Senior Research Physicist and Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus at Princeton University. He co-founded Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security, the International Panel on Fissile Materials, and the Physicist’s Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. During the 1980s, he worked with Soviet physicists advising Mikhail Gorbachev on initiatives to end the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. During 1993-4, he worked in the White House Office of Science and Technology on nuclear policy issues including improving the security of Russia’s fissile materials, partnering with Russia on a global effort to convert research reactors from weapon-grade to low-enriched uranium fuel, and disposing of the plutonium from excess Cold War warheads.

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Oppenheimer and the Legacy of the Manhattan Project: Current Challenges in Nuclear Arms Control
2024-03-27
Abstract
80 years ago, Robert Oppenheimer led an industrial scale effort with more than 130,000 employees to create the nuclear fission weapons used to end World War II. With the United States and its allies facing totalitarian aggressors in the European and Pacific theaters, many elite scientists, engineers, and technicians supported the Manhattan Project through their scientific and technological innovations. Today, nine countries possess nuclear weapons. Nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy is increasingly difficult. Important arms control treaties have been terminated: The Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Open Skies Treaty. Most recently, Russia has paused its participation in the inspection regime of the New START treaty. The colloquium will review consequences of nuclear war and nuclear terrorism and explain the system of arms control treaties that have been put into place to contain this threat. We will then review the challenges different arms control agreements have been facing.

About the Speaker
Dr. Matthias Grosse Perdekamp is a nuclear physicist at the University of Illinois. He serves as head of the Department of Physics and as director of the UIUC Program for Arms Control and Domestic and International Security, ACDIS. He explores the Physics of nuclear forces and the structure of the fundamental building blocks of nuclear matter through accelerator-based experiments at European Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics, CERN, in Geneva Switzerland. His laboratory is developing advanced instrumentation for the detection of ionizing radiation. He teaches a longstanding course on Nuclear War and Arms Control as part of the ACDIS security certificate for undergraduate students at UIUC.

Uppsala University - Reducing the Risks of Nuclear Weapons
2024-03-26 17:00 - 18:00 (Europe/Paris)
Abstract

After a long period of post-Cold War stability, the risks posed by nuclear weapons are increasing sharply. This is marked by the invasion of Ukraine, a nuclear generation of Russian nuclear weapons, expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal and tensions over Taiwan, missile testing by North Korea and uranium enrichment by Iran, and a major nuclear modernization program in the United States, with calls for substantial increases to respond to Russia and China. Physicists played an important role in nuclear debates during the Cold War; they can play an important role again in this new period of increased nuclear risk.

About the Speaker

Steve Fetter is a senior visiting fellow in the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, on sabbatical leave from the University of Maryland, where he is professor in the School of Public Policy and former dean. He led the national security division in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration and served in the Department of Defense in the Clinton administration. He received an S.B. in physics from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Western Michigan University - The Continuing Risk of Nuclear War
2024-03-18 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)

The Increasing Risks of Nuclear Weapons - ETH Zurich
2024-03-05
Abstract
After a long period of post-​Cold War stability, the risks posed by nuclear weapons are increasing sharply, marked by the invasion of Ukraine and a new generation of nuclear weapons being developed and deployed by Russia, China, and the United States. Physicists played an important role in nuclear debates during the Cold War; they can play an important role again in this new period of increased nuclear risk.
About the Speaker
Steve Fetter is senior visiting fellow in the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, on sabbatical leave from the University of Maryland, where he is professor in the School of Public Policy and former dean. He led the national security division in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration and served in the Department of Defense in the Clinton administration. He received an S.B. in physics from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
See more details here: https://colloquium.phys.ethz.ch/

Reducing the Risks of Nuclear Weapons - University of Zurich
2024-02-26 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Physics Department, University of Zurich
Abstract
After a long period of post-Cold War stability, the risks posed by nuclear weapons are increasing sharply, marked by the invasion of Ukraine, a nuclear generation of Russian nuclear weapons, expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal and tensions over Taiwan, missile testing by North Korea and uranium enrichment by Iran, and a major nuclear modernization program in the United States. Physicists played an important role in nuclear debates during the Cold War; they can play an important role again in this new period of increased nuclear risk.
About the Speaker
Steve Fetter is senior visiting fellow in the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, on sabbatical leave from the University of Maryland, where he is professor in the School of Public Policy and former dean. He led the national security division in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration and served in the Department of Defense in the Clinton administration. He received an S.B. in physics from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Nuclear Threat - McGill University
2024-02-02 15:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | McGill University, Department of Physics
Abstract
The deployment of thousands of nuclear weapons around the world creates a potential threat to civilization as we know it. This is a matter for physicists to address, not only because of the technical issues involved but also because of our community’s approaches to problem solving as well as our international reach, all within the broader context of human values and social justice. The nuclear threat thus exemplifies the powerful new technologies being discovered at an ever-increasing rate, technologies that urgently need society’s thoughtful management.
About the Speaker
Dr. Raymond Jeanloz, a professor in Earth and Planetary Science and in Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, studies the properties of materials at high pressures, and also works at the interface between science and policy. He chairs the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and is a longstanding advisor to the US Government.

The Sentinel ICBM program: Risks, Costs, and Alternatives
2024-01-26 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
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Webinar Abstract:
The U.S. Air Force is moving forward with plans to refurbish all its 450 nuclear missile silos and replace its current fleet of Minuteman III land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles with new Sentinel missiles. A new study based on state-of-the-art nuclear war modeling suggests the scale of the human and environmental impact of this policy may be larger than previously known. Described as one of the largest and most complex weapon system programs ever undertaken by the U.S. Air Force, the Sentinel program is proving challenging to deliver on time and on cost. The program already faces significant overruns that may trigger a Congressional review. This provides a new opportunity to think about alternatives to the current Sentinel program and ending six decades of reliance on land-based ICBMs.

The Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction held a webinar in January 2024, to discuss this issue.
Panelists included:

Sébastien Philippe is a Research Scholar with Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security. His research focuses on modeling the impact of nuclear weapon use on people and planet. He is a former nuclear weapon system safety engineer in France Ministry of Armed Forces.
Sharon K. Weiner is Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service and a visiting researcher at Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. She has extensive experience in Government, including as a program examiner with the National Security Division at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Frank von Hippel is professor emeritus with Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. He has been engaged with US ICBM issues since the 1970s. He is a co-founder of the Physicist Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
Zia Mian is a physicist and co-director of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security. He is a co-founder of the Physicist Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction and has served on the board of the Arms Control Association.

REFERENCES:
Frank von Hippel slides (PDF)
Interactive map depicting impact of a potential nuclear attack on U.S. ICBM silos

Ohio State University - How to Avert the Coming Arms Race
2023-11-29 11:10 - 12:10 (America/New_York) | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Ohio State University
Abstract
The United States, Russia, and China are engaged in the early phases of a new nuclear arms race and Russia and NATO are engaged in a nuclear-tinged war in Ukraine. With the recent shredding of arms-control agreements, the arms races may proceed unfettered and could lead to unprecedented dangers to humanity. On the other hand, new bilateral dialogs on strategic stability are possible, which could lead both to reining in the arms races with Russia and China and the basis for a settlement in Ukraine. As scientists we are obliged to understand the dynamics of the arms races and their dangers, and to develop and support means to avert the rush to oblivion.
About the Speaker
Dr. Robert Goldston is a professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and associated faculty with Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. His research interests include neutron-based methods to verify warheads for disarmament, non-invasive UF6 flow meters and neutron detectors to verify operation of gas-centrifuge enrichment plants, and robotic techniques to monitor areas for undeclared nuclear materials and activities. He serves on the Board of the Council for a Livable World and writes policy pieces for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Cornell University - Actionable Ideas for Nuclear Threat Reduction
2023-11-20 | Cornell University, Department of Physics
This event has been cancelled.

University of Minnesota - The Growing Danger of Nuclear Weapons: What Physicists Can Do
2023-11-09 15:35 - 16:35 (America/New_York)
Abstract
Today’s nuclear arsenals pose enormous risks for all humanity. Many agreements that reduced the threat of nuclear weapons have been abandoned and we now face a new, multi-country nuclear arms race that could have devastating consequences. Enormous resources are being expended by the United States, Russia, China, and North Korea to deploy new nuclear weapons and nuclear-armed long-range missiles. New countries are considering acquiring nuclear weapons. The war in Ukraine and other factors have increased the threat they might be used. In past times of danger, scientists and especially physicists have played a critical role in helping citizens and decision makers understand and reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons, and they can do so again. I will describe a project initiated by the American Physical Society to inform, engage, and mobilize physical scientists and engineers to act now to reduce the current nuclear threat.
About the Speaker
Frederick Lamb is the Brand and Monica Fortner Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics Emeritus, a Research Professor of Physics and of Astronomy, and a core faculty member in the Arms Control and Domestic & International Security Program at the University of Illinois. An expert on space policy, ballistic missiles and missile defenses, and the technical aspects of nuclear test bans, he has been a consultant to the Defense Department, national laboratories, and Congressional committees. He co-chaired the American Physical Society’s 2003 study of Boost-Phase Missile Defense and chaired its 2022 study of Missile Defense and National Security. The current focus of his scientific research is high-energy and relativistic astrophysics and dense matter. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the APS. He shared the 2005 Leo Szilard Award of the APS for his leadership of the 2003 study of missile defense and received the 2021 APS Five Sigma Physicist Award for his leadership of the 2022 study. He shared the 2022 Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society for his contributions to the success of NASA’s NICER X-ray astronomy mission.
For more biographical information, see https://physics.illinois.edu/people/directory/profile/fkl
This is a hybrid event. It can be accessed virtually via Zoom.

Physicists Coalition Colloquium - MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science (LNS)
2023-10-30 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York)
Abstract
The immense risks nuclear weapons pose to all humanity are still very much with us. The destructive power in the thousands of nuclear weapons in existence threaten human civilization as we know it. In fact, trends indicate the risks are acute and growing: hard-won arms control agreements are being abandoned, nuclear weapons-possessing states are spending enormous resources to refurbish existing nuclear weapons and to develop new types of strategic weapons, and nuclear-armed nations continue to be drawn closer to direct conflict. Many communities continue to bear the damaging health effects of nuclear weapons testing and production. Physicists have historically constructively engaged policymakers and their communities to help reduce nuclear dangers. Leo Szilard took this role very seriously and pioneered innovative ways to make policy change and work toward a safer world. This talk will set the context of the current nuclear crisis and discuss effective ways that physicists today can get involved in mitigating nuclear risks and creating a healthier and safer future
About the Speaker
Dr. Laura Grego is a senior scientist and the research director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she has worked at the intersection of science and public policy, in particular nuclear weapons, missile defense, and space security issues, for twenty years. She recently completed a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellowship at the Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy at MIT. She received her PhD. in experimental physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1999, and BSc. degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1992.
She has authored numerous articles and reports on security issues, and frequently gives talks to expert and non-expert audiences and serves as a subject matter expert for the media. She meets regularly with U.S. government staff and officials and international diplomats to provide scientific information and advocate for better policies for a healthy, safe, sustainable future.
Grego serves on American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs as the representative of the Forum on Physics and Society. She supports efforts to engage scientists more substantially in nuclear policy issues, including serving on the steering committee of the APS’s Innovation Grantee project the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction and is a recipient of the 2023 APS Leo Szilard Lectureship Award. She is an associate editor for the journal Science and Global Security, and a 2021 Fellow of the APS.
This is a hybrid event, available to both in-person and virtual attendance.
Virtual attendance is accessible via Zoom.

Physicists Coalition Colloquium – University of Hawaiʻi
2023-10-12 15:30 - 17:00 (Pacific/Honolulu)
About the Speaker
Dr. Robert Goldston is a professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and associated faculty with Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. His research interests include neutron-based methods to verify warheads for disarmament, non-invasive UF6 flow meters and neutron detectors to verify operation of gas-centrifuge enrichment plants, and robotic techniques to monitor areas for undeclared nuclear materials and activities. He serves on the Board of the Council for a Livable World and writes policy pieces for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
An abstract for this colloquium will be shared soon.
This is a virtual event.

North Carolina A&T University - The Growing Danger of Nuclear Weapons
2023-10-04 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Marteena Hall Room 310
Colloquium Abstract
The world is in a precarious place right now and nuclear risk is higher than it has been in decades. The war in Ukraine has brought latent fears about nuclear war back to the surface. In recent years, the US has withdrawn from several arms control agreements that constrained US and Russian arsenals, and the last remaining treaty with Russia expires in 2026. Both the US and Russia are engaged in building a new generation of nuclear weapons. Physicists were, and still are, key actors in our nation’s nuclear weapons enterprise. From the very beginning of the nuclear weapons story, physicists have engaged policymakers about nuclear dangers and advocated for policies to reduce them. Given the growing risks, physicists need to renew their role in educating the public and policymakers.
About the Speaker
Dr. Tara Drozdenko is the director for the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists working on the federal-level policy changes and commitment to diplomacy, so the United States is a leader in reducing the nuclear threat.
Dr. Drozdenko brings nearly two decades of experience in the national security field, managing complex government programs, supervising research teams, and communicating with the public about climate change and nuclear weapons. She has worked on issues related to weapons of mass destruction for both the U.S. Navy and U.S. State Department. While at the State Department, Drozdenko spent several years working on missile defense and arms control issues, including representing the U.S. at the Senior Group on Proliferation at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Most recently, she served as acting executive director of Outrider Foundation, a nonprofit digital media organization focused on ending the threat of nuclear war and reversing the course of global climate change. In that role, she set the vision for the organization, working to integrate Outrider’s messaging on climate and nuclear issues. She also brought a focus on racial justice to the organization. Before leading the organization, Drozdenko served as Outrider’s managing director for nuclear policy, producing innovative media for public education and advocacy on nuclear weapons.
Drozdenko also co-founded Highly NRiched, an open-access platform helping educators incorporate lessons about nuclear weapons into their classroom. She was chief of the Country/Regime Sanctions Unit at the U.S. Department of Treasury from 2008 to 2012, where she managed more than 20 of the U.S. government’s economic sanctions programs, including portions of the Iran and North Korea sanctions.
Drozdenko served in the U.S. State Department Office of Counterterrorism from 2006 to 2008 and as a physical scientist in the Bureau of Arms Control from 2003 to 2006. Drozdenko has a Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in plasma physics from the University of California – Los Angeles.
This event is accessible for attendance via Zoom.

Kenyon College - Oppenheimer, the Dangers of Nuclear War Today, and How Physicists Can Help Reduce Them
2023-09-29 12:10 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Abstract
The film Oppenheimer barely hints at the debate among the Manhattan Project physicists on “the impact of the Gadget on Civilization” and their efforts to influence the decision on using nuclear weapons against Japan. It also does not explain that Oppenheimer’s “trial” and termination as a government advisor was due to his opposition to developing the H bomb because it would carry “much further than the atomic bomb itself the policy of exterminating civilian populations.” During the Cold War, physicists worked for policies to reduce the danger. Despite near misses, no additional cities have shared the fates of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now, with Russian President Vladimir Putin making nuclear threats against NATO, and China and the US in a growing confrontation over Taiwan, physicists are mobilizing against a new nuclear arms race and to advocate policies such as no first nuclear use.
About the Speaker
Dr. Frank N. von Hippel, a theoretical particle physicist by training, is a Senior Research Physicist and Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus at Princeton University. He co-founded Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security, the International Panel on Fissile Materials, and the Physicist’s Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. During the 1980s, he worked with Soviet physicists advising Mikhail Gorbachev on initiatives to end the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. During 1993-4, he worked in the White House Office of Science and Technology on nuclear policy issues including improving the security of Russia’s fissile materials, partnering with Russia on a global effort to convert research reactors from weapon-grade to low-enriched uranium fuel, and disposing of the plutonium from excess Cold War warheads.
This is a virtual event, live attendance is exclusive to students at Kenyon College.
