I'm so grateful for the contributions and insights of artists during times like these. This is a powerful monologue, delivered as only Ian McKellen can:

Official statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on New START on their offer to maintain current limits on nuclear weapons without further negotiations, until a new agreement: "... no formal official response from the United States... has been received through bilateral channels."

A vital read from @gkucs.bsky.social: “Carney, invoking Vaclav Havel’s characterization of the old Soviet system, described the post-war US-led system as “a lie.” If more US allies come to the same conclusion, a significant change in Chinese foreign and defense priorities could follow.”

“if we told you how many pits we make every year, and you kept track, you would know how many W87-1s there are, and that's a classified thing.” - Thom Mason But I can tell you how many missiles are ready to carry those shiny W87-1's: ZERO. LANL is working hard to meet an unnecessary objective.

A big win today: a federal court found that the Trump administration’s sham report attacking climate science was created in secret by a hand-picked set of climate policy opponents, violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Read our statement here:

As long as the new Sentinel ICBM is delayed, new plutonium pits from Los Alamos aren't going anywhere - this is yet another reason that plutonium pit production is ripe for rescoping and downsizing. Current (unrealistic) quotas are not in sync with the warheads or delivery systems they are for.

“Trump’s Golden Dome space-based interceptor shield is nothing but fool’s gold—shiny, but ultimately worthless—and taxpayers would be left footing the bill to defense contractors,” said Dr. Laura Grego, senior research director in the Global Security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"They're taking a wrecking ball to the system of nuclear safety and security regulation oversight that has kept the U.S. from having another Three Mile Island accident," said Edwin Lyman, ... at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "I am absolutely worried about the safety of these reactors."

“We are not producing a product enough people want,” Ms. Weiss told employees... at the network." You mean like unbiased, objective reporting of facts? Because that's what people want.

Thanks to @joshuakeating.bsky.social at @vox.com for picking up on my latest blog about the fragile pause in nuclear testing. blog.ucs.org/dylan-spauld...

Stay warm, Minneapolis.

The Trump team is dropping the ball on New START, which limits deployments of nuclear weapons. Russia has offered an off ramp without negotations but the US isn't responding. This is a no-brainer, but Trump's ignorance and machismo are likely to result in the shredding of this important treaty.

Listen to me discuss American nuclear modernization, plutonium pit production, and whether deterrence is a question of faith this evening at 5pm PT on Sustainability Now! on KSQD out of Santa Cruz, CA. Thanks to host, Ronnie Lipschutz for the invite.

CNN wrote a story today based on my recent musings on nuclear testing. We passed a fragile milestone this week, setting a record for the longest period without a nuclear test since Trinity. Will it hold? The blog: blog.ucs.org/dylan-spauld... CNN's take on all of this:

My colleague @dkspaulding.bsky.social inspired this excellent @cnn.com piece on #nuclear testing with this compelling story: blog.ucs.org/dylan-spauld...

Todd Harrison of AEI: "We already have unfettered access to what we need for Golden Dome in Greenland” Sidebar: Golden Dome will not work and should not be built. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

Here's my latest piece for the @ucs.org blog. Today marks the longest period without a nuclear explosion since Trinity. I explore why as well as the reasons that it would be so counterproductive for the US to shatter this moratorium.

On Feb. 5th, the last remaining arms control treaty that limits US and Russian nuclear deployments will expire without a follow-on agreement. Russia has offered an off ramp that Trump is ignoring. My colleague, Jennifer Knox, has a new report out on what could happen when those limits are gone:

And what of those killed in the streets of the US and the sanctity of US institutions? This is perhaps the most tragic and absurd case ever of "do as I say, and not as I do".

I'm proud to work for an organization that's fighting back. We won't back down. Join us. @ucs.org #ScienceRising

@usatoday.com, has launched a 5 part series on the risks and costs of the US land-based ICBM force. For so many reasons, it simply makes sense to get rid of them, one being the "launch it or lose it" instability that gives POTUS only minutes to react. Uncontrolled cost being another.

Worker exposure to plutonium at Los Alamos is, unfortunately, a much more frequent occurence than it should be. This is not the first, nor will it be the last instance. This is one of the unwritten costs of US nuclear modernization and the troubled plutonium pit production program.

The Nobel Laureate Declaration, calls for a recommitment to a moratorium on nuclear explosive testing, enhancement and expansion of nuclear diplomacy, and for scientists, academics, communities of faith, and civil society to create pressure on global leaders to take nuclear risk reduction measures.

"the resurgence of threat may be the catalyst for renewed recognition and resistance.. There is hope, perhaps, that a new anti-nuclear movement can borrow from climate action and nonviolent social justice movements that are gaining traction with younger activists.” Call me naive, but one must hope.

"Mounting risks from other states" have absolutely nothing to do with US confidence in its nuclear stockpile. Explosive testing remains unncessary. Comments from this administration suggest they view tests as nothing more than barbaric chest thumping (that, ironically, would be to US detriment)

Et tu, ProPublica?!

I'm extremely pleased to see that Sen. Warren and Rep. Garamendi have issued a letter to the DOE questioning the current plan for plutonium pit production. The letter draws on my @ucs.org report from earlier this year that proposes several alternatives that could reduce or eliminate the demand.

Our talented Scoville fellow, Sean Manning is following the money behind US defense. He writes "It’s up to all Americans interested in a more peaceful world to question why we have a system of increasing investments and decreasing returns.." Please check out his first blog for @ucs.org:

“Nuclear arms offend our shared humanity and also betray the dignity of creation, whose harmony we are called to safeguard.” - Pope Leo XIV

If you’d like coverage of the arms industry and endless war to not be funded by Boeing, that’s the newsroom we’re building at @inkstickmedia.com. We’re in Newsmatch season for nonprofit outlets and any donation you make to us is doubled: inkstick.substack.com/p/our-journa...

This one hits close to home. This apparently took place in the building where I spent almost all of my undergrad. Its hard to imagine this in hallways one knows so well, but given the number of mass shootings in the US, how long until that's true for nearly everyone?

"The defense industry has consolidated from 51 major players in the early 1990s to five today: Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Boeing" and they are not delivering. The same big 5 have made big promises for nuclear modernization (ahem, Sentinel...)

It’s just unreal that they had to ask the US to kindly not blow up the Nobel Peace Prize winner as she fled Venezuela. Also, her flight embodies my worst anxiety dreams in which I’m a hemisphere away from a really important engagement and running hopelessly late. The whole thing is beyond belief

My colleague, @rrucs.bsky.social untangles China’s recent paper on nuclear posture and arms control. Many interpret China’s buildup as a threatening change in tactic but, in fact, this report may be more of a mirror held to face of the US rather than a departure from previous thinking.

Lavrov has made clear: "this proposal is our unilateral gesture of goodwill. For the U.S. to support our approach, no negotiations or consultations are necessary…. All that’s required is for Washington to simply state that it won’t increase the quantitative levels set by [New START] for one year”

Most people assume all US nuclear tests were conducted either in the Pacific or in Nevada but many were done elsewhere, including New Mexico. Today is the anniversary of Project Gnome.

W87-1 certification is moving forward at LLNL, including assessment of new plutonium pit samples. Using the National Ignition Facility, Pu can be studied under 14 MeV neutron flux to assess any differences in survivability between new and aged material.

The is an amazing critique of JP Morgan's new building in NYC. Given that the twin towers were targeted on 9/11 in part because they symbolized American economic power, capitalist greed, and globalization, this building seems a fitting portrait for where we are in 2025.

Every state impacted by nuclear weapons tests: "please do not restart nuclear weapons tests" www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_n...

Signs of deep institutional culture issues in the US nuclear weapons complex: 1) Allegations of retaliation for reporting on safety and quality control issues for key components at SNL 2) Ongoing time-card fraud issue at Pantex, leading to an increase in weapons quality incident reports Links below

Nevermind the very recent development of million dollar condos just nextdoor to this site (which is smack in the middle of the SF bay area).

I recently spoke with Jim Carrier, at the Progressive, about the admin’s misguided statements about returning to nuclear testing. This story covers it well:

What advocates for testing don't realize is that US scientific achievements (e.g. fusion at NIF) are a surrogate demonstration of the credibiliity of the nuclear stockpile and allow better understanding of the underlying physics than a mushroom cloud.

Posting for no apparent reason whatsoever.....

A new film was just released for Veteran's Day about the 1958 voyage of the Golden Rule to protest nuclear tests in the Pacific. I was recently fortunate to sail aboard the boat and wrote about that experience. You can watch the film and check out the blog here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrS...

This entire saga over Trump's suggestion to test only demonstrates how dangerously uninformed he is about his own nuclear arsenal. That, in and of itself, is a national security threat that needs acknowledging.

From my colleague, @nucsafetyucs.bsky.social at @ucs.org, "without appropriate constraints, large-scale production and use of HALEU may greatly increase the risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism" and it seems this was recognized decades ago:

This is a really tragic loss.

Today seems like a good time to remember Rosalind Franklin, without whom, James Watson may have never have gained the notoriety his obituaries proclaim. Bonus: she didn't use genetics as a guise to promote the kind of racist and sexist ideas Watson did.

My brilliant @ucs.org colleague Chanese Forté interviews two other brilliant folks, Dr. Jan Beyea, and @nucsafetyucs.bsky.social, on the Trump administration's moves to undermine sensible, science-based limits on radiation exposure. Team Trump seems to wants to promote nuclear power at any cost.