“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 14, 2025

Today’s Nuclear Related Image . . .

Concept art of a fission surface power system on the surface of the moon. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

A small nuclear reactor on the moon might be a good idea for long-term astronomical scientific human visits providing oxygen, housing, and a space observatory for better telescopic exploration of space along with the ability to accomplish geological study of the moon’s surface.

But it should be a moon-base for us all. Why is there a race, as today’s feature article indicates, among individual countries USA, Russia, China, and others to be the FIRST country to make it happen. This makes me think of “War” — and the first one there dominates the purposes and rewards, and even “ownership” — as well as thinking “space wars” — not against unknown alien invasions, but among ourselves — just like here on Earth.

It seems to me that such a program and its efforts to construct and the rewards should be an international alliance among nations and certainly not used as some kind of “race” to see which country can be the first.

When will we ever learn that the only way “All Things Nuclear” can survive, along with humanity and other life, is to get rid of it, or otherwise use it for international peace and welfare. Weighing human greed, I doubt such a global unity will ever happen. ~llaw

. . . Oh, and by the way, there is a novel, written by noted science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson titled “Red Moon” that relates the trials and tribulations of an inhabited moon . . . (See Today’s Featured Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY in the full blog post for more from the book’s cover image . . . )

Today’s Featured Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Latest Issue — Nov 2025

The race to put a nuclear reactor on the moon

4h agoANS Nuclear Cafe

Concept art of a fission surface power system on the surface of the moon. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

The “space race” is once again making headlines, with technology worthy of the 21st century. Like the Cold War–era competition, this race too is about showcasing power—but this time it’s nuclear power.

A new article in Power Technology examines the competing efforts of the United States, Russia, and China as they strive to be the first to put a nuclear reactor on the moon to power a lunar base, detailing the technical challenges and international rivalries.

NASA, Roscosmos, and CNSA: Current NASA plans envision a fission reactor on the lunar surface that would provide at least 100 kilowatts of electrical power as well as heat for a base camp for the crews of the lunar-landing Artemis missions.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Roscosmos is working with the China National Space Administration to deploy a reactor to power their planned Lunar Research Station.

U.S. officials hope to accomplish the U.S. goal by 2030—five years in front of the stated goal of the Russia-China collaboration.

Previous technology: The Power Technology article goes on to explain the various limitations of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), fuel cells, and solar cells, which have previously been used for powering lunar spacecraft and other space missions. The limitations for these three systems include, respectively, scaling difficulties, the need for fuel replenishment, and the inability to function at the dark south pole of the moon (which is of interest because of its water ice). Therefore, “nuclear fission has emerged as the most viable, durable solution” for a crewed moon base, the article states.

Many challenges: According to the Department of Energy, the present idea is to transport a fully constructed fission reactor to the moon via rocket. This mode of transport will place size and weight limitations on the reactor introduces challenges of landing, activating, and operating it in the unusual environment of the moon.

Lacking air and convection, the lunar environment will affect the reactor’s efficiency. NASA is planning to use a closed Brayton cycle system for waste heat rejection and power conversion. However, getting rid of the waste heat is “a significant engineering hurdle” without air, the article notes. Heat rejection and thermal management constitute one of the key problems that is being worked on by Lockheed Martin, which has a contract through Idaho National Laboratory to develop lunar reactor designs. X-energy and Westinghouse also have lunar reactor contracts.

The other unique technical challenges for a functioning lunar nuclear reactor involve low gravity, high cosmic radiation, no atmosphere, frequent impacts of small meteorites, abrasive dust, and extreme temperatures. In addition, any reactor on the moon will have to keep functioning with only minimal maintenance from astronauts. No nuclear reactor on Earth has had to face such novel difficulties, so these represent significant new technical hurdles for reactor designers.

Ambitious but achievable: An unnamed DOE spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying that “2030 is an ambitious but achievable goal. A nuclear reactor on the moon will enable discovery and economic opportunities by providing robust power for research and industrial operations in a harsh environment.”

Russia and China are also optimistic about their lunar reactor plans. Mohammed Ziauddin, an analyst at GlobalData (the parent company of Power Technology), is quoted in the article, observing that “Russia uses older but reliable technology, while China uses newer but untested technology; I think this combination can be successful, but the U.S. can still outpace them with the right attitude and, more importantly, with the right budget.”

Headlines For You

• The progress so far: An update on the Reactor Pilot Program1h ago
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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Friday, (11/14/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Exclusive: Department of Energy officials to meet with White House to tamp down Trump’s …

CNN

Today, the US tests every part of its nuclear weapons systems except for the explosive nuclear material in warheads. The last full-scale nuclear …

Trump administration bets big on nuclear power as AI drives soaring energy demand

KSNV

… nuclear testing fueled by The Cold War with the Soviets all about an h … things that aren’t directly related to appropriations.” Trending. 1 …

Trump administration bets big on nuclear power as AI drives soaring energy demand

KGAN

But the Democrats have once again proven my point, it’s all about the show, about them, it’s about power,” Burchett said. It remains unclear whether …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

The race to put a nuclear reactor on the moon

American Nuclear Society

Meanwhile, Russia’s Roscosmos is working with the China National Space Administration to deploy a reactor to power their planned Lunar Research …

Tripling Global Nuclear Energy by 2050 Within Reach—If Governments Act Now

World Nuclear Association

On Energy Day at the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Belém Brazil, World Nuclear Association previews findings from it…

World Nuclear Outlook Report Preview 2025

World Nuclear Association

Economic development, a growing global population and increased electrification of the energy sector will drive an increase in global electricity …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

US expert warns Europe about Russia: “Limited nuclear war is not impossible”

Dagens.com

Russia continues to use nuclear threats in its war against Ukraine … Artificial intelligence and advanced technologies provide both opportunities and …

Lib Campbell: Humanity dances around nuclear proliferation, other threats

The Daily Reflector

Lib Campbell: Humanity dances around nuclear proliferation, other threats … nuclear war. Nuclear debris could block all sunlight, ultimately …

Nuclear Security Implications of AI and Emerging Technologies: A FutureSafe Analysis of …

Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)

The study team conducted interviews with 32 leading experts on nuclear security and technological innovation to identify risks and opportunities that …

Nuclear War

NEWS

US expert warns Europe about Russia: “Limited nuclear war is not impossible”

Dagens.com

Russia continues to use nuclear threats in its war against Ukraine, China is expanding its arsenal at high speed, and the United States is …

Exclusive: Department of Energy officials to meet with White House to tamp down Trump’s …

CNN

… War” to “start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” … There is no need for weapons testing, as the US still has a lot of “really good data” …

What Are the Consequences of Resuming Nuclear Testing? – Yale Insights

Yale Insights – Yale University

… nuclear blasts will be part of ending the Ukraine war. The Western public sees

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

What’s the difference between an active, dormant and extinct volcano? – MSN

MSN

These are often clearly active volcanic systems that haven’t erupted in the Holocene. The Yellowstone Caldera, for example, has moving magma …

Moderate Magnitude 4.6 Earthquake 89 km Southeast of Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Volcano Discovery

… caldera, and Ijen. Yellowstone quakes · Yellowstone quakes · Latest earthquakes under Yellowstone volcano. List and interactive map of current and …

Weekly Roundup of News from iaea.org

11/12/2025

This week at the IAEA: from the first week of COP30 to fresh perspectives on nuclear science and the environment — explore how nuclear technology supports climate goals, strengthens health services and advances radiation safety.

12 November 2025

IAEA Donates Advanced Mammography Unit to Expand Breast Cancer Screening in the Amazon

Read more →

12 November 2025

IAEA Mission Recognizes Uganda’s Commitment to Improve Radiation Safety

Read more →

12 November 2025

Six Ways Nuclear Science and Technology Help Protect the Environment

Read more →

11 November 2025

COP30 Opening Message

Read more →

11 November 2025

What is Nuclear Energy? The Science of Nuclear Power

The IAEA is showcasing nuclear solutions to global energy and environmental challenges at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP30. This article explores the science of nuclear power

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 13, 2025

Today’s Nuclear Related Image . . .

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov are see…Read More | Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

Trump’s insane decision to restart nuclear weapons-testing is based on an extremely serious and dangerous lie and complete ignorance, and then extended to juvenile madness on some kind of immature ability to admit that he was “dead” wrong.

No other country anywhere was testing nuclear weapons at the time, but he jumped to the erroneous conclusion that Russia — that had stopped testing nuclear weapons long ago — even before the USA stopped — was doing so, failing to understand that Russia was testing missiles and and other weapons carriers and other transportation for nuclear weapons. That is huge difference — and now Russia, China, North Korea, and maybe other nations are preparing to do their own nuclear weapons testing.

Trump, all by himself, has created a global situation for the possibility of nuclear war by making a decision based on his stupidity and his foggy imagination and his “bull headed self-pride”, and he has, so far, refused to admit his huge mistake nor change his demented mind.

Beside the fact that he should have known all that already— especially as the U.S. president, he refused to recognize and/or admit his error and wrongly forced his involved cabinet and others in his administration “to do as he said”. This foolish with childlike decision explains exactly why his mentality makes him extremely dangerous — especially where nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and war itself are concerned.

So my question is perhaps the most important question ever asked: “Why on planet Earth is this man still the President of the United States of America? ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Putin Ally Issues Nuclear Warning to US: ‘Russia Will Respond’

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Published

Nov 13, 2025 at 09:40 AM EST

updated

Nov 13, 2025 at 11:15 AM EST

By Dan Gooding and Jason Lemon

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned on Thursday that “Russia will respond in kind” if the United States begins testing nuclear weapons.

The comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about resuming testing on Wednesday, and also addressed concerns that China might be expanding its nuclear arsenal.

Why It Matters

Tensions have been growing around nuclear weapons and testing in recent months, despite North Korea being the only nation to have conducted any nuclear tests this century. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1996, has kept the threat of escalation somewhat at bay. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and concerns in Europe and the U.S., have led to increased discussions and veiled threats that testing would begin again around the world.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov are see…Read More | Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

What To Know

President Donald Trump said in late October that he had instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear testing in Nevada, claiming the U.S. had the most nuclear weapons of any country.

Then on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the president’s pledge was “on par with other countries around the world,” and in part to ensure the weapons were safe. He did not appear to fully commit to full testing.

^{Read More}

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Peskov, a key ally and top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Rubio’s remarks on Thursday.

“If we consider this [Rubio’s words] to be confirmation that the U.S. is lifting the ban on testing, then this indeed signifies Washington’s intention to conduct such tests, as this would interrupt a long-standing period of a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing,” Peskov said, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.

“As our president has said, in that case, Russia will respond in kind,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.

On November 5, Putin reportedly told Russia’s Foreign and Defense Ministries, as well as the country’s special services and civil agencies, to gather information and analyze what was needed to possibly restart full-scale nuclear tests in Russia.

Peskov insisted that this was simply analyzing a potential plan, and not an instruction to begin testing.

Relations between Trump and Putin have become somewhat strained in recent months, with the U.S. president growing frustrated at the lack of progress being made to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. A meeting between the two at the end of October was put on indefinite hold.

What People Are Saying

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, speaking to Newsweek in October about Trump’s comments: “It’s not militarily, technically or politically necessary. It would lead to a chain reaction of nuclear tests by other countries, including Russia, probably North Korea, maybe China, and it would undermine U.S. security because the United States has conducted more nuclear tests—1,030—than any other country.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking Wednesday on his belief Russia does not want peace: “So what we see now is they continue long-range strikes into Ukraine, obviously to degrade their electrical grid and try to demoralize the country or what have you, and they’ve made some gains in Donetsk. And they’re losing 7,000 soldiers a week—7,000 dead soldiers a week from Russia, so—so as of now, I mean, that’s the assessment we have to make. They’ve made a demand that Ukraine can’t agree to, and so that’s sort of where we are at this point.”

President Donald Trump, on Truth Social October 29: “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

What’s Next

Trump is likely to face opposition to new nuclear testing from Congress, while it remains unclear whether Russia, China or others are testing their weapons or not.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Thursday, (11/13/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

In Russia’s weapons rollout, a challenge to the global nuclear balance – CSMonitor.com

The Christian Science Monitor

Russian experts say that the fanfare is all about President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense proposal. Analysts say the exotic weapons …

Iran rebuilding after U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities, report says | Wyoming Public Media

Wyoming Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 7:00 PM BBC -The Newsroom. 0:00. 0:00. All … about 14 of the top, leading nuclear scientists in the Iranian nuclear …

Iran rebuilding after U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities, report says – WKU Public Radio

WKU Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM The Daily. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … about 14 of the top, leading nuclear scientists in the Iranian nuclear …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

US ‘disappointed’ that Rolls-Royce will build UK’s first small modular reactors

The Guardian

Wylfa generated nuclear power from 1971 until 2015, when its last reactor was shut down. Japan’s Hitachi tried to build a new plant there, but …

Britain Gives Go-Ahead to Smaller Nuclear Reactor in Wales – The New York Times

The New York Times

A blocky, windowless building sits on a bluff overlooking a body of water. The Wylfa 1 nuclear power plant, in Wales in 2018. The 1960s-era facility …

Britain Gives Go-Ahead to Smaller Nuclear Reactor in Wales – The New York Times

The New York Times

Stanley Reed, who covers energy and the environment, reported from London. Nov. 12, 2025. Britain will back a modular nuclear power station for …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Putin Ally Issues Nuclear Warning to US: ‘Russia Will Respond’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1996, has kept the threat of escalation somewhat at bay. The ongoing war between Russia and …

A Sobering Duty: U.S. Presidents Grapple with the Sole Authority to Launch Nuclear Weapons – CSIS

CSIS

… nuclear use, especially plans for “total nuclear war. … threats for both compellence and deterrence, but they sought to avoid nuclear use.

“Resumption of Nuclear Testing”—Not So Fast! – Global Security Review

Global Security Review

This declaration supports that resolve without making a direct threat to any adversary. It simply puts them on notice. Whether President Trump’s …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin Ally Issues Nuclear Warning to US—’Russia Will Respond’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That …

Trump’s nuclear test order projects toughness — and sows confusion – The Hill

The Hill

… nuclear arsenal. Trump’s reference to the War Department thus hinted at his unfamiliarity with the institutional framework governing nuclear weapons.

UN watchdog hasn’t been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons grade uranium in months

AP News

… nuclear sites in June … Enable accessibility. AP Logo. Menu. World. SECTIONS. Israel-Hamas War Russia-Ukraine War …

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 12, 2025

Today’s Nuclear Related Image . . .

DEFENSE SECRETARY Pete Hegseth receives a signed executive order from US President Donald Trump to rename the defense department as the Department of War, in September 2025.

(photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

This quote from the following article from the “Jerusalem Post“ by Louis Renee Beres tells us about all we need to know . . .

“Unless the United States and other states refuse to follow Donald Trump’s incoherent policies, a nuclear war could rage until every sturdy flower of culture had been trampled.”

The whole world seems to “get it” except the United States, and it is beyond me how or why Trump is still in office because he is now considered by so many world-wide — including a majority of U.S. citizens to be “incoherent” or “deranged”, and a dangerous liability for dozens upon dozens of reasons, not the the least of which is the possibility of him starting a nuclear war either purposefully or accidentally. Either way, it doesn’t matter because such a nuclear war would be a “Doomsday” war. ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Jerusalem Post/Opinion

Trump’s risky nuclear policy: ‘Tepid legality’ is preferable to ‘maximum lethality’ – opinion

Unless the United States and other states refuse to follow Donald Trump’s incoherent policies, a nuclear war could rage until every sturdy flower of culture had been trampled.

DEFENSE SECRETARY Pete Hegseth receives a signed executive order from US President Donald Trump to rename the defense department as the Department of War, in September 2025.

(photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

By LOUIS RENÉ BERES

NOVEMBER 12, 2025 02:24

Updated: NOVEMBER 12, 2025 02:31

Under the tutelage of Donald Trump, the United States faces growing risks of a nuclear war. These risks could be manifested incrementally or all at once. They concern both intentional and unintentional conflicts.

World peace requires enforceable world law. However, in announcing a Department of Defense name-change to Department of War on September 5, 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth promised “maximum lethality, not tepid legality.” The message was clear: Better an invigoratingly hot war than a disappointingly lukewarm peace.

Could there be any justification for reaching such a jumbled conclusion? Modern international rules were codified at the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, and seventeenth-century anarchy is now morphing into something much more ominous. Such ongoing transformation owes to the increasing complexity of strategic decision-making in world politics. As a dynamic process, this transformation can be understood only with correspondingly complex thought.

The dangers of a nuclear war

The new Netflix movie A House of Dynamite offers a scenario in which the nuclear aggressor is not readily identifiable. In the real world, this scenario is entirely credible. As the number of nuclear powers increases, the plausibility of an “anonymous attacker scenario” must also increase. Even without verifiable expansion of nuclear weapon states, accelerating the arms race by American renewals of nuclear testing would open a Pandora’s box of potentially irremediable harms.

Since the 17th century, global stability has depended on a presumed balance of power. Still, this “balance” has never been anything more than a simplifying fiction. In today’s world of rapidly approaching chaos, longstanding security deficits are being exacerbated. In the Middle East, the strategies of a simplifying American president could have survival consequences for the State of Israel.

For both Washington and Jerusalem, no choice between mad and irrational adversaries will be available. Whether the United States would do better to confront irrationality, madness or both will not be President Trump’s decision to make. On this predictable incapacity, Washington’s only sensible imperative should be to base all principal conflict-related decisions, especially nuclear war avoidance, on solid intellectual foundations.

WHAT SHOULD reasonably be expected concerning the rising risks of nuclear war? In brief, there will be no solutions from competent political authority; no reassuring answers in common sense. It is only by elevating science-based logic above a president who reasons by intuition that the United States and Israel could avoid irremediable harms.

Even though we humans ought to have become more civilized since the 17th century Peace of Westphalia, species survival has never been a linear process. Unless the United States and other states refuse to follow the incoherent policies of a president who has no attention to spare for serious reasoning, a nuclear war could rage until every sturdy flower of culture had been trampled. At that no longer unimaginable stage, millions could perish in paroxysmal quakes of primordial unreason.

There is one final conclusion. Since the seventeenth century, our anarchic world can best be described as a “system.” Events in any one part of this ungovernable world could affect what happens in some or all other parts. When deterioration is marked and begins to spread from one state to another, corollary effects would undermine the presumed infrastructures of balance. When deterioration is rapid and catastrophic, as would be the case following the start of unconventional war or unconventional terrorism, cascading harms would become unmanageable.

More than at any previous time in American history, this is a moment to prefer “tepid legality” to “maximum lethality.” This observation is not meant to minimize the importance of a strong nuclear deterrence posture, but rather to acknowledge that any acceleration of nuclear arms competition would dangerously undermine this posture. Ipso facto, any such weakening would negatively impact the State of Israel.

The writer is an emeritus professor of international law at Purdue University and the author of many books and scholarly articles on international law, nuclear strategy, nuclear war, and terrorism, including Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016; second edition, 2018).

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Wednesday, (11/12/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Iran rebuilding after U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities, report says – Iowa Public Radio

Iowa Public Radio

NPR’s Steve Inskeep talks to Joseph Rodgers, the author of a report on Iran’s development of nuclear … All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM The …

Iran rebuilding after U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities, report says – NPR

NPR

All Things Considered · Fresh Air · Up First. Featured. Embedded · The NPR … about 14 of the top, leading nuclear scientists in the Iranian nuclear …

Kremlin warns of ‘dangerous’ nuclear rhetoric – CNN

CNN

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov tells CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen about what he describes as “dangerous” nuclear rhetoric in an exclusive interview …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear power is making a comeback, says IEA

World Nuclear News

After more than two decades of stagnation, global nuclear power capacity is set to increase by at least one-third to 2035, according to the latest …

Wylfa nuclear power station: US ambassador backs large-scale plans – BBC News

BBC

The US ambassador to the UK has urged the UK government to commit to a large-scale nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey.

Energy Department to lend most loans for nuclear power plant projects – CBS Austin

CBS Austin

… nuclear power plants — to get those first plants built.” The secretary, speaking at a conference held by the American Nuclear Society, noted that …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Officials issue warning after concerning incident at nuclear power plant: ‘An emergency situation’

The Cool Down

Ukrainian officials have been very worried after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — recently lost its external power …

Officials issue warning after concerning incident at nuclear power plant: ‘An emergency situation’

NewsBreak

Ukrainian officials have been very worried after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — recently lost its external power supply …

Improving the safety of the population: Federal Council wants to close gaps in the planning … – Save

Save

… nuclear power plant accident. Thanks to its simple core idea and its modular structure with the three elements «emergency meeting points …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia-US: All Set for New Nuclear Weapons Tests? – Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post

“I think that such a nuclear confrontation (not a war) … Neatkarīgā compares today’s nuclear threats between West and East with those of the 1980s ( …

Trump’s policies can lead to a nuclear war | The Jerusalem Post

The Jerusalem Post

Regarding Israel, this means a better understanding of nuclear war risks involving Pakistan and North Korea. … threats of military deterrence.

Pacific CSOs condemn US plans to hold nuclear tests – Islands Business

Islands Business

… nuclear arms race. The Pacific collective warned that renewed nuclear testing and ongoing threats by nuclear armed states posed grave dangers to …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Russia will conduct nuclear tests if other nuclear power resume them, Lavrov says – Reuters

Reuters

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The Security Brief: Trump and Putin bring back nuclear threat | BBC News – YouTube

YouTube

Save. Report. Comments. Add a comment… 14:31 · Go to channel · Russia is waging a war against Europe – here’s the proof. Channel 4 News New 174K …

INTERVIEW: How humanity could be destroyed in an afternoon – triple j – ABC News – ABC News

Full Coverage

How Venezuela is Preparing for a Possible U.S. Attack – Time Magazine

Time Magazine

The carrier joins eight warships, a nuclear submarine, F-35 jets, and some 10,000 U.S. personnel already deployed to the region in previous months …

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15 Active Volcanoes In America That Could Blow Tomorrow – AOL.com

AOL.com

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Business Insurance

The Yellowstone supervolcano has a caldera, or a geographic depression …

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 11, 2025

Today’s Nuclear Related Image . . .

See image description and credits in the article by “Modern Diplomacy” featured below. ~llaw

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

The title and subtitle tells us precisely what the most important function of nuclear armed — which includes Nuclear Power these days — countries and their leaders must face and react to our now global nuclear world. It goes like this, and unfortunately includes, at least for the moment, Donald J. Trump . . . ~llaw

“The Greatest Affair of State”: Managing Risks of Nuclear Warfare

One overarching question should emerge: What ought to be done by the United States and other states, both nuclear and non-nuclear, to prevent a nuclear war?

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

“The Greatest Affair of State”: Managing Risks of Nuclear Warfare

One overarching question should emerge: What ought to be done by the United States and other states, both nuclear and non-nuclear, to prevent a nuclear war?

ByProf. Louis René Beres

November 11, 2025

“Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the way to survival or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed.”– Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

If “warfare is the greatest affair of state,” nuclear warfare is “greatest of the greatest.” Though such a distinction may first seem exaggerated or gratuitous, Sun–Tzu’s oft-quoted message is anything but out of date. Long after his sobering observation, the ancient Chinese strategist’s insight remains more urgent than ever.

None of this is hyperbole. There are many tangible particulars. In a recently-released film, an unidentifiable nuclear missile is seen heading for the United States.[1] For the American president and his operational chain-of-command, there is no way of determining if the incoming weapon was launched intentionally, if it was ordered by legitimate government authority or if its firing was the result of accident or inadvertence. While the movie lacks substantive analytic content, its underlying warning is altogether on-point: In a global military universe of staggering complexity, something irremediable will eventually go wrong.

Promptly. one overarching question should emerge: What ought to be done by the United States and other states, both nuclear and non-nuclear, to prevent a nuclear war? To grapple with this question, it will first be necessary to understand that the risks of an intentional nuclear war are not the same as the risks of an unintentional or accidental nuclear war.

Should the American president and his senior advisors take false comfort from more-or-less plausible assumptions of enemy rationality, they would be ignoring something indispensable:

Even perfectly rational adversaries could commit consequential errors in calculation and/or fail to prevent a miscalculated or accidental firing.

Even a presumptively flawless system of missile defense (e.g., Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome”) could never be 100% effective.

When dealing with nuclear weapons, anything less than a perfect “reliability of intercept” could prove catastrophic

There are significant nuances and details. For the United States, the accelerating threat of a nuclear war ought never to be dealt with as a “one-off” peril. Instead, this threat should always be assessed as part of a comprehensive generic problem; that is, ensuring national survival in a worldwide “state of nature.”[2] Impacted by the structural limitations of global anarchy – limitations highlighted by the continuous absence of any centralized world authority[3] – no state belligerent should reasonably be expected to prioritize considerations of international law.[4] Nowhere should this warning be more obvious than in the case of Donald J. Trump’s United States, a state where the incumbent president does not even pretend to abide by international law. This assertion is not a narrowly ad hominem or partisan judgment, but only a conspicuous and unchallengeable fact.

What is there to learn about nuclear war avoidance? What can be discovered by science? To begin, because a nuclear war has never been fought, gainful national security policies will need to be based on variously abstract deductions.[5] This limitation does not signify any absence of scientific inquiry, but it renders impossible any logic-based appraisal of nuclear war probabilities.

Expectations of “Escalation Dominance”

In the inherently ungovernable “state of nature,” international crises and belligerent confrontations are inevitable. Ipso facto, the historically “correct” way for powerful states like the United States to remain powerful is by demonstrating the capacity and willingness to dominate high-value crisis escalations. To best ensure perceived capacity and willingness, this country will at various times need to take exceptional risks, but simultaneously to avoid nuclear warfare.

It will be a delicate balancing act. Decisional errors could be unforgiving and irreversible. Above all, such potentially existential errors will need to be unraveled intellectually before they are managed politically.

There is more. In world politics, nothing is more practical than good theory. To figure out what is actually happening or about to happen between the United States and prospective adversaries, both non-nuclear and nuclear, it will be necessary to situate crises within broad theoretical frameworks. But what should be the correct intellectual starting point?

Whoever the specific adversaries, American strategists seeking to protect the United States from deliberate nuclear attack (unintentional nuclear attacks risks will pose different risks and remedies) will have to accept facilitating assumptions of adversarial rationality.[6] In essence, without such assumptions, there could be no meaningful theory of nuclear strategy and nuclear warfare.[7] At the same time, these reassuring assumptions have no recurring basis in world history and might not hold up in certain still-contemplated confrontations.

There is a fundamental dilemma. Going forward, critical dangers will be created by enemy hacking operations, unrelated computer malfunctions and/or decision-making miscalculations[8] In each pertinent scenario, damaging synergies could arise that would prove difficult or impossible to reverse.

Historical Context and Expanding Threats

In these expectedly bewildering matters, history will deserve a recognizable pride of place. Since 1945, the global balance of power has been transformed, in considerable measure, to a “balance of terror.”[9] In crisis circumstances where at least one adversarial state party is already-nuclear, an uncontrolled search for “escalation dominance” would enlarge the risks of unintentional or inadvertent nuclear war. Though widely overlooked and underestimated, these risks would include nuclear war by accident or decisional-miscalculation (there are not the same problem) and could be incurred in several parts of the world. As a clarifying point of terminology, in those cases where only one state party was already-nuclear, these risks would define an “asymmetrical nuclear war.”

The “solution” to now-proliferating nuclear crisis risks is not to wish-away any adversarial search for “escalation dominance” (inter alia, such a wish would be contrary to the internal “logic” of anarchic or chaotic world politics[10]), but to manage all prospectively nuclear confrontations at their lowest possible level of destructiveness. Wherever feasible, therefore, it would be best to avoid such confrontations altogether and to maintain “circuit breakers” against both strategic hacking and technical malfunction.[11]

Looking ahead, much of US survival planning should concern revived Iranian plans for nuclear status. Inter alia, the credible approach of a nuclear Iran[12] would likely encourage counter-vailing nuclearization by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and/or Turkey. In this connection, non-Arab Pakistan[13] would likely become a more direct adversary of the United States and Israel.[14] In early November 2025, Israel signed a new mutual defense pact with India and US President Trump was threatening to re-start nuclear weapons testing.

Pakistan is an already-nuclear Islamic state with close ties to China. Like Israel, Pakistan is not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Nuclear China has never renounced its presumed right to “recover” Taiwan by military force.

More from Clausewitz

“Everything is very simple in war,” says Carl von Clausewitz in On War, “but the simplest thing is very difficult.” With America “in the loop,” Israel will consider more closely those circumstances wherein issuing nuclear threats against its still pre-nuclear adversary in Tehran could seem gainful. In part, at least, Israeli conclusions would depend on the small state’s prior transformations of “deliberate nuclear ambiguity” (the “bomb in the basement”[15]) into variants of “selective nuclear disclosure.”[16] Though such considerations would concern matters that are sui generis or without historical precedent, Israel could have no rational alternative.

International relations have reached a point where country-strategists must become more theoretical and more specific. What is the analytic difference between a deliberate or intentional nuclear war and one that would be unintentional or inadvertent? Without considering this vital distinction, little of calculable policy use could be said about the likelihood of nuclear conflict. Still, because there has never been an authentic nuclear war(Hiroshima and Nagasaki don’t “count”),[17] scientifically determining relevant probabilities will remain technically impossible.

Now in the “final innings” of an incomparably important competition, capable American analysts will have to identify optimal strategies for anticipating and averting nuclear warfare. Among other things, this task will vary according to (1) presumed enemy intentions; (2) presumed plausibility of accident or enemy hacking intrusions; and/or (3) presumed plausibility of decisional-miscalculation. Considered together as cumulative categories of nuclear threat, these component risks of a nuclear war should always be described as “high-urgency.”

There will need to be associated linguistic clarifications. Any particular instance of accidental nuclear war would be inadvertent, but not every case of an inadvertent nuclear war would be the result of accident. Most worrisome could be damage-limiting strikes that leave the target state unsure about launching follow-on strikes. Here, in order to protect itself against such more-or-less plausible escalations, the target state could launch a massive or all-out retaliation.

A Double-Edged Sword

Recalling Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz, certain fundamental issues still need to be “pondered and analyzed” in Washington. Such existential matters should never be approached by American national security policy-makers as just a political or tactical problem. Rather, informed by in-depth historical understandings and refined analytic capacities, these military decision-makers should prepare to deal with a large variety of overlapping threat-system hazards. At times, the analyzed intersections will prove “synergistic”[18] or force-multiplying.

For the United States and also Israel after the 2025 war with Iran and Hamas, there will be concerning “geographies” involved in any resumption of active conflict. The North Korean threat as Iranian nuclear proxy should come immediately to mind. And unless synergistic interactions were figured in,[19] American decision-makers could underestimate the total impact of belligerent engagements with the Islamic Republic. The flesh and blood consequences of such underestimations would defy both analytic imaginations and post-war justifications.

Staying on a Collision Course

In the global “state of nature,” unprecedented dynamics of nuclear risk-taking and nuclear deterrence will not fade away on their own. Operating rationally in our centuries-old world system of belligerent nationalism, the US president and Israeli prime minister would likely face a rational Iranian leader, but still remain subject to accidents, ambiguities and miscalculations. If for any reason the Iranian adversary were not similarly rational, (1) the traditional logic of deterrence would be undermined; and (2) Washington and Jerusalem would need to re-define traditionally accepted criteria of “escalation dominance.” To use a nautical metaphor, this result would mean sailing in uncharted waters. Recalling portentous designations on medieval maps, this outcome would signify “dragons.”[20]

Over time, no matter how carefully, responsibly and rationally America’s military survival preparations are carried out, an international order based on an unmanageable “state of nature” will fail. For the moment, certain foreseeable risks of catastrophic failure would concern an unintentional nuclear war with a North Korean[21] or Pakistani state surrogate of Iran. Conflict with a pre-nuclear Iran could at some point become an “asymmetrical nuclear war” (because Israel and its US ally would see no other way to achieving “escalation dominance), but a one-sided advantage for Israel and/or the United States would not preclude extensive harms to already-nuclear belligerents.

Recalling Sun-Tzu’s timeless wisdom, it follows that attendant nuclear warfare risks “must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed.” At its core, this task underscores an intellectual responsibility[22] for disciplined thinkers and strategic theorists.[23] The only role for national political leaders should be focused on explanation, clarification and policy-implementation.

It’s time for a summing up. In choosing between “survival and extinction,” America’s intellectual responsibility will be to (1) identify analytic distinctions between intentional and unintentional nuclear warfare; and (2) assess all corollary risks separately and in their plausible forms of intersection. Unless this primary responsibility is fully understood, no American president’s promise of “peace through strength” could ever be anything more than a grammar school cliché.

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[1] A House of Dynamite (2025).

[2] Seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes notes that although the “state of nations” is in the anarchic “state of nature,” it is still more tolerable than the condition of individuals coexisting in nature. With individual human beings, Hobbes instructs, “…the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest.” But with the continuing advent of nuclear weapons, there is no persuasive reason to believe that the state of nations remains more tolerable. Now, nuclear weapons are bringing the state of nations closer to the true Hobbesian state of nature. See, in this connection, David P. Gauthier, The Logic of Leviathan: The Moral and Political Theory of Thomas Hobbes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 207. As with Hobbes, philosopher Samuel Pufendorf argues that the state of nations is not quite as intolerable as the state of nature between individuals. The state of nations, reasons the German jurist, “lacks those inconveniences which are attendant upon a pure state of nature….” In a similar vein, Baruch Spinoza suggests “that a commonwealth can guard itself against being subjugated by another, as a man in the state of nature cannot do.”

[3] Traditionally, visions of an improved world system were based on replacing the “balance of power” with some promising form of world government authority. In this connection, notes Sigmund Freud: “Wars will only be prevented with certainty if mankind unites in setting up a central authority to which the right of giving judgment upon all shall be handed over. There are clearly two separate requirements involved in this: the creation of a supreme agency and its endowment with the necessary power. One without the other would be useless.” (See: Sigmund Freud, Collected Papers, cited in Louis René Beres, The Management of World Power: A Theoretical Analysis, University of Denver, Monograph Series in World Affairs, Vol. 10 (1973-73), p, 27.) Albert Einstein held similar views. See, for example: Otto Nathan et al. eds., Einstein on Peace (New York, 1960).

[4] Nonetheless, international law is part of US domestic law. In the precise words used by the U.S. Supreme Court in The Paquete Habana, “International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination. For this purpose, where there is no treaty, and no controlling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be had to the customs and usages of civilized nations.” See The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677, 678-79 (1900). See also: The Lola, 175 U.S. 677 (1900); Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F. 2d 774, 781, 788 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (per curiam) (Edwards, J. concurring) (dismissing the action, but making several references to domestic jurisdiction over extraterritorial offenses), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1003 (1985) (“concept of extraordinary judicial jurisdiction over acts in violation of significant international standards…embodied in the principle of `universal violations of international law.’”).

[5] In the clarifying words of mathematical strategist Anatol Rapaport, “Formal decision-theory does not depend on data…. The task of theory is confined to the construction of a deductive apparatus, to be used in deriving logically necessary conclusions from given assumptions.” (Strategy and Conscience; 1964).

[6] Expressions of enemy irrationality could take different and/or overlapping forms. These include a disorderly or inconsistent value system; computational errors in calculation; incapacity to communicate efficiently; random or haphazard influences in the making or transmittal of particular decisions; and internal dissonance generated by any structure of collective decision-making; i.e., assemblies of pertinent individuals who lack identical value systems or whose organizational arrangements impact their otherwise willing capacity to act as a single (unitary) national decision maker.

[7] “Theory is a net,” says philosopher of science Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934): “Only those who cast, can catch.” Interestingly, Popper drew this metaphor from the German poet, Novalis.

[8] See by this writer, Louis René Beres, at Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: https://thebulletin.org/biography/louis-rene-beres/

[9] This term was originally popularized by distinguished political scientist Albert Wohlstetter in his classic article “The Delicate Balance of Terror” (1959): Vol. 37, No. 2 (Jan., 1959), pp. 211-234 (Council on Foreign Relations).

[10] See by this author, Louis René Beres, at JURIST, 2022: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/01/louis-beres-international-law-state-of-nature/

[11] Under international law, the question of whether or not a “state of war” obtains between states is different but also ambiguous. Traditionally, it was held that a formal declaration of war was necessary before a true state of war could be said to exist. Hugo Grotius divided wars into declared wars, which were legal, and undeclared wars, which were not. (See Hugo Grotius, The Law of War and Peace, Bk. III, Chaps. III, IV, and XI.) By the start of the twentieth century, the position that war obtains only after a conclusive declaration of war by one of the parties was codified by Hague Convention III. This treaty stipulated that hostilities must never commence without a “previous and explicit warning” in the form of a declaration of war or an ultimatum. (See Hague Convention III Relative to the Opening of Hostilities, 1907, 3 NRGT, 3 series, 437, article 1.) Currently, declarations of war may be tantamount to admissions of international criminality, because of the express criminalization of aggression by authoritative international law, and it could therefore represent a clear jurisprudential absurdity to tie any true state of war to formal and prior declarations of belligerency. It follows that a state of war may now exist without any formal declarations, but only if there exists an actual armed conflict between two or more states, and/or at least one of these affected states considers itself “at war.”

[12] On deterring a potentially nuclear Iran, see, earlier: Louis René Beres and General John T. Chain, “Could Israel Safely Deter a Nuclear Iran?” The Atlantic, August 2012; and Professor Louis René Beres and General John T. Chain, “Israel and Iran at the Eleventh Hour,” Oxford University Press (OUP Blog), February 23, 2012. General Chain (USAF/deceased) had served as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Strategic Air Command (CINCSAC).

[13] Pakistan has reaffirmed its right to “fist-use” of nuclear weapons, and has been deploying nuclear warfighting weapons for the past several years. https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2025/04/pakistans-first-use-nuclear-policy-in-conflicts-with-india/ In this connection, conspicuous preparations for nuclear war fighting could be conceived not as provocative alternatives to nuclear deterrence, but rather as essential and integral components of nuclear deterrence. Some years ago, Colin Gray, reasoning about U.S.-Soviet nuclear relations, argued that a vital connection exists between “likely net prowess in war and the quality of pre-war deterrent effect.” (See: Colin Gray, National Style in Strategy: The American Example,” INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, 6, No. 2, fall 1981, p. 35.) Elsewhere, in a published debate with this writer, Gray said essentially the same thing: “Fortunately, there is every reason to believe that probable high proficiency in war-waging yields optimum deterrent effect.” (See Gray, “Presidential Directive 59: Flawed but Useful,” PARAMETERS, 11, No. 1, March 1981, p. 34. Gray was responding directly to Louis René Beres, “Presidential Directive 59: A Critical Assessment,” PARAMETERS, March 1981, pp. 19 – 28.).

[14]See by this writer, Louis René Beres, https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/09/12/can-israeli-nuclear-threats-protect-against-non-nuclear-attacks/#_ftn

[15] See, by this writer, Louis René Beres, at Strategic Assessment (Israel): 2014: https://www.inss.org.il/wp-content/uploads/systemfiles/adkan17_3ENG%20(3)_Beres.pdf

[16] The security benefits to Israel of any explicit reductions in nuclear secrecy would remain dependent, more or less, upon Clausewitzian “friction.” This refers to the inherently unpredictable effects of errors in knowledge and information concerning intra-Israel (IDF/MOD) strategic uncertainties; on Israeli and Iranian under-estimations or over-estimations of relative power position; and on the unalterably vast and largely irremediable differences between theories of deterrence and enemy intent. See: Carl von Clausewitz, “Uber das Leben und den Charakter von Scharnhorst,” Historisch-politische Zeitschrift, 1 (1832); cited in Barry D. Watts, Clausewitzian Friction and Future War, McNair Paper No. 52, October, 1996, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University Washington, D.C. p. 9.

[17] The atomic attacks on Japan in August 1945 represent nuclear weapons use in an otherwise conventional war.

[18] By definition, the “whole” of any synergistic effect would be greater than the sum of its “parts.” Accordingly, focused attention on pertinent synergies should become a primary national security objective for the United States.

[19] See by this author, at Harvard National Security Journal (Harvard Law School): Louis René Beres, https://harvardnsj.org/2015/06/core-synergies-in-israels-strategic-planning-when-the-adversarial-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts/

[20] Hic Sunt Dracones, “Here be dragons,” was the precise cartographic inscription.

[21] Earlier, North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor, the same facility that was destroyed by Israel in its Operation Orchard, on September 6, 2007. Following Operation Opera against Iraqon June 7, 1981, this defensive attack by Israel in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria was a second major expression of the “Begin Doctrine.”

[22] It must not be forgotten,” writes French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in “The New Spirit and the Poets” (1917), “that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.”

[23] Rabbi Eleazar quoted Rabbi Hanina, who said: “Scholars build the structure of peace in the world.” See: The Babylonian Talmud, Order Zera’im, Tractate Berakoth, IX.

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Prof. Louis René Beres

LOUIS RENÉ BERES (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971) is Emeritus Professor of International Law at Purdue. His twelfth and most recent book is Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy (2016) (2nd ed., 2018) https://paw.princeton.edu/new-books/surviving-amid-chaos-israel%E2%80%99s-nuclear-strategy Some of his principal strategic writings have appeared in Harvard National Security Journal (Harvard Law School); International Security (Harvard University); Yale Global Online (Yale University); Oxford University Press (Oxford University); Oxford Yearbook of International Law (Oxford University Press); Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College (Pentagon); Special Warfare (Pentagon); Modern War Institute (Pentagon); The War Room (Pentagon); World Politics (Princeton); INSS (The Institute for National Security Studies)(Tel Aviv); Israel Defense (Tel Aviv); BESA Perspectives (Israel); International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence; The Atlantic; The New York Times and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Tuesday, (11/11/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Russia-US: all set for new nuclear weapons tests? | eurotopics.net

Eurotopics

Things were more rational during the Cold War. Neatkarīgā compares today’s nuclear threats between West and East with those of the 1980s: “Back …

Trump calls for US to resume nuclear testing | ABC4 Utah

ABC4 Utah

And, of course, we’re discussing all different other ideas for testing,” Wright said. … When asked whether he has been involved in discussions about …

Nuclear waste may travel from Canada to Utah | News From The States

News From The States

Will nuclear waste travel all the way from Ontario, Canada to a site about an hour drive from Salt Lake City?An interstate panel may consider a …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear power will get receive the most Energy Department loans, Chris Wright says

CNBC

The Secretary of Energy said he hopes dozens of nuclear plants are under construction in the U.S. when the Trump administration leaves office.

To Lead in Nuclear Energy, the U.S. and Korea Must Avoid the Reprocessing Trap

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Across his work at NSI and NTI, Matzkin-Bridger focuses on the intersection of clean energy and security, specifically exploring fuel cycle choices …

Potential sites identified for Helsinki SMR plant – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

In September 2024, the company launched the first phase of its nuclear programme, aimed at constructing a small nuclear power plant for producing heat …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia and the US put nuclear testing back on the table. Is time running out for arms control?

Chatham House

… War arms control has been built upon. This highlights how nuclear … dangers of nuclear threats, writes James Orr. 31 March 2023 2 minute …

“The Greatest Affair of State”: Managing Risks of Nuclear Warfare – Modern Diplomacy

Modern Diplomacy

… nuclear, these risks would define an “asymmetrical nuclear war.” The … nuclear threats against its still pre-nuclear adversary in Tehran …

JEFF MCMULLEN: The boy with no eyes — the dangers of a new nuclear arms race

Independent Australia

JEFF MCMULLEN: The boy with no eyes — the dangers of a new nuclear arms race … Trump’s reckless nuclear testing threats risk reigniting an arms race …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Russia ‘will respond in kind’ to nuclear tests by any country: Lavrov – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

In other words, it directly indicates that this individual, as assistant to the secretary of war, intends to view the use of nuclear weapons as a …

Russia and the US put nuclear testing back on the table. Is time running out for arms control?

Chatham House

… War arms control has been built upon. This highlights how nuclear rhetoric is increasingly deployed as a tool of political coercion – and how …

Iran seeks ‘peaceful nuclear deal’ with US, official says | Reuters

Reuters

Repeating Tehran’s view, Khatibzadeh accused Washington of “betraying diplomacy” and the nuclear talks have stopped since the June war. Major gaps …

See more results | Edit this alertNuclear Power EmergenciesNEWS

Russia’s Drone Barrage Targets Odesa Amid Winter Power Offensive – Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post

… nuclear power plants. Those facilities were forced to temporarily … Emergency power outages have been introduced in several regions, with …

Make Nuclear Energy Great Again – RealClearPolicy

RealClearPolicy

U.S. nuclear power has long been stalled by excessive regulations and … President Trump’s January declaration of a National Energy Emergency …

Pueblo’s US House Rep. Jeff Hurd asks secretary of Energy to keep Comanche plants open

Pueblo Chieftain

… emergency order under 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. “If this … nuclear reactor. He told the Chieftain that advanced nuclear energy is …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

15 Active Volcanoes In America That Could Blow Tomorrow – Yahoo

Yahoo

Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming. A volcano erupting. Shutterstock. The Yellowstone Caldera is not just a tourist hot spot; it’s one of the largest …

Sangay Volcano Volcanic Ash Advisory: VA EMS OBS to 23000 ft (7000 m)

Volcano Discovery

Yellowstone quakes · Latest earthquakes under Yellowstone volcano. List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano.

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 10, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

Missiles fired from Iran are pictured in the night sky over Jerusalem on June 14, 2025. | Menahem Kahana/Getty Images/AFP

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

Possible Iran/Israel war, North Korea/South Korea War, continued Russia/ Ukraine War all have the same serious problem that must be corrected immediately to avoid eventual nuclear war mayhem and very likely, WWIII, better known as Doomsday..

The problem is the erratic behavior and the incompetence of Donald Trump and his administration’s amateurish interference together with the obvious lack of honest and straightforward communications and the questionable recognition of even whose side the USA is on or else, just as questionable, international negotiations with non-allied countries and timely help for our allies. Virtually every action Trump has taken, including the failure of a civil negotiation with an acceptable “uranium facility power operations” that worked fine with the original agreement during the Obama administration that Trump tore up and left Iran with the ability to do whatever they desired to do with their “nuclear facilities” for several years. Trump killed any new agreement entirely all by himself, refusing to fairly and honestly negotiate with Iran.

And it all has grown worse from there, including the once-smooth functions of our general Democratic Republic; our struggling economy; the unreliable relationships with Russia, Venezuela, Canada, Denmark, and other countries; inadequate supporting of Ukraine and its President and NATO; the “Midnight Hammer” secret attack on Iran, along with Israel, on Iran’s nuclear facilities for no worthwhile or good reason; and other issues like lying about how he stopped several wars with other countries, deserving the Nobel Peace Prize, via “trade deal-making”, and other non-stop lies.

What America needs most of all right now is a comprehensive political, legal, military, and civil coalition to force Trump and his administration out of the White House offices as soon as possible — and in the meantime find a way to prevent him from acting on our country’s behalf in any “executive” way or manner until he is impeached, and pays the appropriate price and punishment’s for the crimes he has committed against the United States of America. ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Iran’s New Threat: ‘2000 Missiles at Once’

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Published

Nov 10, 2025 at 09:39 AM EST

updated

Nov 10, 2025 at 09:41 AM EST

By Amir Daftari

News Reporter

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

Iran is accelerating its missile production with the stated goal of being able to fire 2,000 missiles at once in any future confrontation with Israel, aiming to overwhelm the country’s advanced defense systems, according to a report by The New York Times.

The ambition marks a sharp escalation from June’s 12-day war, when Iran launched roughly 500 missiles in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its critical infrastructure, military bases and nuclear facilities. Officials have reportedly said missile factories are operating around the clock to achieve this larger-scale capability.

Newsweek has contacted Iran and Israel’s Foreign Ministries for comment.

Missiles fired from Iran are pictured in the night sky over Jerusalem on June 14, 2025. | Menahem Kahana/Getty Images/AFP

Why It Matters

Iran’s expanding missile program underscores the growing volatility in the Middle East. If Tehran reaches its target capacity, Israel’s multi-layered missile defenses could face unprecedented pressure. The buildup occurs amid a tense stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program and President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy.

Earlier this year, Israel’s surprise attack on Iran sparked a 12-day conflict that concluded with U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. While the war temporarily paused hostilities, it left both sides poised for renewed confrontation. Tehran’s accelerated missile production and ongoing nuclear activity suggest that any future clash could exceed the scale of the previous exchange, raising the risk of rapid escalation across the region.

What to Know

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On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Iran has shifted toward mass-strike readiness, with missile factories reportedly operating 24 hours a day to reach the explicit goal of being able to launch 2,000 missiles simultaneously. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told the NYT that Tehran hopes to “overwhelm Israeli defenses” in a future confrontation, rather than repeating the more limited response seen in June.

Regional Isolation

This push comes amid a broader context of regional isolation and strategic recalibration. According to the report, Iran is more isolated from the West than it has been in decades. Competing regional Arab powers, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have increased influence in Washington and with Trump, leveraging both economic ties and cooperation on regional conflicts, including attempts to mediate the Gaza war.

Syria’s new president is set to visit Washington seeking U.S. support; under the previous Assad government, Syria had been a key Iranian strategic ally. An erosion of influence in key regional capitals appears to be reinforcing Tehran’s focus on self-reliance, missile buildup, and nuclear expansion as a hedge against reduced diplomatic leverage.

Israeli Perspective

Israel’s perspective reflects the urgency these developments create. Israeli officials view Iran’s nuclear and missile advances as existential threats. Although Israel’s June offensive was halted under U.S. pressure, officials reportedly consider the work unfinished and see no barrier to resuming strikes if Iran continues advancing its nuclear and missile programs.

A heavily damaged building stands in a residential area a day after an Iranian missile strike in Beersheba, Israel, on June 25, 2025. | Ariel Schalit/AP Photo

Nuclear Inspections

In related news, on Monday Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed that U.N. inspectors had visited its nuclear sites, a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged Tehran to “seriously improve” cooperation to avoid escalating tensions with the West. The agency has conducted roughly a dozen inspections since June but reported last week that it had been denied access to facilities including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, all of which were targeted by U.S. strikes.

“As long as we are NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) members, we will abide by our commitments. Inspectors visited several facilities, including the Tehran Research Reactor,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, without specifying the other sites, underscoring Iran’s cautious approach to international oversight.

What People Are Saying

Director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group Ali Vaez told the NYT: “If there is another war, they hope to fire 2,000 [missiles] at once to overwhelm Israeli defenses, not 500 over 12 days as they did in June.”

Iran’s Foreign MInistry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday: “Our consistent expectation from the IAEA and its director-general is to act strictly within their technical mandate and avoid speculation. We continue to urge the agency to base its assessments on professional and verifiable facts rather than political assumptions.”

What Happens Next

The current lull in hostilities may be more strategic than permanent, offering a brief window for both sides to reassess and recalibrate. Future confrontations could unfold quickly, testing regional alliances and the patience of global powers, including Washington, where Trump’s approach to negotiations with Tehran could prove decisive. How Iran and Israel choose to maneuver in this tense environment will likely shape not only the immediate security landscape but also the broader trajectory of Middle East diplomacy for years to come.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Monday, (11/10/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Russia hits Ukrainian nuclear plants as leaders worry it could spark ‘catastrophic’ incident

New York Post

“We also urge all states that value nuclear safety, particularly China … Things Aren’t Looking Good In The Mahomes’ MarriageTheList.com.

To Lead in Nuclear Energy, the U.S. and Korea Must Avoid the Reprocessing Trap

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Across his work at NSI and NTI, Matzkin-Bridger focuses on the intersection of clean energy and security, specifically exploring fuel cycle choices …

Will General Electric’s New Canadian Nuclear Reactor Doom Oklo to Irrelevance? – Nasdaq

Nasdaq

Key PointsWhen it comes to SMR nuclear reactors, Nano Nuclear, NuScale, and Oklo get all the good press.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Russia hits Ukrainian nuclear plants as leaders worry it could spark ‘catastrophic’ incident

New York Post

Russia’s latest drone and missile attack struck stations powering two major nuclear plants in Ukraine, putting Europe in danger of a “catastrophic …

Belgium flounders as 5 drones buzz nuclear power plant – Politico.eu

Politico.eu

Five drones were spotted flying over Belgium’s Doel nuclear power plant near the Port of Antwerp on Sunday evening, energy company Engie said.

U.S.-Japan Trade Deal: Investment Commitments in Nuclear Energy – AAF

The American Action Forum

This insight provides a summary of the U.S. investment deal with Japan – which exported about $1.4 million worth of nuclear reactor parts to the U.S. …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Russia hits Ukrainian nuclear plants as leaders worry it could spark ‘catastrophic’ incident

New York Post

… power to Ukraine’s Rivne nuclear power plant overnight. Vitaliy Koval … Emergency crews were deployed to stabilize the power grid, but Energy …

International nuclear industry associations unite ahead of COP30

World Nuclear Association

… energy. Nuclear, a pillar of a resilient low‑carbon energy mix. In a context of climate emergency and sharply rising electricity demand, nuclear power …

Belgium flounders as 5 drones buzz nuclear power plant – Politico.eu

Politico.eu

Five drones were spotted flying over Belgium’s Doel nuclear power plant near the Port of Antwerp on Sunday evening, energy company Engie said.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Iran’s New Threat: ‘2000 Missiles at Once’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

IranTehranMissilesIsraelWarDonald TrumpWashington D.C. … Israeli officials view Iran’s nuclear and missile advances as existential threats.

Trump and Putin bring nuclear threat back into spotlight | International – EL PAÍS English

EL PAÍS English

Trump and Putin nuclear threat A nuclear test by the United States … nuclear control era established during the Cold War. Trump’s post on …

Putin takes his war to space. What can go wrong? – The Economic Times

The Economic Times

… nuclear attack. Russia and … India’s efforts to develop space warfare capacity appears to be aimed at defending itself from Chinese threats.

Deterrence, Compellence, or Credibility Fatigue? Russian Nuclear Threats in the War on Ukraine – Taylor & Francis Online

Nuclear War

NEWS

How we restore sanity in a world of nuclear madness – Greenpeace Aotearoa

Greenpeace

Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for A House of Dynamite. Nuclear madness is back on the table. Last week, US President Trump …

Ukraine war briefing: Lavrov reappears, ready to offer Marco Rubio same demands

The Guardian

Putin has said Russia would not conduct a nuclear test unless the US did so first. Ukrainian strikes disrupted power and heating to Voronezh and …

Russia Launches Fiery Attack On ‘CLUELESS’ Trump After Nuclear Shock By Lavrov & Putin

YouTube

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov rejected U.S. claims that Russia’s Burevestnik missile and Poseidon submarine tests were “nuclear” explosions.

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Bad news—scientists discover a new trigger for global warming hidden beneath the Earth’s crust

Unión Rayo

To better understand this phenomenon, scientists studied the Yellowstone caldera. This is a huge supervolcano that spreads across Wyoming, Idaho, and …

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 09, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

Inside the north portal to a five-mile tunnel in Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Review-journal | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

Well, as always when it comes to “All Things Nuclear” we have the cart way out there before the horse! And every day the two get farther and farther apart. Deep underground storage facilities should have been completed by the early 1980s so radiation safety measures could have been functional not only for existing nuclear waste, but for the future.

I remember reviewing maps of the proposed nuclear waste sight at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain — that’s almost 50 years ago — but the project has never been completed to this day and has been defunded for several of those years. And, as I say, the problem grows daily, and has become not only a USA problem, but a global problem. Nuclear waste from Japan’s Fukushima power plant, which suffered a catastrophic Tsunami destruction of its nuclear plant, has even recently been allowed to dump millions of gallons of “treated” nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean, in order to rid themselves of a potential radiation tragedy by creating a 2nd one. Storage of nuclear waste is most often stored in drums in ponds at the same nuclear reactors of power plants that were responsible for the waste.

The CNBC article below by author Bob Woods will clearly explain to you why this extremely serious problem must be resolved before any more nuclear reactors and their nuclear power plants should even be built, much less commissioned for production of electricity.

Read it all and weep! And be sorry that the nuclear world has been allowed to intentionally neglect perhaps the most currently serious function of all — taking care of nuclear waste. And don’t think because some of these plants are being allowed to recycle their plutonium that that solves the dangers of nuclear waste at all. And every one of us should know that the reason much of this plutonium waste was not recycled when it was 1st used was because at the time it was considered by the energy companies to be too expensive to recycle, so it became — up until the Trump administration began offering it back to the nuclear power industry for free — which means the energy corporations get a double bonus of free recycled plutonium fuel. ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear Power

NEWS

New U.S. nuclear power boom begins with old, still-unsolved problem: What to do with radioactive waste

Published Sun, Nov 9 20259:00 AM EST

Bob Woods

WATCH LIVE

Key Points

• The Trump administration aims to quadruple the current nuclear energy output over the next 25 years through construction of conventional reactors and next-gen small modular reactors, but a clear solution has yet to emerge for the old issue of radioactive waste.
• More than 95,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel (with a minority from weapons programs) sits temporarily stockpiled in special water-filled pools or dry casks at 79 sites in 39 states.
• The Department of Energy has no permanent disposal facility for nuclear waste, leaving taxpayers on the hook for payments to utilities of up to $800 million every year in damages, a bill that has reached $11.1 billion since 1998, and could grow to $44.5 billion in the future.

Castor containers for high-level radioactive waste.

Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images

Nuclear power is back, largely due to the skyrocketing demand for electricity, including big tech’s hundreds of artificial intelligence data centers across the country and the reshoring of manufacturing. But it returns with an old and still-unsolved problem: storing all of the radioactive waste created as a byproduct of nuclear power generation.

In May, President Trump issued executive orders aimed at quadrupling the current nuclear output over the next 25 years by accelerating construction of both large conventional reactors and next-gen small modular reactors. Last week, the U.S. signed a deal with Westinghouse owners Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management to spend $80 billion to build nuclear plants across the country that could result in Westinghouse attempting to spinoff and IPO a stand-alone nuclear power company with the federal government as a shareholder.

There’s a growing consensus among governments, businesses and the public that the time is right for a nuclear power renaissance, and even if the ambitious build-out could take a decade or more and cost hundreds of billion of dollars, it will be an eventual boon to legacy and start-up nuclear energy companies, the AI-fixated wing of the tech industry and investors banking on their success.

But there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Only two nuclear power plants have been built since 1990 — more than $15 billion over budget and years behind schedule — and they went online in just the last two years. Almost all of the 94 reactors currently operating in 28 states, generating about 20% of the nation’s electricity, were built between 1967 and 1990. And though often unspoken, there’s the prickly issue that’s been grappled with ever since the first nuclear energy wave during the 1960s and ’70s: how to store, manage and dispose of radioactive waste, the toxic byproduct of harnessing uranium to generate electricity — and portions of which remain hazardous for millennia.

Solutions, employing old and new technologies, are under development by a number of private and public companies and in collaboration with the Department of Energy, which is required by law to accept and store spent nuclear fuel.

The most viable solution for permanently storing nuclear waste was first proffered back in 1957 by the National Academy of Sciences. Its report recommended burying the detritus in deep underground repositories (as opposed to the long-since-abandoned notion of blasting it into low-Earth orbit). It wasn’t until 1982, though, that Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, assigning the DOE responsibility for finding such a site.

Five years later, lawmakers designated Yucca Mountain, a 6,700-foot promontory about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, as the nation’s sole geological repository. Thus began a contentious, years-long saga — involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, legislators, lawyers, geologic experts, industry officials and local citizens — that delayed, defunded and ultimately mothballed the project in 2010.

Other nations have moved forward with the idea. Finland, for instance, is nearing completion of the world’s first permanent underground disposal site for its five reactors’ waste. Sweden has started construction on a similar project, and France, Canada and Switzerland are in the early stages of their subterranean disposal sites.

Workers inspect the Repository in ONKALO, a deep geological disposal underground facility, designed to safely store nuclear waste, on May 2, 2023, on the island of Eurajoki, western Finland.

Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images

An American startup, Deep Isolation Nuclear, is combining the underground burial concept with oil-and-gas fracking techniques. The methodology, called deep borehole disposal, is achieved by drilling 18-inch vertical tunnels thousands of feet below ground, then turning horizontal. Corrosion-resistant canisters — each 16 feet long, 15 inches in diameter and weighing 6,000 pounds — containing nuclear waste are forced down into the horizontal sections, stacked side-by-side and stored, conceivably, for thousands of years.

Deep Isolation foresees co-locating its boreholes at active and decommissioned nuclear plants, according to CEO Rod Baltzer. “Eighty percent look like they have good shale or granite formations nearby,” he said, referring to a geologic prerequisite. “That means we would not have to transport the waste” and the risk of highway or railway crashes unleashing radioactive material.

The company has received grants from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy program, Baltzer said, and in July closed a reverse merger transaction, an alternative to an IPO for going public. Through that deal, he said, “we raised money for a full-scale demonstration project [in Cameron, Texas]. It will probably be early 2027 by the time we get that fully implemented.”

Recycling radioactive waste for modular reactors

An entirely different, old-is-new-again technology, pioneered in the mid-1940s during the Manhattan Project, is gathering steam. It involves reprocessing spent fuel to extract uranium and other elements to create new fuel to power small modular reactors. The process is being explored by several startups, including Curio, Shine Technologies and Oklo. France has been utilizing reprocessed nuclear fuel at its vast network of reactors since the 1970s.

Oklo has gained attention among investors drawn to its two-pronged approach to nuclear energy. The company — which went public via a SPAC in 2024, after early-stage funding from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm and others — announced in September that it is earmarking $1.68 billion to build an advanced fuel reprocessing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Concurrently, the company signed an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority “to explore how we can take used nuclear fuel sitting on its sites and convert it into fuel we can use in our reactors,” said a company spokeswoman.

That refers to the TVA’s three nuclear reactors — two in Tennessee, another in Alabama — as well as the other part of Oklo’s business model, which focuses on constructing SMRs. In September, the company broke ground in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on its Aurora fast reactor, a type of SMR that will use reprocessed nuclear fuel. “We’re working on [reprocessing] the fuel right now, so that we can turn on the plant around late 2027 or early 2028,” the Oklo spokeswoman said. The separate Oak Ridge facility, she said, is expected to begin producing fuel by the early 2030s.

Oklo exemplifies both the promise and the perplexity associated with the rebirth of nuclear power. On one hand is the attraction of repurposing nuclear waste and building dozens of SMRs to electrify AI data centers and factories. On the other hand, the company has no facilities in full operation, is awaiting final approval from the NRC for its Aurora reactor, and is producing no revenue. Oklo’s stock has risen nearly 429% this year, with a current market valuation of more than $16.5 billion, but share prices have fluctuated over the past month.

“It’s a high-risk name because it’s pre-revenue, and I anticipate that the company will need to provide more details around its Aurora reactor plans, as well as the [fuel reprocessing] program on the [November 11] earnings report call,” said Jed Dorsheimer, an energy industry analyst at William Blair in a late October interview. “But we haven’t changed our [outperform] rating on the name as of right now,” he added.

In the meantime, more than 95,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel (about 10,000 tons is from weapons programs) sits temporarily stockpiled aboveground in special water-filled pools or dry casks at 79 sites in 39 states, while about 2,000 metric tons are being produced every year. That’s a lot of tonnage, but requires perspective. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade association, states that the entirety of spent fuel produced in the U.S. since the 1950s would cover a football field to a depth of about 12 yards.

But because the DOE, despite its mandate, still hasn’t found a permanent disposal facility for nuclear waste, taxpayers pay utilities up to $800 million every year in damages. Since 1998, the federal government has paid out $11.1 billion, and the tab is projected to reach as much as $44.5 billion in the future.

The DOE’s Department of Nuclear Energy has initiated several programs to address nuclear waste, including coordination with Deep Isolation and Oklo. The agency declined to comment on its efforts in this area, citing the federal government shutdown.

Debate over size of the radiation problem

Opponents to nuclear power cite the well-documented accidents at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania (1979), Chernobyl in Ukraine (1986) and Fukushima in Japan (2011) — all three which resulted in radiation leaks, and, at Chernobyl and Fukushima, related deaths — as reasons enough to halt building new reactors. Following Fukushima, Japan, Germany and some other nations shut down or suspended operations. Japan has since restarted its nuclear energy program, and its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is expected to accelerate it.

There’s also the viewpoint, related to climate change, that nuclear energy is a emissions-free power source — and unlike solar and wind runs 24/7/365 — that produces relatively manageable waste.

“If you walk up to recently discharged spent fuel and get really close to it, you’ll probably get a lethal dose of radiation,” said Allison Macfarlane, professor and director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, as well as the chair of the NRC from 2012–2014. “But is it this huge, massive problem? No, it’s solvable.” By comparison, she said, “we are under much graver threat from fossil fuel emissions than we are from nuclear waste.”

As far as nuclear waste, “we need to put [it] deep underground,” Macfarlane said.

That was the recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, created by the Obama administration in 2010 after the Yucca Mountain project was defunded, on which she served. Macfarlane deems spent fuel reprocessing as far too expensive and a source of new waste streams, and dismisses deep borehole disposal as a “non-starter.”

“You think you’re going to be able to put waste packages down a hole and they’re not going to get stuck on the way?” she said.

Inside the north portal to a five-mile tunnel in Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Review-journal | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Macfarlane said that the Trump administration’s fast-tracking of new reactors is neither realistic nor achievable, but “I certainly would not support shutting down the operating reactors. I’m not anti-nuclear, but I’m practical.”

She added that while nuclear may not face the current intermittent production challenges of renewables, it is one of the most expensive forms of electricity production, especially compared to utility-scale solar, wind and natural gas.

Nonetheless, the rush to build new reactors — and generate even more waste — marches on alongside the data center boom. Google and NextEra Energy are teaming up to reopen Iowa’s Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear plant that closed five years ago. Microsoft and Constellation Energy plan to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor in 2028. And Meta has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation and its Clinton, Illinois, nuclear facility.

Although no SMRs have been completed yet in the U.S., several projects are under development by companies including NuScale Power, Holtec International, Kairos Power and X-Energy, which has received backing from Amazon. The only SMR actually under construction is from Bill Gates’ co-founded TerraPower, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, which aims to be operational by the end of 2030.

Those long timelines alone should be a deterrent, said Tim Judson, executive director of the Nuclear Information Resource Service, a nonprofit advocate for a nuclear-free world. “It is fanciful to think that nuclear energy is going to be helpful in dealing with the increases in electricity demand from data centers,” he said, “because nuclear power plants take so long to build and the data centers are being built today.”

And then there’s the waste issue, Judson said. “I’m not sure that the tech industry has really thought through whether they want to be responsible for managing nuclear waste at their data center sites.”

But you can count Gates, the big tech billionaire who was backing nuclear even before the AI data center boom, as having not only thought about the waste problem, but dismissed it as major impediment. “The waste problems should not be a reason to not do nuclear,” Gates said in an interview with the German business publication Handelsblatt back in 2023. “The amount of waste involved … that’s not a reason not to do nuclear. … Say the U.S. was completely nuclear-powered — it’s a few rooms worth of total waste. So it’s not a gigantic thing,” Gates said.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Sunday, (11/09/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Trump Orders Nuclear Test Restart, Ignites New Arms Race Fears | India Today – YouTube

YouTube

… All you need to do is PRESS THE BELL ICON next to the Subscribe button … History of Simple Things•699K views.

Pablos Holman on AI, the Future, and Why the World Needs More Energy

AOL.com

If you see Bill Gates talking about nuclear reactors, that’s the one. In about 2007, and every year since then, we’ve been unable to get the U.S. …

U.S. Successfully Tests Minuteman III ‘Doomsday’ Nuclear Missile |WION Top Stories

YouTube

… that is not biased. We are journalists who are neutral to the core and … KILL ALL Rats And Mice Around Your Home. Safe For Pets! Arrow Pest …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

New nuclear power boom begins with old problem: Radioactive waste – CNBC

CNBC

As government and industry, from tech giants to utilities, commit to big nuclear power plants, there is still no clear solution for radioactive …

Are we entering a ‘golden age’ of nuclear power? | The Week

The Week

The government aims to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050, taking it to 24 gigawatts (GW), about a quarter of projected UK annual electricity …

Russian attacks target nuclear substations, kill seven, Ukraine says | Reuters

Reuters

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine, targeting substations that supply two nuclear power plants and …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Russia strikes substations powering Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants

pravda.com.ua

Emergency power outages introduced in Ukraine after large-scale …

Ukraine urges emergency IAEA meeting after Russian strikes on nuclear power substations

RBC-Ukraine

Russian forces carried out a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine during the night of November 8, targeting substations that supply power …

Zelenskyy Warns Against ‘Weak’ Western Response As Russia Blasts Ukraine’s Energy Sector

RFE/RL

Emergency crews battle flames following a Russian strike near Kyiv on November 8. KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kept up his call for …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Putin’s Nuclear Threats Don’t Work on Trump. Here’s Why – Newsweek

Newsweek

Russia-Ukraine WarDonald TrumpNuclear warVladimir Putin. News Article. Putin’s Nuclear Threats Don’t Work on Trump. Here’s Why. Published. Nov 09 …

Russian Army’s Missile Attack Reply To Trump’s Nuclear Threat Causes Panic In Ukraine, Europe?

YouTube

Russian Army’s Missile Attack Reply To Trump’s Nuclear Threat Causes Panic In Ukraine, Europe?|Putin. 9.5K views · 6 hours ago #RussiaUkraineWar …

The worrisome signals in Trump’s nuclear saber rattling – Daily Herald

Daily Herald

… nuclear threat has not gone away, and it is the responsibility of our leaders to reduce that threat and not to rattle nuclear sabers. • Keith …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Ukraine latest: Kyiv faces power outage after ‘one of the largest’ Russian attacks – The Independent

The Independent

State-owned energy company Tsentrenergo said the attacks were one of the largest on its facilities since the start of the war … nuclear weapon in 35 …

Russian Army’s Missile Attack Reply To Trump’s Nuclear Threat Causes Panic In Ukraine, Europe?

YouTube

Nuclear tensions are mounting in Europe after Russia launched missile strikes targeting energy substations supplying Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi and …

Ukraine war briefing: Russia deliberately ‘endangering nuclear safety in Europe’ says Kyiv

The Guardian

Ukraine says drones are targeting substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear plants. What we know on day 1355.

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“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 08, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

A fire at the site of a Russian drone strike in the city of Chuguiv, Kharkiv region, early on November 7, 2025, (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP) (Photo b…Read More

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

If anyone tries to tell you — and they will — that Nuclear Power Plants are not potentially critical parts of a Nuclear War, they are lying to you!

The Russia/Ukraine war has proven that axiom over and over (with Russia’s 17 or 18 attacks on Ukraine nuclear power plants and Ukraine with at least 2 attacks on nuclear power plants in Russia during the 4-year-old world. These attacks are not only a part of an useless and illegal war, but they are also technically beyond “war” per se, and can more accurately be considered “war crimes” against innocent civilians.

When you realize this clearly demonstrates how vulnerable the U.S. and eastern Canada are little more than “sitting ducks” in the event of even a non-nuclear war — as Russia and Ukraine have sadly demonstrated over the last few years. Fortunately both countries have been able to repair the military damage caused by attacks on plants and incoming feed of necessary remote power lines, allowing both sides to have avoided several close calls of a disastrous “nuclear meltdown”.

The United States is the most war-vulnerable country on earth, even in a temporary “non-nuclear war” with 94 operating nuclear power plants followed by China with 57 and Russia with 37. Canada has 19. that would no doubt become a nuclear war with or without nuclear bombs. It easy to see that nuclear power plants are simply stationary nuclear weapons, “or Sitting ducks”. And yet the U.S. government and the nuclear energy industry is pushing the need for more and more nuclear power plants all the while touting how “safe” nuclear energy is. We are lying to ourselves.

In a world of a potential nuclear WWIII why would any country and its government allow such a potential catastrophe to even be considered for production of electricity? The only answer that I can think of is ignorance and an attitude with the apathetic mindset that, “Well, if WWIII happens, it will be the end of us all anyway . . .”

What a sad, mindless, and hopeless way to live one’s life with nuclear devastation hanging over our heads! Just ask yourself, “Is it worth it?” ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Ukraine Sees Emergency Power Outages After Russian Attacks

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Published

Nov 08, 2025 at 06:07 AM EST

By Brendan Cole

Senior News Reporter

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

Cities across Ukraine were targeted by Russian missiles and drones overnight Friday, resulting in casualties and widespread power outages.

Russia’s latest bombardment included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Nichita Gurcov, an analyst with ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) told Newsweek that following the collapse of recent Russia-U.S. talks, Moscow is increasing its bombing campaign to disrupt Ukraine’s electricity and heating infrastructure as the winter sets in.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

A fire at the site of a Russian drone strike in the city of Chuguiv, Kharkiv region, early on November 7, 2025, (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP) (Photo b…Read More

Why It Matters

Previous Russian strikes in October wiped out around 60 percent of Ukraine’s gas production sites, and the overnight attacks come as Moscow intensifies attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure to plunge the country into yet another harsh winter.

This comes amid wider Russian attack on cities closer to Ukraine’s front-line regions, signaling that Moscow has no intention of easing up its targeting of infrastructure or agreeing to any ceasefire.

What To Know

Monitoring groups reported that Russia launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, cruise and ballistic missiles across Ukraine. The cities of Kremenchuk, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv were targeted.

Explosions were also heard in Kyiv, the city of Sumy, and Odesa Oblast, while areas in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Poltava oblasts were also hit. Images shared on social media showed the moment of impact as well as the aftermath of the strikes.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said that in Dnipro, a multi-story building was damaged in a drone strike that killed a woman and injured 11 people, including a 13-year-old girl.

Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said the attacks had targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and there were emergency power outages in several regions.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported energy infrastructure was struck in Odesa Oblast amid the ballistic missile attack. In a statement on social media, it said all of Ukraine could face outages for between six and 18 hours a day.

Gurcov told Newsweek that Moscow was “doubling down on a long-range bombing campaign that seeks to disrupt Ukraine’s electricity and heating infrastructure ahead of the cold.”

ACLED said that last month that Russia had wiped out nearly 60 percent of Ukraine’s natural gas extraction capacity, damaged at least four hydroelectric power plants, targeted transmission and storage infrastructure across western Ukraine, and impacted operations at three nuclear power plants.

Following the collapse of Russia-U.S. talks on Ukraine, Russia is attempting to occupy as much of Ukraine as possible before the onset of adverse weather, Gurcov added.

What People Are Saying

Anton Gerashchenko, former Ukrainian interior ministry advisor, on X: “Massive Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine tonight. Many Ukrainian regions are under attack. A very large number of Russian ballistic and aeroballistic missiles tonight. The air raid alert continues.”

Nichita Gurcov: “Following the collapse of Russia-United States talks on Ukraine, Russia is attempting to occupy as much of Ukraine as possible before the onset of adverse weather.

He added: “Russian forces are also doubling down on a long-range bombing campaign that seeks to disrupt Ukraine’s electricity and heating infrastructure ahead of the cold.”

What Happens Next

With no ceasefire imminent, Russia is likely to continue its targeting of Ukrainian sites. But Ukraine is hitting back, targeting numerous critical oil and gas sites in the last month, the latest in Crimea this week, dealing a blow to Russia’s energy industry.

Gurcov said Russia’s targeting of energy infrastructure has prompted Ukrainian forces to respond in kind and expand their deep strike campaign beyond just oil refineries, he added.

This means that Russian civilians may also face the prospect of blackouts and loss of heating supply due to the war, he added.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Saturday, (11/08/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

US government backs new nuclear investment | Wood Mackenzie

Wood Mackenzie

Between them, the partners can tackle everything from uranium mining, enrichment and permitting to financing and building the reactors and finding …

Nuclear News 40 Under 40—2025 — ANS / Nuclear Newswire

American Nuclear Society

I’m working on seeing every national park in the United States. I’m about one-third of the way there—although I’m giving myself grace if I don’t make …

Appeals officer rules against Pilgrim Nuclear in radioactive water discharge case

Vermont Public

All Things Gardening · Brave Little State · Homegoings · But Why · Rumble Strip … A state appeals officer has issued a recommendation against the …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Donald Trump Signs New Nuclear Deal with Vladimir Putin Ally – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear power plant. “We will sign a major intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy with my foreign minister colleague …

Putin’s nuclear blackmail has expired

The Hill

… power, but geological conditions nuclear weapons can’t replicate. … The Poseidon and Burevestnik use nuclear–powered engines, not nuclear warheads.

NATO’s Rutte says nuclear drills showed alliance has strong deterrent | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear power to be a joint attack. Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing … Russia hits several key Ukraine energy facilities, kills three people.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Ukraine Sees Emergency Power Outages After Russian Attacks – Newsweek

Newsweek

… power plants, targeted transmission and storage infrastructure across western Ukraine, and impacted operations at three nuclear power plants.

Russia again massively attacks Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – Ministry of Energy

unn.ua

УНН War in Ukraine ✎ Russia again attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leading to emergency power outages in several regions.

Emergency Power Outages in Ukraine Following Russian Attacks on Energy Infrastructure

Межа

Emergency power outages were implemented across several Ukrainian regions on November 8 due to a massive Russian attack on the country’s energy ..

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Putin’s nuclear blackmail has expired

The Hill

… nuclear threats as his go-to weapon against Western support for Ukraine. Battlefield setbacks? Cue the warnings about “red lines” and World War III.

NATO’s Rutte says nuclear drills showed alliance has strong deterrent | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear deterrence” in the face of Russian threats … “And (Russian President Vladimir) Putin must know that nuclear war can never be won and must …

NATO’s Rutte says nuclear drills showed alliance has strong deterrent | Arab News

Arab News

… nuclear deterrence” in the face of Russian threats. “When Russia is … “And (Russian President Vladimir) Putin must know that nuclear war can never be …

Nuclear War

NEWS

NATO’s Rutte says nuclear drills showed alliance has strong deterrent | Reuters

Reuters

“And (Russian President Vladimir) Putin must know that nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought. … nuclear power to be a joint attack.

Wakeup Calls on the Verge of Human Annihilation – The Santa Barbara Independent

The Santa Barbara Independent

… nuclear attack. In sum, American and Russian presidents can start a nuclear war, unimpeded by any checks and balances. Despite this looming nuclear …

‘Putin Must Know Nuclear War Can Never Be Won’ – NATO’s Mark Rutte – Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has issued a stark warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, stressing that a nuclear war “can never be won …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Wyoming – Earthquake: 3.1 Magnitude Quake Shakes Yellowstone Region – Country Herald

Country Herald

The region regularly experiences small earthquakes linked to ongoing geothermal and volcanic activity within the Yellowstone Caldera, one of the most …

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“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 07, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

The Ivy King test, 1952, Enewetak Atoll. (Courtesy of the National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office via Wikimedia Commons)

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

From the following “EMISSARY” article: Sometimes good policy can be as simple as not nuking yourself in the foot. This is a message to Trump from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

What scares me most is that Trump is just one individual, technically uncontrolled, who fails to consider the constant mistakes he makes, and I am of the opinion this one ranks near the top, if not #1, in his top 10 absolute mistakes — all of them related, so far as my top 10 goes, to both our country and the world.

His mistakes, because he is the “elected” President of the USA — the most affluent and influential country on planet Earth — threatens the life of every living entity on the planet, including you and me, and most all of the unaware animal kingdom as well. Making any mistake that can cause WWIII, is far more critical than, say, shutting down the House of Representatives, which is certainly more than sad enough.

In other words Trump’s individual actions are threatening the world, and no matter his mental health, he is in a position to end life for us all, and, as I said, you and me, and now I am led to believe at least one top General in the U.S. military, has at least preliminarily and unofficially, verbally requested his removal from office, partly because of this arbitrary individual action to restart “nuclear testing” and other issues that could easily erupt into WWIII. ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear WAR

NEWS

The Ivy King test, 1952, Enewetak Atoll. (Courtesy of the National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office via Wikimedia Commons)

commentary

Emissary

Trump Has an Out on Nuclear Testing. He Should Take It.

Sometimes good policy can be as simple as not nuking yourself in the foot.

by James M. Acton

Published on November 6, 2025

On September 23, 1992, shortly after 3 p.m., the ground 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas shook violently as an underground nuclear weapon detonated, releasing as much energy as 5,000 tons of TNT. That explosion was the last nuclear test conducted by the United States. Thirty-three years later, President Donald Trump appears to want to conduct more.

Last Thursday, Trump announced on Truth Social that “because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” In an interview the next day, Trump doubled down: “I don’t wanna be the only country that doesn’t test.”

Resuming the testing of nuclear weapons would be a step toward nuclear anarchy. Fortunately, Trump has a way out. Exploding warheads isn’t the only way to “test” nuclear weapons. The United States could test components or subsystems (a possibility alluded to by Energy Secretary Chris Wright), or it could flight-test nuclear-capable missiles. (Indeed, it does both these already.) Trump should capitalize on this ambiguity by announcing a path forward that doesn’t involve detonating a nuclear warhead.

Central to Trump’s justification for testing is his confident assertion that China and Russia are doing so. The U.S. intelligence community, however, appears to have a more nuanced view. In 2024, the State Department reported that Washington was “concerned” that Beijing and Moscow were testing—a statement that stops short of an unambiguous accusation.

The intelligence community’s apparent uncertainty may be surprising. After all, doesn’t nuclear testing involve humungous explosions that ought to be easy to detect?

Not necessarily.

Nuclear testing can involve tiny “ultra-low” yields, equivalent to igniting fractions of an ounce of TNT. In such “supercritical” experiments—which could be conducted to check the safety of existing warhead designs—nuclear material is compressed just enough to allow a chain reaction to occur for a moment. It’s like striking a match just hard enough to cause a tiny flame that fizzles in an instant.

The problem facing the intelligence community is not so much detecting supercritical experiments but distinguishing them from subcritical experiments. Subcritical experiments—which could be conducted to understand how nuclear material changes as it ages—involve compressing nuclear material but stopping just before a nuclear chain reaction begins. This time, the match sparks but does not quite catch.

The distinction between supercritical and subcritical experiments may seem arcane—and, in fairness, it is. The experiments use similar, perhaps identical, equipment, which makes it extremely tricky for rivals to differentiate between them. It’s one thing to notice someone striking matches; it’s another to see whether they’re doing so just hard enough to create the most evanescent of flames. But the difference matters because, for Washington, it defines the point at which an experiment involving nuclear material becomes a nuclear test. The U.S. government does not consider subcritical experiments to be nuclear testing—it conducts them itself. Its concern is that Chinese and Russian experiments cross to just the other side of the criticality line.

Yet, even if China and Russia are conducting ultra-low-yield nuclear tests, the costs to the United States of resuming testing itself will outweigh the benefits.

Ultra-low-yield testing probably won’t help China and Russia make more effective nuclear weapons. In 2012, the U.S. National Academies concluded that “it is unlikely that [such] tests would enable Russia to develop new strategic capabilities outside of its nuclear-explosion test experience.” China, with less experience in nuclear-weapon design, is even less well-placed to capitalize on ultra-low-yield testing, with the National Academies stating that “it is not clear how China might utilize such testing in its strategic modernization,” which is another reason to question whether Beijing is engaged in this activity.

Meanwhile, there is no technical reason for the United States to test nuclear weapons of any yield. It can ensure the safety and reliability of its current stockpile without detonating existing warheads, and it could even design new warheads based on previous tests (whether or not that’s a good idea).

Indeed, for many supporters of nuclear testing, the primary reason to test isn’t technical—it’s political. One advocate told the Washington Post that the United States needs to “do something to demonstrate that we’re not going to be intimidated or coerced by these autocrats in Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang.” If this is the goal, ultra-low-yield testing—which isn’t exactly Trumpian, anyway—wouldn’t suffice. It’d be necessary to make the ground shake, equivalent to throwing the lit match onto a sea of gasoline.

This step would open Oppenheimer’s box (sorry, Pandora). If the United States conducts a full-scale nuclear test, China, Russia, and North Korea will likely follow. In fact, they may even precede the United States, given the year or three required to prepare a test at the facility formerly known as the Nevada Test Site. Moreover, a Chinese test will almost inevitably spark an Indian test, and an Indian test will prompt a Pakistani one. All these states will want to detonate ground shakers too.

Such a world would be more tense and less secure. Any resumption of testing would, in part, reflect increased international tensions, but it would also exacerbate them. Leaders would believe—correctly—that rivals were seeking to intimidate them through testing and take steps to show those rivals have failed. Those steps—nuclear tests, exercises, or threats, say—would risk driving tensions higher.

To make matters worse, other states could make more use of testing data than the United States. The United States conducted over 1,000 nuclear tests previously, while Russia has conducted 715 and China a mere forty-five. As a result, U.S. weapon scientists almost certainly understand nuclear-weapon physics better than their Russian and Chinese counterparts. A restart of full-yield testing will level the playing field, allowing Russia and particularly China to develop new types of nuclear weapons.

Sometimes good policy can be as simple as not nuking yourself in the foot. Trump has an out. He should take it.

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ODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Friday, (11/07/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

‘US has enough nuclear to blow up world 150 times’: Donald Trump says ‘we are number 1’

Times of India

I have spoken to President Putin and Xi about it, and everybody would like to spend all of that money on other things,” Trump said. “I want peace all …

Vladimir Putin’s endless nuclear threats are a sign of Russian weakness – Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council

Russia’s latest bout of nuclear posturing reveals much about Moscow’s … All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Terms and …

How authorities plan on cleaning up giant nuclear waste dump site in Armstrong County

YouTube

… nuclear waste dumps in the country. KDKA-TV’s Erika Stanish has … All Things Secured New 5K views · 19:26 · Go to channel. I Visited Abandoned …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

New US Nuclear Missile May Have Broken Cover – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear–powered torpedo and a missile capable of striking anywhere in the world. The unconfirmed appearance of the new U.S. nuclear cruise missile …

NuScale Power Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results

NuScale Power

… Power” or the “Company”), the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced SMR nuclear technology, today announced results for …

Economists say nuclear power might lower Ohio energy costs

Ohio Capital Journal

Electricity prices are rising in Ohio with increasing demand from data centers powering artificial intelligence. Adding power from nuclear plants …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

China Reveals Critical Specifications For World’s Largest Nuclear–Powered Cargo Ship

Marine Insight

… electricity, compared to around 33 percent in traditional steam-based nuclear systems. The ship will also have a 10MW diesel generator for emergencies …

Japan to Step Up LNG Purchases for Emergency Reserve From January, Industry Ministry …

EnergyNow.com

… nuclear reactor outages, among other issues. JERA confirmed it has secured one cargo for each of the three winter months over the past two winters …

Transfers, postings of doctors suspended except for national emergencies

The Business Standard

… emergencies. Bangladesh. TBS Report. 07 November, 2025, 12:50 am … Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: Md Tajul Islam/TBS · Exchange rate adjustment …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Vladimir Putin’s endless nuclear threats are a sign of Russian weakness – Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council

… nuclear threats aimed at Western leaders. This Russian nuclear saber-rattling has remained a prominent feature of the war ever since. Putin’s …

Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ sparks discussion about nuclear threats | PBS News

PBS

Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ sparks discussion about nuclear threats … The threat of nuclear war was actively debated and discussed. The …

Trump Has an Out on Nuclear Testing. He Should Take It.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

The Nuclear Policy Program aims to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Our experts diagnose acute risks stemming from technical and geopolitical …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Vladimir Putin’s endless nuclear threats are a sign of Russian weakness – Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council

… nuclear threats aimed at Western leaders. This Russian nuclear saber-rattling has remained a prominent feature of the war ever since. Putin’s nuclear …

Trump Has an Out on Nuclear Testing. He Should Take It.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Last Thursday, Trump announced on Truth Social that “because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start …

Talk of new atomic tests by Trump and Putin should make UK rethink its role as a nuclear …

The Conversation

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said that Russia may could carry out nuclear weapons tests for the first time since the cold war.

Weekly Roundup of News from iaea.org

11/07/2025

This week at the IAEA: from the World Nuclear Exhibition to preparations for COP30 — explore how nuclear energy is contributing to climate solutions, supporting women in the field, and linking global ambition with local action.

7 November 2025

IAEA at COP30: Nuclear Energy, Technology and Science Shaping a Sustainable Future

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7 November 2025

Update 326 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

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6 November 2025

Nuclear Explained – Why Do We Need Nuclear Power?

Global momentum continues to build behind nuclear power. There are more than 400 nuclear reactors in operation today in 31 countries, and the number of countries that are considering, planning or well advanced in introducing nuclear power into their energy mix has grown to around 40. Read more →

6 November 2025

IAEA and AtkinsRéalis Sign Partnership to Support Women in Nuclear Energy

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4 November 2025

IAEA Takes Centre-Stage at World Nuclear Exhibition 2025

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3 November 2025

Nuclear is Global. Nuclear is Local.

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Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 06, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

Airmen from the 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron prepare an intercontinental ballistic missile reentry system for removal from a launch facility, Feb. 2, 2018, in the F. E. Warren Air Force Base missile complex. (Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/Air Force) Since then, U.S. nuclear testing has relied on computer simulations designed to predict how a weapon would respond if triggered.

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LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,”

“That process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote.

The following “DefenseNews” article below by Stephen Losey explains why this is a very, very, very, bad idea . . .

Following my angry Review of Trump’s extremely insane decision to arbitrarily do this — all by himself — and the obviously extremely dangerous and the absolutely unnecessary risk to the entire world, I need not blow off anymore steam or elaborate today . . . ~llaw

Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear POWER

NEWS

Experts: Full nuclear weapons tests would backfire on US

By Stephen Losey

Airmen from the 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron prepare an intercontinental ballistic missile reentry system for removal from a launch facility, Feb. 2, 2018, in the F. E. Warren Air Force Base missile complex. (Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/Air Force) Since then, U.S. nuclear testing has relied on computer simulations designed to predict how a weapon would respond if triggered.Since then, U.S. nuclear testing has relied on computer simulations designed to predict how a weapon would respond if triggered.

Resuming full testing of nuclear weapons — as President Donald Trump called for last week — would be unnecessary, costly, undermine nonproliferation efforts, and empower the nation’s adversaries to use their own tests as intimidation, experts told Defense News.

Trump’s unexpected announcement, which came in the form of an Oct. 29 social media post, surprised many nuclear specialists — and sparked concerns that the United States may end its 33-year moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump posted on TruthSocial.

“That process will begin immediately,” he wrote.

When asked for comment about nuclear testing plans, the Pentagon’s public affairs office pointed to an Oct. 31 video of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Malaysia, in which he said testing nuclear weapons is a responsible way to ensure the country has “the strongest, most capable nuclear arsenal so that we maintain peace through strength.”

“The president was clear: We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent,” Hegseth said, “That is the baseline of our deterrence.

“Having understanding and resuming testing is a pretty responsible — very responsible — way to do that. I think it makes nuclear conflict less likely, if you know what you have and make sure it operates properly,” he said.

Hegseth also said the military would work with the Energy Department on this testing.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News Nov. 2 that tests focusing on the subsystems of new nuclear weapons are already in the works, but he said the tests would not result in a full nuclear detonation.

“The tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions. So you’re testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”

Fox News host Peter Doocy said it sounded like “this is not something where people who live in the Nevada desert should expect to see a mushroom cloud at some point.”

“No, no worries about that,” Wright said.

From ‘Trinity’ to ‘Divider’

The United States carried out 1,054 nuclear tests over nearly half a century. The first such explosion took place at the Trinity site in New Mexico in 1945 and is widely viewed as one of the pivotal moments of the 20th century. The final U.S. test — an underground detonation dubbed Divider — took place in September 1992 at the Nevada Test Site west of Las Vegas.

Then-President George H.W. Bush issued a temporary moratorium on nuclear testing following that detonation, which his successor, President Bill Clinton, extended indefinitely.

At the time, said John Erath, the senior policy director for the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a global movement against nuclear testing was on the rise. The United States joined that effort in part because it did not want other nations causing that kind of ecological damage, he said, but also because the U.S. was far ahead of the rest of the world.

“The U.S. had conducted over 1,000 nuclear tests,” Erath said Monday in an interview with Defense News. “We had all the data necessary to know how nuclear weapons work, to verify that U.S. nuclear weapons would work, and other people didn’t. So by stopping testing when we did, we sort of locked in an advantage in knowledge that persists to this day.”

Since then, U.S. nuclear testing has relied on computer simulations designed to predict how a weapon would respond if triggered.

Wright said on Fox News that the United States’ advanced laboratories and computing power devoted to nuclear weapons provide a major advantage over other nations.

“We can simulate incredibly accurately exactly what will happen in a nuclear explosion,” Wright said. “And we can do that because in the ’60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, we did nuclear test explosions. We had them detailedly instrumented, and we measured exactly what happened. Now we simulate what were the conditions that delivered that, and as we change bomb designs, what will they deliver?”

Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, speaking Monday to Defense News, pointed to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in California as an example of the kind of state-of-the-art facilities that the U.S. developed for safe nuclear testing purposes.

According to its website, the National Ignition Facility uses the largest and highest-energy laser system in the world to create controlled thermonuclear reactions and study them to ensure the U.S. nuclear stockpile will function as intended.

Its laser focuses more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy and up to 500 trillion watts of power onto a target the size of a pencil eraser, creating temperatures multiple times hotter than the sun, and massive pressures.

“These extreme conditions cause hydrogen atoms in the target to fuse and release energy in a controlled thermonuclear reaction,” the website reads.

As the government modernizes and extends the life of aging weapons in its nuclear stockpile, through efforts such as the W80-4 life extension program, it uses experiments at places such as the NIF to determine whether the weapons will still react properly if used.

Those simulation capabilities obviate the need for any testing of existing, upgraded, or new weapons, Kristensen said.

“It’s just a fundamentally different situation for the United States,” he said.

The U.S. now is modernizing its nuclear forces by creating a new gravity bomb, the B61-13, and new warheads to go on the upcoming LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and the Trident II D5 missile.

Part of that work will involve tests of the warheads’ critical subsystems, Erath said.

He said, though, that is it not necessary to go through the entire process and trigger the nuclear reactions that create devastating blasts to know whether the weapon will work.

“What happens after the plutonium goes critical is well known,” Erath said, “So you don’t need to do an explosive mushroom cloud-and-crater kind of nuclear test.

“You can do the smaller-scale subcritical testing, and that has been happening.”

Rattling a house of dynamite?

If the United States shatters the taboo against nuclear tests it helped create, other nations are sure to follow with their own tests, Erath said. Once that happens and they start to gather more detailed information on their own nuclear devices, he said, they will start to catch up to America.

It was not immediately clear what Trump was referring to when he referred to other nations’ testing programs.

In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, Trump claimed without evidence that China and Russia have conducted clandestine nuclear weapons tests deep underground.

“Russia’s testing nuclear weapons and China’s testing them too,” Trump said. “You just don’t know about it. … You make nuclear weapons, and then you don’t test. How are you going to do that? How are you going to know if they work?”

China, which conducted its last known nuclear explosion in 1996, denied Trump’s claim. CBS reported that a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman told reporters Monday that China has “abided by its commitment to suspend nuclear testing,” and called on the United States to do the same.

In response to Trump’s comments, the AP reported Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered his nation’s defense and foreign ministries to analyze the United States’ intentions on nuclear testing and submit proposals for a resumption of Russia’s nuclear tests.

The only nation known to have conducted nuclear tests in the 21st century is North Korea, which detonated six devices underground between 2006 and 2017.

Russia announced Oct. 26 that it had successfully tested a cruise missile, called Burevestnik, that uses a nuclear-powered propulsion system and could carry a nuclear payload. Experts have played down Russia’s launch of the missile, saying Burevestnik’s technologies are not new and mainly geared toward intimidation and deterrence.

“Nuclear-powered cruise missiles are not innovative — the U.S. looked into this technology in the 1940s and 1950s, but ultimately decided that ballistic missiles were better at guaranteeing penetration of enemy defenses,” said William Alberque, who previously led a NATO analysis center devoted to arms control and nonproliferation.

Lukas Kulesa, director of proliferation and nuclear policy at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said the Russian missile would not be effective for potential first or retaliatory strikes, primarily because it is slower than intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, Erath said it is possible the nuance of the difference between a nuclear-powered missile test and a nuclear weapon test was lost as word traveled through the White House.

“It’s not the actual nuclear weapon, it’s a delivery system – assuming it works, and that’s a big ‘if,’” Erath said.

The United States regularly conducts tests of its own nuclear-capable ICBMs, the Cold War-era Minuteman III, without nuclear warheads.

The latest test occurred early Tuesday morning, when an unarmed Minuteman III launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and flew about 4,200 miles to a military test site in the Marshall Islands. An array of advanced sensors collected data throughout the missile’s terminal phase to determine if it performed correctly.

However, there is a significant difference between the two nations’ tests, Erath said.

The U.S. tests its ICBMs to maintain an effective nuclear deterrent and test its equipment, he said. Russia’s recent test, he said, was timed to ramp up pressure on the West over the Ukraine war.

“Russia was sending a message that they have nuclear capabilities and they’re not afraid to use them, in order to put more pressure [on allies] to resolve the Ukraine war, which is not going very well for Russia at present, … in such a way that will lock in Russian gains,” Erath said.

If the U.S. government were to proceed with full tests that explode nuclear weapons, Erath said, it would likely happen underground. That would minimize the environmental impact, he said, but not eliminate it entirely, because leaks can happen.

The diplomatic consequences and harm to nonproliferation efforts would be far more severe, Erath said. The United States would likely receive a storm of condemnation from other nations, he said.

With the global moratorium on nuclear weapons testing broken, Erath said, nations such as Russia, China, North Korea, India and Pakistan would likely follow Washington’s example.

“The dominoes would fall,” Erath said. “It would not be advantageous to U.S. foreign policy in any way.”

Kristensen agreed.

“They have comparatively more to gain from this than the United States,” Kristensen said.

“For countries like China, India and Pakistan, they have real interest in conducting more nuclear tests, because it would enable them to develop more advanced capabilities or check things they didn’t quite get to check the way they wanted to do when they did their nuclear test series.”

Kristensen said India and Pakistan, which are not believed to have perfected the two-stage thermonuclear bomb, would particularly benefit from a resumption of testing.

“They would absolutely start testing weapons,” Kristensen said.

Erath said he doubts a resumption of nuclear tests would simultaneously erode the taboo against using them against an enemy in war.

He said, though, that nuclear weapons are a tool of intimidation and that Moscow has repeatedly rattled its nuclear saber in recent years to discourage Western nations from providing more arms or other support to Ukraine. Russia in particular could use resumed nuclear tests to amplify its nuclear threats, he said.

Kristensen said the worldwide reaction to Trump’s social media post showed how volatile the issue is, and how care is needed when discussing it.

“This one ran around the world like a firestorm,” Kristensen said. “That helps indicate the severity of raising this issue. … If the United States were to go back on [its nuclear testing moratorium], that would have significant consequences around the world.”

Kristensen also noted that it took days after Trump’s post for Energy Secretary Wright to clarify what the nuclear testing would entail, and said Trump’s comments seem to have been made without advance coordination with government officials and agencies who could quickly address what the president meant.

“This kind of confusion and uncertainty undermines U.S. credibility with its allies,” Kristensen said. “They need to know if they can trust U.S. policies. … If the U.S. president now begins to signal that he’s interested in [nuclear testing] in some shape or form … it’s going to add to the pool of uncertainties [allies] have about what kind of partner the United States is now, and will be in the future.”

Carrying out these tests would also be difficult, Erath said, largely because the facilities designed to carry out such tests haven’t been used in more than three decades.

“They would need a lot of work and a lot of money to be made ready to test again,” Erath said. “That’s got to come from somewhere.”

Using money from preexisting nuclear modernization programs, Erath said, could, ironically, diminish U.S. military nuclear forces readiness.

He said it is hard to say how much getting nuclear test sites and equipment ready might cost but that it “would not surprise me if it topped a billion” dollars.

“Nuclear facilities don’t come cheap,” Erath said. “There’s a lot of specialized equipment involved that isn’t made anymore, so you’re going to have to reengineer some of that.”

Kristensen said he visited the former Nevada Test Site west of Las Vegas — now called the Nevada National Security Site — a few years ago and saw equipment used for tests decades ago, exposed to the elements out in the open and “rusty.”

“Behind a fence was equipment that used to be used in these instrumented tests,” Kristensen said. “Trailers where you would have the equipment and personnel, long, long, thick cables that were used to lower in [the warheads]. All this stuff would have to be replaced and geared toward this particular test.”

Replacing outdated or nonfunctioning measurement equipment would likely be expensive, he said.

Digging a hole deep enough for a nuclear bomb test would take months, Kristensen said — and finding the right digging equipment would be another challenge, since not many organizations have needed to dig such holes in the desert for a long time. Once the nuclear device is in there, it has to be sealed properly with materials such as gravel and concrete to keep radioactive materials from venting.

“They would have to build a whole tower over the hole in which they have this instrument package that would be lowered in there,” Kristensen said. “Those instruments would have to be designed by the nuclear laboratories to be able to do what it is that they want to record. There’s so many levels of this that have to fall into place.”

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo in Milan contributed to this story.

About Stephen Losey

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Thursday, (11/06/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Nuclear entering a ‘golden age’, WNE told

World Nuclear News

In addition, 40 nuclear newcomer countries have plans to build a nuclear industry. “So all these three things coming together, I think, what I …

In a looming nuclear arms race, aging Los Alamos faces a major test – KUNM

KUNM

The $1.7 trillion project includes everything from revitalizing missile silos burrowed deep in five states, to producing new warheads that contain the …

Science Group Endorses House Bill to Prohibit Explosive Testing of Nuclear Weapons

Union of Concerned Scientists

Learn more about Nuclear Weapons · Justice · Worldwide · Missile … all the information it needs to maintain a secure and reliable nuclear arsenal

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Experts: Full nuclear weapons tests would backfire on US – Defense News

Defense News

Hegseth also said the military would work with the Energy Department on this testing. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News Nov. 2 that tests …

Trump Westinghouse investment could lead to IPO with U.S. as shareholder – CNBC

CNBC

Energy. Trump nuclear power investment in Westinghouse could lead to IPO with U.S. government as shareholder. Published Wed, Nov 5 20251:14 PM EST.

How US Nuclear Weapons Compare to Russia and China After New Missile Tests

Newsweek

U.S. President Donald Trump said at the American Business Forum on Wednesday: “We redid our nuclear—we’re the number one nuclear power, which I hate …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

FEMA to Evaluate Readiness of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

FEMA

PHILADELPHIA— The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will evaluate a Biennial Radiological Emergency …

IAEA reviews Latvia’s safety framework – Nuclear Engineering International

Nuclear Engineering International

The IAEA has conducted a 10-day EPREV mission in Latvia to assess the nation’s nuclear and radiological emergency preparedness.

Putin considers nuclear tests after Trump threat – Politico.eu

Politico.eu

The Russian president has asked for a feasibility study on resuming nuclear testing following a surprise announcement by his American counterpart.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia’s Latest Nuclear Saber-Rattling: Nuclear Testing? – CSIS

CSIS

… War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. … On the other hand, these statements continue to ratchet up nuclear risks and undermine …

Putin’s nuclear threats require a careful response – The Washington Post

The Washington Post

To avoid descending into nuclear war, each side had to fear the other equally. Threats, counterthreats and weapons testing became essential tools for …

Trump’s Missile Test Triggers Putin’s Nuclear Threat: Nuclear War Underway? | Originals

YouTube

Trump’s Missile Test Triggers Putin’s Nuclear Threat: Nuclear War Underway? … UK On High Alert: Britons Prepare For War & Disaster as Putin’s Threats …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin orders plans for resuming nuclear tests after Trump comments – NBC News

NBC News

War in Ukraine. Putin orders plans for resuming nuclear tests after Trump comments. In a televised meeting with his Security Council in Moscow on …

Russia’s Latest Nuclear Saber-Rattling: Nuclear Testing? – CSIS

CSIS

President Putin’s instruction for Russian military and political leaders to begin “preparations for nuclear weapons tests” follows President …

Putin orders nuclear testing preparations after Trump’s surprise shift – Axios

Axios

Why it matters: Russia boasts the world’s biggest nuclear stockpile, and has increasingly threatened to use it as its war in Ukraine has dragged on.

Discussion about this post

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 05, 2025

Today’s Image . . .

People watch a television broadcast of a North Korean military parade in Pyongyang, which marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, at

LLAW’s All Things Nuclear Review Today . . .

Trump’s erratic and demented mind is threatening nuclear war from his aggressive decision — probably one of his spur of the moment mental aberrations — that he appears too into himself rather than backing away as he has been advised by his own Secretary of Energy, who is responsible for such a change in nuclear functions.

Russia and North Korea are considering “nuclear testing” simply because Trump apparently can’t comprehend simple statements and sentences including his own usually meaningless blather. Two of the most likely enemies to start a nuclear war with the USA — Russia and North Korea — have announced that considering Trump’s decision to once-again begin “nuclear testing”, they will, too.

This is a dangerous and serious situation the USA has been thrown into by a President who evidently misunderstood the definition of “non-nuclear testing” and decided in his own mind that what the meaning was . . .

Trump appears to be incompetent and mentally ill, and needs to be — because we live in a nuclear-threatened world —removed from office asap (like today) . . . As an example, especially regarding Trump’s nuclear involvement, dating back to his offer to work out a new “nuclear agreement” with Iran that failed before it got started from his demanding changes to the negotiation rules before every scheduled meeting during the spring of this year.

Not only are our lives threatened, but lives around the world are also jeopardized by Trump’s bullying actions. Why? Because, as I said, today’s world is a nuclear world. ~llaw

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Today’s Feature Story from LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD TODAY is from category. . .

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

North Korea Poised for Nuclear Test on Kim’s Orders

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People watch a television broadcast of a North Korean military parade in Pyongyang, which marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, at

Published

Nov 05, 2025 at 03:39 AM EST

By Robert Birsel and John Feng

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

North Korea is ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test if leader Kim Jong Un gives the green light, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Agency was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Newsweek has contacted the North Korean Embassy in China for comment.

Why It Matters

North Korea has pushed ahead with its development of nuclear weapons and the missiles with which to strike its perceived enemies, including the United States, despite sanctions and efforts over the years to engage it in negotiations in exchange for sanctions relief.

The Kim regime is estimated to possess about 50 warheads. A nuclear test would presumably enable North Korea to make technological advances, but it would also alarm its neighbors, including old ally China, and could be a setback for tentative efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to reopen talks with Kim.

The suspicion that North Korea might be preparing another underground nuclear test comes days after Trump announced that in light of what he described as nuclear testing by other countries, the United States would resume nuclear testing “on an equal basis.”

What To Know

North Korea has conducted six underground nuclear tests since 2006, the most recent in 2017.

If Kim were to decide to go ahead with a seventh test at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, it could be conducted very quickly, South Korean legislators Park Sun-won and Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a closed-door briefing by the South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea also appears to be beefing up efforts to secure nuclear material and is establishing various types of manufacturing facilities for nuclear warheads, according to the intelligence agency.

Only North Korea has conducted a nuclear test detonation this century. Russia and China have tested delivery systems but not warheads.

Beijing and Moscow have intensified their nuclear weapons programs in recent years, but neither has confirmed violation of a testing moratorium.

Western officials and experts believe Russia has offered a helping hand to North Korea’s military programs.

The suspicion about an imminent North Korean nuclear test comes a day after another South Korean intelligence agency said Kim was willing to meet Trump and could do so early next year.

Trump met Kim three times during his first term in a failed effort to persuade the North Korean leader to roll back his United Nations-sanctioned nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.

What People Are Saying

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a speech on October 10: “In order to cope with the growing nuclear war threats by the U.S. imperialists, [North Korea] had to lead the people to make a new leap forward in socialist construction while simultaneously carrying on economic construction and buildup of the nuclear forces.”

What Happens Next

Trump told reporters on October 24 that he was open to a meeting with Kim, citing their “great relationship.” It remains unclear when such a meeting might take place, and whether concessions would be on the table without steps toward denuclearization.

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TODAY’s LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS

About Today’s Nuclear News and How it Works:

There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.

The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War Threats
5. Nuclear War
6. Yellowstone Caldera
7. IAEA News (Friday’s only)

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

Nuclear World News for Wednesday, (11/05/2025)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Putin floats the possibility of fresh nuclear tests following Trump comments – CNN

CNN

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the country will explore the possibility of carrying out fresh nuclear tests after US President Donald Trump …

Putin floats the possibility of fresh nuclear tests following Trump comments | CNN

CNN

Neither Russia nor the US have tested nuclear weapons since the 1990s, and are both signatories of the CTBT, which bans all nuclear test explosions, …

Worker shortage looms over new US nuclear power focus – Roll Call

Roll Call

“It’s with other professional sectors — law, human resources, business, finance — all the other things that go into building a vibrant supply chain.” …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Latvia’s nuclear emergency preparedness reviewed by IAEA

World Nuclear News

An International Atomic Energy Agency mission has praised Latvia’s “strong commitment to enhancing nuclear and radiological emergency …

Rolls-Royce secures emergency power supply at new airport terminal in Kuwait – ZAWYA

ZAWYA

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Rolls-Royce is pictured at the World Nuclear Exhibition (WNE), the trade fair event for the global nuclear community in …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Putin orders nuclear weapons test preparations after Trump threat in new escalation

The Independent

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin orders nuclear weapons test preparations after Trump threat in new escalation. Donald Trump said the US would be …

Putin and Trump’s sabre-rattling raises spectre of nuclear confrontation once again

Forces News

For those of us old enough to remember the Cold War, the prospect of nuclear Armageddon was a constant, albeit distant, threat. While we didn’t do …

North Korea Poised for Nuclear Test on Kim’s Orders – Newsweek

Newsweek

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a speech on October 10: “In order to cope with the growing nuclear war threats by the U.S. imperialists …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

US states take steps towards nuclear new build

World Nuclear News

… nuclear power plant – already supply Illinois with electricity (Image: Constellation) … nuclear power projects. “At the Power Authority, we …

Did Trump just pick a nuclear ‘national champion’? – POLITICO Pro

POLITICO Pro

Steam rises from a a cooling tower at the nuclear reactor facility at the Alvin W. … nuclear reactor facility at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia.

First American Nuclear “closed-fuel cycle” Nuclear Energy Park in the U.S. – WRTV

WRTV

First American Nuclear, a company that specializes in nuclear energy, announced plans to establish its headquarters in Indiana on Tuesday, …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin orders proposals on possible Russian nuclear test | Reuters

Reuters

… War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.” Trump has yet to clarify whether he was …

‘Nothing revolutionary’ about Russia’s nuclear-powered missile: Experts – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Putin has touted cruise missile Burevestnik and torpedo Poseidon as game-changing weapons as the Ukraine war rages on.

Rash: Trump’s ‘alarming’ and ‘incoherent’ stand on nuclear testing – Star Tribune

Star Tribune

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons,” he wrote, again on Truth …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

California Joins Idaho, Hawai’i, Alaska, Oregon in a Volcanic Symphony of Power and …

Travel And Tour World

From Yellowstone National Park, where superheated geysers and the vast caldera … Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) ensures real-time …

Discussion about this post