Digests and Blog

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) September quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear program confirms that Iran is continuing to abide by the limitations put in place under the July 2015 agreement reached between Tehran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) group of states. While it is unfortunate that the IAEA does not report publicly on every restriction put in place by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s continued compliance is encouraging. The September 8 report noted that Iran’s uranium enrichment remains below…

The Stimson Center and the Arms Control Association hosted a panel discussion about the history and progress of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 20 years after it was signed on September 24, 1996. To date, 183 states have signed the treaty. Represented in the panel were senior officials from states that have been strong supporters of the treaty over the past 20 years. Rose Gottemoeller, the undersecretary for arms control and international security and Adam Scheinman, the special representative of the president of nuclear nonproliferation reiterated the United States’ strong…

Hankyoreh: North Korea its 5th nuclear test at the eight months after 4th nuclear test on January. It was regarded as very unusual beacause North Korea conducted nuclear test at intervals of two or three years so far. What do you think is its implication in terms of technology? Daryl Kimball: The cumulative knowledge of the five nuclear test explosions since 2006, and the dozens of ballistic missile tests, especially in the last 12 months, has provided the DPRK’s technical and military teams greater confidence that they can deploy warheads on their short and medium-range ballistic missiles.…

Fifth North Korean Nuclear Test Is Alarming and Cause for Action toFreeze Its Programs and Reinforce Global Testing Taboo Statement by Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball andDirector for Nonproliferation Policy Kelsey Davenport, 5am GMT, September 9, 2016 Seismic activity indicates that North Korea conducted a fifth nuclear test on Sept. 8 at 9:00 a.m. local time. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna reported that more than two dozen of the seismic stations that are part of the treaty’s International Monitoring System confirmed that the seismic event was in the 5.0…

North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 8. The test was met with international condemnation and calls for increased sanctions on North Korea. Russia issued “the strongest possible condemnation,” and both Japan and the United States condemned the test in “the strongest possible terms” in official statements following the test. The UN Security Council convened on Sept. 9 in an emergency session to discuss the test. “The test explosion is yet another unpleasant reminder that the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program continues to grow. Current…

The first Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing dealing with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in over a decade took place on September 7. Attendance was high, with Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) presiding, ranking Democrat Senator Cardin (D-Md.), and Senators Risch (R-Idaho), Rubio (R-Fla.), Flake (R-Ariz.), Perdue (R-Ga.), Menendez (D-N.J.), Shaheen (D-N.H.), Murphy (D-Conn.), Udall (D-N.M.), and Markey (D-Mass.) in attendance. The hearing was convened to discuss the Barack Obama administration’s proposed United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) and P5…

For the last week, I have sat in a comfortable room in Geneva, along the lake with a picturesque view of the Alps. Joining 500 other representatives of governments, industry, international organizations and civil society, I had come for the Second Conference of States-Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), the global treaty adopted in 2013 to regulate the international trade in conventional arms. But while we sat in the room discussing how many working groups to establish, people around the world were suffering and dying from the very weapons the ATT is intended to regulate. Instead of…

This op-ed originally appeared in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. For the second time during his presidency, President Barack Obama and his top advisors are re-evaluating whether to adjust the declared role of nuclear weaponsin US national security policy to meet the evolving global strategic environment and reduce the risk of nuclear war. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Arms Control Association on June 6, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Benjamin Rhodes announced that the administration “will continue to review whether there are additional steps…

This article originally appeared in Indepth News. This article appears in cooperation with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), as part of the initiative ‘Youth for CTBTO’. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the CTBTO. - Editor WASHINGTON. D.C. (IDN) - Following mass protests against Soviet nuclear weapons testing in Kazakhstan on August 29, 1991, the Kremlin was forced to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, where over 460 nuclear tests were conducted, and declare a moratorium on nuclear testing. This, in…

Hospital officials and observers on the ground in Syria reported August 10 still another attack with chlorine gas, killing ten or more civilians and injuring over 75 people.  This happened in Aleppo, a large northern Syria city split between rebel- and government-held parts, and the attacks took place in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo apparently as part of air-dropped barrel-bombs from helicopters. Although Syria officially joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), banning any use of chemicals as weapons, in September 2013, this latest report only adds to the hundreds of…