Avatar photoIAEA to Visit Arak

The IAEA announces, and ISNA confirms, that IAEA inspectors will be able to visit the 40 MW Heavy Water Reactor near Arak. I am deeply suspicious of this reactor—which looks a lot like the reactors that were used in India, Israel Pakistan and Taiwan’s bomb programs. Getting the IAEA in, along with appropriate monitoring arrangements, …

Avatar photoIranian Bomb: Still 2010-2015?

I’ve been waiting for press reports to see if the much awaited NIE on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs has been completed and, if so, whether the IC has moved up its estimates on when Iran could, or is likely to, acquire a bomb. No announcement came, but on June 2 SECDEF Bob Gates …

Avatar photoOlli, Ali, Oxen-Free: IAEA-Iran Action Plan

IAEA DDG for Safegards Olli Heinonen is in Iran to draw up what the Iranian press is calling a “modality plan.” Just what our field needs, more f’ing jargon. The editors of the OED can barely contain their contempt in the entry on “modality”, burying this peculiar usage as the last (and least) of eight …

Avatar photoBusboys and Bomb Scares

My Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative is hosting Joe Cirincione for a discussion of his book, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons, Wednesday at 5:30 over at Busboys and Poets. Yeah, that’s right, Busboys and Poets over on 14th St. How cool is that? Busboys and Poets is named for the great …