Virtual Training Session: Engaging Members of Congress on Nuclear Issues
2023-03-31 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
On March 29, at 10:30 AM EDT, the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction hosted a virtual training session to discuss tools and skills for advocacy effective engagement with members of Congress.
This session included remarks by the panelists (recording below), followed by an open discussion between the Coalition’s experts and members.
Panelists:

Denise Duffield (The Back from the Brink Campaign)
Laura Grego (The Union of Concerned Scientists)
Sean Meyer (The Back from the Brink Campaign)
Stephen Young (The Union of Concerned Scientists)

Columbia University - Dismantling the Nuclear Doomsday Machine: Scientists, the Bomb, and the Challenges of Nuclear Disarmament
2023-04-10
Colloquium Abstract
Eighty years ago, physicists first worked out what it would take to build a simple nuclear weapon and the immediate effects of its use. Five years later, theory and experiment became devastating facts as the United States built, tested, and then used the first nuclear weapons to destroy cities. Today, there are nine nuclear armed states and over 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world. The nuclear-armed states are developing or modernizing their arsenals, easing constraints on when these weapons might be used, and pursue policies that risk accidental nuclear war. The hard-won international arrangements intended to halt, reverse and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons programs are unraveling. Russia’s leader has made nuclear threats in the context of the war against Ukraine. One potentially hopeful development, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, has elicited opposition rather than support from the nine nuclear-armed states. This talk will look at what role scientists have played in the past and can play today in helping address the challenge of reducing and eliminating the threat from nuclear weapons in the United States and globally, it also will introduce the new Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
About the Speaker
Dr. Zia Mian is a physicist and co-director of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, part of the School of Public and International Affairs. His research interests include nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, disarmament, and policies for a safer and more peaceful world. He is co-editor of the journal Science & Global Security, co-chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, and a co-founder of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. He received the 2014 Linus Pauling Legacy Award, the American Physical Society’s 2019 Leo Szilard Award, and in 2021 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He serves on the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament, and on the boards of the Arms Control Association and of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is a co-founder of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.

U.S. Budget for FY24 and Advocacy for Nuclear Threat Reduction
2023-05-23 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
This webinar discusses highlights of the U.S. budget for nuclear weapons for fiscal year 2024, in particular the possibility of additional funds for new nuclear weapon systems including nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missiles.
The speakers include
– Shannon Bugos, Senior Policy Analyst, The Arms Control Association
– Hans Kristensen, Director, Nuclear Information Project, Federation of American Scientists
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Shannon Bugos’ Presentation Slides (PowerPoint)
Hans Kristensen’s Presentation Slides (PDF)

Related:
Advocacy: Say no to new weapon systems!

Oppenheimer: Scientists, The Bomb, and the Implications for Today
2023-07-31 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York)
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The film Oppenheimer, which opened in theaters in July, tells the story of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer who led the team that built the first atomic bomb, and later worked to curb the nuclear arms race. The scientific community has played a critical role in highlighting the dangers of nuclear weapons and their human and environmental impacts, as well as nuclear arms racing from the days of the Manhattan Project to the present. Prompted by the film, the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction held a webinar on July 31, 2023, to discuss:

The devastating human and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons testing and use
The role of scientists in the effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and reverse the nuclear arms race
The growing nuclear threat and how physicists can help reduce the danger today

Speakers included

Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), co-author of Radioactive Heaven and Earth and Nuclear Wastelands
Dr. Lisbeth Gronlund, Research Affiliate, Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy, MIT
Dr. Stewart Prager, Professor Emeritus of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University; The Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction
Dr. Frederick Lamb (Moderator), Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; The Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction

This webinar was co-sponsored by
– The APS Forum on Physics and Society
– The APS Forum on International Physics
– The APS Forum on the History and Philosophy of Physics
REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Recommended by Dr. Arjun Makhijiani:

Arjun Makhijiani, Webinar Presentation Slides (PowerPoint)
Arjun Makhijani, ““Always” the target?: While U.S. bomb scientists were racing against Germany, military planners were looking toward the Pacific,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 1995
Arjun Makhijani. “Nuclear Targeting: The First 60 Years,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2003

Recommended by Dr. Lisbeth Gronlund:

“Countermeasures: A Technical Evaluation of the Operational Effectiveness of the Planned US National Missile Defense System,” Union of Concerned Scientists, April 18 2000
Richard L. Garwin and Hans A. Bethe, Anti-Ballistic-Missile Systems,” Scientific American, March 1968
JASON Panel, “Nuclear Testing: Summary and Conclusions,” August 3 1995
Kurt Gotfried, “Physicists in Politics,” Physics Today, 1999

Recommended by Dr. Stewart Prager:

General Advisory Committee’s Majority and Minority Reports on Building the H-Bomb , Atomic Archive, 1949.
Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris, Worldwide Deployments of Nuclear Weapons, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Sept 3, 2017
Alan Robock and Owen B. Toon, Self-assured Destruction: The Climate Impacts of Nuclear War,Vol.68, Issue 5, p. 66, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (2012).
Zia Mian, Stewart Prager and Frank von Hippel, Once More Into the Breach: Physicists Mobilize Again to Counter the Nuclear Threat, Arms Control Today, May, 2021.

Pennsylvania State University - How to Avert the Coming Arms Race
2023-09-07 16:00 (America/New_York) | Hallowell Building: Department of Nuclear Engineering
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.
This event can be attended by the public through this zoom link (Password: [REDACTED]

How to Avert the Coming Arms Race - University of Hawai'i
2023-09-14
Abstract
The United States, Russia, and China are engaged in the early phases of a new nuclear arms race, while Russia and NATO are engaged in a nuclear-tinged war in Ukraine. With the recent shredding of arms-control agreements, a three-way arms race may proceed unfettered and could lead to unprecedented dangers to humanity. On the other hand, a new discussion on strategic stability is 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. Please consider joining the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction: PhysicistsCoalition.org/join
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.
This is a virtual event.

Yale University - Walking the World Back from the Nuclear Brink: What can Scientists do?
2023-09-28 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Sloane Physics Lab, Room 59 217 Prospect St, New Haven
Abstract
Despite shrinking significantly at the end of the Cold War, the world nuclear weapon arsenals continue to represent a significant threat to humanity. About 14,000 nuclear weapons are still deployed or in reserve and other 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles are ready to be launched within minutes. Recent trends indicate the risks of nuclear war may be growing with the return of great power confrontation, the modernization of existing arsenals, the abandonment of arms control agreements, the development of new types of strategic weapons, the rapid militarization of emerging technologies, and the increasing entanglement of conventional and nuclear forces. This talk will present the current nuclear crisis, discuss possible approaches to walk back from the brink, and make suggestions on what physicists can do both as scientists and informed citizens to reduce the dangers of nuclear war.
About the Speaker
Dr. Sébastien Philippe is a Research Scholar with Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, part of the School of Public and International Affairs. His work at the nexus of technical and policy research focuses on developing new methods and technologies for managing and monitoring nuclear weapons, materials, and activities as well as modeling the effects of nuclear explosion on people and planet.
His work on the reconstruction of fallout from past nuclear weapon tests, including Trinity, has been covered in major media around the world. His book, Toxique (2021), on the legacy of French nuclear tests in the Pacific was a Finalist for the 2021 Albert Londres Prize (the French equivalent of the Pulitzer) and won a 2022 Sigma Award for best data journalism in the world, among other accolades.
Philippe holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton, was a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, and has served as a nuclear weapon system safety engineer in France’s Ministry of Armed Forces. In 2023, he was appointed as a member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
This event can be attended by the public through this zoom link.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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/

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

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.

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.

College of William and Mary - The Continuing Risk of Nuclear War
2024-03-29

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.”

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
