Arms Control Wonk

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FEPC Info Sheets 4/15-4/20

Here are the information sheets from our friends at FEPC from 4/15, 4/18, 4/19 and 4/20. On a related note, TEPCO has walked back the estimate of Cl-38 on which Ferenc Dalnoki based his paper, What Was The Cause Of…

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The Advisors

One of Herb York’s many talents was his ability to write clearly with a strong narrative line, despite his training in physics and immersion in technical detail. See, for example, Herb’s book, The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb (1976).…

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FEPC Info Sheet 4/13

We have some interesting comments on yesterday’s thread about the wonders of the INES.  I wonder Fukushima results in a fundamental reform of the scale, with the IAEA taking on a role in vetting how states rank their nuclear disasters.…

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FEPC Info Sheets 4/11, 4/12

The Japanese government is conducting selective evacuations of areas outside the 20 km evacuation zone and has upgraded the accident to a 7 on the INES scale. Thoughts on those two events, along with your daily information sheet from our…

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Can Nuclear Deterrence Last?

Fred Charles Iklé did not leave lasting impressions during long stints in government as President Nixon and Ford’s Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and as President Reagan’s Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. In both jobs, he served…

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FEPC Info Sheet 4/8

Well, it looks like TEPCO may have turned a corner at Fukushima.  Ralph Vartabedian, who is one of the better  reporters on technical issues, writes in the Los Angeles Times that Administration officials on background have said that radiation levels…

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Mongolian SNF Depot

During the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, a senior State Department official revealed discussions between the United States and Mongolia on a 123 Agreement for nuclear cooperation. It was a thing of beauty to behold — a well-aimed indiscretion by…

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FEPC Info Sheet 4/7

Do other people find these information sheets useful?  I am debating about whether to keep posting them. My fascination with the events unfolding at Fukushima is slowly giving way to the fact that I still have a day job that…

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FEPC Info Sheet 4/6

Ben Quinn in the Guardian reports that TEPCO has stopped the leak of radioactive seawater. Today’s FEPC info sheet indicates that TEPCO is installing some sort of silt barrier to contain the leakage of radioactive water.  Cryptome has some really…