Iran Centrifuge Components
I was looking at all the pretty components laid out on the table around the IR-2 carbon fiber rotor with a ball bearing on top and thought “It would be great to identify all the parts.” So, I sent a…
Arms Control Wonk
Latest · page 254
ISIS Publishes Heinonen Notes
In March, the Washington Post printed two stories by Joby Warrick about Olli Heinonen’s briefing to the IAEA Board of Governors on weaponization work in Iran, based on the notes of diplomat who attended. I asked “what else is in…
IR-2s on Display
Nothing says “wonkporn” like a centrifuge rotor, especially one made of carbon fiber. Here is how Iraqi nuclear weaponeer Mahdi Obeidi described his “first time” seeing a URENCO TC-11 segment made of carbon fiber. Then he showed us a centrifuge…
Happy Hour, Big Hunt, Th @ 6:00
James Acton is going to be in town to give a couple of talks — one at AEI and the other, Nuclear Mind Reading: Iran’s Nuclear Intentions and the IAEA at the New America Foundation on Wednesday at 12:15. (RSVP)…
800 NORK Ballistic Missiles
I am creating a new category called “data points.” Lieutenant General Walter L. Sharp, nominated to be Commander, United States Forces Korea, estimates the size of the North Korean missile stockpile in his answers to advance policy questions from the…
300 IR-2s?
We’re just four days away from National Nuclear Technology Day in Iran when no doubt President Ahmadinejad will have another big announcement to make. In preparation, Iran seems to have been installing some more P-2s IR-2s (ooops, sorry). George Jahn…
While England Slept
My blog post on Gordon England and nuclear weapons spending (DEPSECDEF Deeply Confused, March 29, 2008) made Al Kamen’s In the Loop in the Washington Post. While England Slept Usually, witnesses at congressional hearings enlighten lawmakers on the inner workings…
Coming to America
I’m off to DC next week. I’m going to be appearing at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday and the New America Foundation on Wednesday. It’s what you call a bipartisan approach. At AEI I’m a panellist at a one-day…
Nuclear Strategy Follow-On White Paper Deux
I hear the Administration has delivered the Nuclear Strategy Follow-On White Paper a/k/a How I learned to stop worrying and love the RRW to the Hill in time for the FY 2009 budget process. Of, course, the NSFOWP is classified.…
Shea's Convention, the UAE and Finland
Here as promised is Tom Shea’s Notional convention on nuclear power. Two other nuclear power factoids I heard recently that may interest… First, the UAE has announced its intention not to acquire enrichment or reprocessing technology as part of its…