Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists March 2020

March 11, 2020

NUCLEAR RISK Can the nuclear nonproliferation regime be saved when arms control is collapsing? The United States’ withdrawal from the INF Treaty, its backing away from the Iran nuclear deal, and the impending lapse of New START would indeed be worrisome enough, even considered in isolation from one another. In this issue, we focus on another endangered pillar of the world’s nuclear threat-management regime: the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Read free-access in the Bulletin magazine. NUCLEAR RISK The NPT turns 50: Will it get to 60? In the next decade, it is all too likely that the past success of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons among the world’s nations will be reversed. Three trends make more proliferation likely, but Henry Sokolski lists concrete steps the international community could take to save the NPT. Read free-access in the Bulletin magazine. NUCLEAR RISK How to keep South Korea from going nuclear The threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability has grown and many South Koreans are questioning the reliability of US security assurances, driven largely by what they see as US President Donald Trump’s leadership style. South Korea’s opposition to nuclear weapons remains strong, but Seoul’s nuclear abstinence must not be taken for granted. Read in the Bulletin magazine. NUCLEAR RISK Why Germany won’t build its own nuclear weapons and remains skeptical of a Eurodeterrent Aggressive Russian policies and the Trump administration’s transactional approach to alliances have put nuclear issues back on the agenda for European governments. German-French convergence on the role of nuclear weapons in European security is a necessary—though not necessarily sufficient—precondition for a strengthened nuclear dimension to the EU’s security and defense policies. Read in the Bulletin magazine.