Environmental Issues: Nuclear Energy, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament

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All Documents in Nuclear Energy, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Tagged U.S.

Estimates of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, 2007 and 2012
Overview

This fact sheet, which challenges the U.S. government’s secrecy over the size of its nuclear weapons stockpile and the number of dismantled nuclear weapons, estimates that the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile currently includes approximately 9,930 nuclear warheads, and that the stockpile will decline to about 5,040 by the end of 2012.

New Nuclear Power Plants Are Not a Solution for America’s Energy Needs
Index

New nuclear power plants are unlikely to provide a significant fraction of future U.S. needs for low-carbon energy. NRDC favors more practical, economical and environmentally sustainable approaches to reducing both U.S. and global carbon emissions, focusing on the widest possible implementation of end-use energy-efficiency improvements, and on policies to accelerate commercialization of clean, flexible, renewable energy technologies.

U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe
A review of post-Cold War policy, force levels, and war planning.
Issue Paper

A review of post-Cold War policy, force levels, and war planning.

Nuclear Insecurity
A Critique of the Bush Administration's Nuclear Weapons Policies
Report

This September 2004 report assesses the Bush administration's nuclear weapons policies and concludes that they have made the United States more vulnerable, not more secure. It offers recommendations for a more responsible nuclear policy, including honoring the U.S. commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, scrapping plans for nuclear bunker busters, and ending the deployment of the unproven missile defense system.

The Future Role of Nuclear Power in the United States
Presentation

Presented to the Western Governors' Association North American Energy Summit, April 15, 2004, by Thomas B. Cochran, director of NRDC's nuclear program.

The ABC News Nuclear Smuggling Experiment
The Sequel
Fact Sheet

This briefing paper provides information about NRDC's role in an ABC News investigative report on U.S. Customs' inability to detect smuggled nuclear weapons material. NRDC loaned ABC News the depleted uranium it used in its report. The briefing paper covers the properties of uranium, radioactive shielding, and how closely ABC's "experiment" reflects the potential for terrorists to smuggle weapon-grade uranium into the country.

The Bush-Putin Treaty
An Orwellian Approach to Nuclear Arms Control
Analysis

This May 2002 analysis by NRDC's nuclear program finds that the treaty proposed by President Bush to cut U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals is so riddled with loopholes that it actually would prolong the U.S.-Russian nuclear standoff for years to come, and encourage nuclear proliferation.

Taking Stock: Worldwide Nuclear Deployments 1998
Report

A report providing, for the first time, authoritative estimates of the sizes and locations of the nuclear arsenals of the U.S., Russia, Britain, France and China. The report contains detailed descriptions, including maps and tables, of today's arsenals, and describes the events that have led to the consolidation of weapons storage sites. The authors also project likely trends for the future.

Does the U.S. Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program Pose a Proliferation Threat?
Analysis

An article that first appeared, in shorter form, in the journal Science and Global Security. By Christopher E. Paine, senior researcher and co-director, and Matthew G. McKinzie, project scientist, with NRDC's nuclear program.

The Rise and Fall of the Third ICF Review
A Case Study of Bias and Conflicts of Interest in a National Academy of Sciences Review of the National Ignition Facility
Report

A case study of bias and conflicts of interest in a National Academy of Sciences review of the Department Of Energy's National Ignition Facility.

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