The Nuclear Information Project
The Nuclear Information Project provides the public with factual information and analysis about the status and operations of nuclear weapons, the policies that guide their potential use, and developments in the nuclear fuel cycle. Latest Project news are listed below (see also Publications and In the News pages).
Project News
Extensive Nuclear Missile Deployment Area Discovered in Central China
(May 15, 2008) Analysis of new commercial satellite photos has identified an extensive deployment area with nearly 60 launch pads for medium-range nuclear ballistic missiles in Central China. The U.S. government often highlights China’s deployment of new mobile missiles as a concern but keeps the details secret, so the discovery of the deployment area provides the first opportunity for the public to better understand how China operates its mobile ballistic missiles. Read more here...
Nukes in the Taiwain Crisis
(May 13, 2008) The 1958 Taiwan Strait crisis triggered U.S. nuclear strike planning but also presidential caution, a newly declassified document shows. Yet caution did not prevent a massive nuclear buildup in the region in the years that followed. After a hiatus in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, China and the Taiwan scenario have again become a focus for U.S. nuclear strike planning. Read more...
Russian Nuclear Missile Submarine Patrols Decline Again
(April 28, 2008) The number of deterrence patrols conducted by Russia’s 11 nuclear-powered ballistic missiles submarines (SSBNs) decreased to only three in 2007 from five in 2006, The new practice indicates that Russia no longer maintains a continuous SSBN patrol posture like that of the United States, Britain, and France, but instead has shifted to a new posture where it occasionally deploys an SSBN for training purposes. Read more...
Chinese Jin-Class SSBN Arrives at Hainan Island
(April 24, 2008) A new satellite image obtained by the Federation of American Scientists shows that one of China's new Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines has arrived at Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Peninsula in the South China Sea. Read more here....
Chinese Nuclear Arsenal Increased by 25 Percent Since 2006, Pentagon Report Indicates
(March 6, 2008) The Pentagon’s 2008 annual report to Congress on China’s military power indicates that China has increased its nuclear arsenal by 25 percent since 2006. The increase has happened due to deployment of new long-range solid fueled ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Retirement of several old systems will offset the increase somewhat, but the trend is toward a slighly increased arsenal. Read more...
Nuclear Safety and the Saga About the Missing Bent Spear
(February 22, 2008) The incident where six nuclear weapons were accidentally flown on a B-52 bomber across the United States last August is missing from Air Combat Command's list of significant nuclear weapons incidents, according to this article on the FAS Strategic Security Blog. The article also assesses the official internal investigations of the incident. Read more...
Toward True Security
(February 13, 2008) The Federation of American Scientists, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), and independent analysts, have issued a report, Toward True Security, that calls for immediately declaring that the sole mission for U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack, for taking all nuclear weapons off launch-ready alert, and for reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal to a total of 1000 warheads, including reserves, as an immediately achievable, secure step toward a nuclear-free world. Click here to read the full press release.
Chinese Submarine Patrols Rebound, but Remain Limited
(January 7, 2008) China's entire fleet of approximately 55 general-purpose submarines conducted a total of six patrols during 2007, according to information obtained by FAS from the U.S. Navy under the Freedom of Information Act. The information also shows that none of China's ballistic missile submarines have ever conducted a deterrent patrol. Read more...
White House Announces (Secret) Nuclear Weapons Cuts
(December 18, 2007) The White House announced that the administration will complete reduction of the stockpile "by nearly 50 percent" in two weeks instead of in five years. Another 15 percent, government officials added, will be accomplished by 2012. Unfortunately the details are secret, so officials can neither say how many weapons will be retired nor how big the stockpile is. Read more...
White House Guidance Created New Nuclear Strike Plans Against Proliferators, Document Shows
(November 5, 2007) The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review and White House guidance issued after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, caused the U.S. Strategic Command to add a series of new strike options against "rogue states" to the main U.S. strategic nuclear war plan, according to a military planning document declassified and released to the Federation of American Scientists. Read more...
Two More Chinese Submarines Spotted
(October 4, 2007) China appears to have launched two more new Jin-class (Type 094) ballistic missile submarines at the Bohai shipyard in Huludao some 400 km east of Beijing. The images were discovered by FAS during analysis of commercial satellite images on Google Earth. A third submarine image was discovered in July 2007. Read more...
