CNS News & Views: October 2022

Middlebury Institute of International Studies

October 2022

US-Black Sea Nonproliferation Professionals Exchange

To continue strengthening the US-Black Sea Nonproliferation Professionals Exchange, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), with support from the Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, organized a U.S. Module. Twenty participants traveled to the U.S. from September 4-15, 2022. The program included briefings by national laboratories, panel discussions with experts from U.S. government and think tanks, and interactive presentations by Washington, DC-based CNS experts. Participants attended several meetings where lab staff, scientists, and experts provided briefings on scientific diplomacy and cooperation, regional security, technological innovation, best practices, and how to advance shared goals.

The U.S.-Black Sea Nonproliferation Professionals Exchange Program has been recognized by U.S. counterparts as an exceptional initiative geared towards mid-level experts that can serve as a model for organizing similar nonproliferation professional exchanges for experts in regions all around the world.

Fall 2022 Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Short Course

The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation (VCDNP) welcomed its 24th cohort of diplomats and practitioners for an intensive short course on nonproliferation and disarmament issues. From October 3-7, 2022, 21 participants from 18 countries explored topics such as nuclear safeguards, security of nuclear facilities, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, arms control, and the global non-proliferation regime. The course was key in preparing participants for their assignments as diplomats posted to international organizations in Vienna. The VCDNP was pleased to host a cohort with 76% of participants representing developing countries and 43% of participants women.

In addition to lectures and panel discussions, participants also toured key facilities at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Facilities visited include the Incident and Emergency Center, from which the IAEA has been coordinating its support to the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear facilities, CTBTO radionuclide and seismological monitoring stations, and the International Data Center.

CNS Seminar with Dr. Togzhan Kassenova

October 12, 2022 the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) hosted a seminar with Dr. Togzhan Kassenova, Senior Fellow at the Center for Policy Research, SUNY-Albany and Non-Resident Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Kassenova presented about her book Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb.

In Atomic Steppe, Dr. Kassenova explores Kazakhstan's extraordinary and little-known nuclear history from the Soviet period to the present. She tells the untold story of how Kazakhstan worked towards disarmament and ultimately gave up its nuclear inheritance. During the seminar, Dr. Kassenova discusses why she wrote this book, Kazakhstan's nuclear story, the consequences of nuclear tests, testimonies, the birth of an anti-nuclear movement, and conditions for disarmament. Dr. Kassenova's presentation provides first-hand accounts of the resulting public health disaster and highlights urgent lessons for global security today.

Watch the webinar

Six Questions on Naval Nuclear Propulsion and IAEA Safeguards

The VCDNP's “Governing the Atom Brief Series” presents information to States who are working with international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear‑Test‑Ban Treaty Organization (CTBT) as part of an effort to aid decision-making in critical issues.

The second edition of the “Governing the Atom Brief Series” published by VCDNP Research Associate Noah Mayhew, focuses on the compatibility of naval nuclear propulsion with key elements of the nonproliferation regime. Specifically, this brief considers the compatibility of non-explosive military uses of nuclear energy with the NPT, the IAEA Statute and INFCIRC/153 – the document that informs the structure and content of NPT safeguards agreements. It also considers practical implications for the non-application of safeguards on nuclear material in such uses.

Read the brief

Opinion: It’s Time to Accept That North Korea Has Nuclear Weapons

Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation (CNS) Dr. Jeffrey Lewis authored a guest essay for the New York Times on the notion that it is time for U.S. policymakers to contemplate the unthinkable: accepting that North Korea is a nuclear state. North Korea has fired a dozen ballistic missiles in the past two months, is boasting of the ability to deploy tactical battlefield nuclear weapons, and is expected to conduct another nuclear test — its seventh — perhaps as early as next week.

Lewis describes the process of accepting that North Korea is a nuclear state as a step that could reduce the persistent and growing threat of an inadvertent conflict on the Korean Peninsula. It would remove a major obstacle that prevents North Korea and the United States from meeting to work out their differences.