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By René Geiser. China’s nuclear expansion and global nuclear order The expansion of China's nuclear arsenal has increased significantly in recent years. Forecasts by the US Department of Defence assume that China could have over 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030. This represents a significant expansion compared to the ‘minimum nuclear deterrent’ that China has traditionally pursued. While China used to strive for a small but survivable nuclear arsenal, the current modernization signals a possible
By Neslihan Yanikömer and Irmgard Niemeyer. On September 18, members of the research consortium VeSPoTec, Dr. Irmgard Niemeyer and Dr. Neslihan Yanikömer, hold a side event on hosted by Germany during the 68th IAEA General Conference (September 16–20, 2024). The event, titled “Navigating Crisis Scenarios in Safeguards Implementation,” assembled an expert panel to discuss strengthening IAEA safeguards in the face of crises such as armed conflicts, natural disasters, and pandemics. Nearly 50 attendees
By Lukas Rademacher. „Meeting the Moment: Nuclear Stewardship in an Age of New Technology and Global Tensions” – under this motto technical experts in the nuclear field came together at this year’s annual meeting of the Institute for Nuclear Materials Management (INMM). Although the CrowdStrike outage made attendance more difficult than expected for many, the conference nevertheless brought together more than 600 participants from around the world in Portland, Oregon. For five days (July 21-25), they
By Julian Schäfer. Dr. Sophie Kretzschmar, Dr. Leonardo Bandarra, Lukas Rademacher and Julian Schäfer from VeSPoTec participated in the AMC Annual Conference Reinvigorating Nuclear Disarmament in Uppsala, Sweden from the 18-19 June 2024. Organized by the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament, the event aimed to foster collaboration and innovative solutions to advance nuclear disarmament. Thus, the conference gathered experts from various disciplines to discuss the urgent need for renewed efforts in arms
By Andreas Dürholt. Game Theory is a mathematical discipline to analyze strategic interaction between two or more players. In general, strategic considerations exists for thousands of years (see for instance, Sun Tzu). But Game Theory as a discipline was officially developed by John von Neumann und Oscar Morgenstern in the 1940s’, although its economic predecessors go back to previous centuries. However, Game Theory has developed from classical Game Theory to many different intertwining sub-disciplines (e.g.,
By Julian Schäfer. Since the film ‘Oppenheimer’ at the latest, nuclear weapons and their eminent dangers have once again become the focus of public attention. The film impressively demonstrates the almost unimaginably destructive effects of even a comparatively small nuclear weapon such as ‘the Gadget’. However, the film barely touches on the devastating long-term effects that weapons of this kind have on the people and environment affected. After the Second World War, the United States of America