Nuclear deterrence is central to international relations theory and practice. Most people assume that countries must possess nuclear weapons in order to reap deterrence benefits from their nuclear programs. Nuclear deterrence without bombs is seemingly impossible, since countries would be unable...

A low carbon electricity generating technology can only contribute to the net-zero energy transition if it is able to scale up. From that perspective, we compare nuclear, wind and solar power wrt. the size of a typical power plant, across the criteria of physical scalability, building experience...

Since the beginning of the nuclear era, significant scientific attention has been given to thorium’s potential as a nuclear fuel. Although the thorium fuel cycle has never been fully developed, the opportunities and challenges that might arise from the use of thorium in the nuclear fuel cycle...

This essay provides an overview and analysis of Iran’s nuclear and missile procurement activities and the efforts of the United States and its allies to detect, deter, and disrupt those activities. It also derives lessons learned and makes recommendations for how the U.S. and its allies can...

Increasingly, China is planning to move to nuclear power. The plan for China is to double its nuclear capacity in the near future. A critical component is that a regulatory framework has to be developed to accompany this move towards nuclear energy. An important component of such a framework is...

This paper establishes the feasibility of Low-Enriched Uranium fueled Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (LEU-NTP) reactors in the low-thrust region below 16klbf (71kN). A reference, 7.5klbf, HEU design is converted to 19.75% enriched LEU and shown to be capable of reaching criticality and meeting other...