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Nickolas Roth

@nickolasroth.bsky.social
510 followers 24 following 47 posts

Nuclear weapons, nuclear security, BBQ, Senior Director @NTI_WMD, Research Fellow @CISSMaryland. Previously @ManagingtheAtom, @StimsonCenter @UCSUSA etc. .

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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I directed the 1994 NAS study on plutonium disposition that recommended using excess weapons plutonium as fuel as one of the paths—and >30 years later, no one’s managed to do it at reasonable cost.
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
The statement from Oklo that using plutonium fuel will really speed up deployment of new nuclear energy reflects a company that’s never attempted to build and operate a plutonium handling facility. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/c...
nytimes.com
U.S. Seeks to Give Weapons-Grade Plutonium to Start-Ups for Fuel
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The reason that the US President has the exclusive authority to order the use of nuclear weapons is because Truman set up the system along those lines after WWII. This is often depicted as either a power grab, or because in the nuclear age such decisions "must" be made quickly. This is false.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Rhetoric about “a whole civilization dying tonight” is alarming coming from someone w/ sole authority over nuclear weapons. Even as hyperbole, it normalizes catastrophic thinking & raises serious concerns about judgment, restraint, and escalation risk. www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...
nbcnews.com
Trump says 'a whole civilization will die tonight' ahead of deadline for Iran
Trump's threat is among his most extreme rhetoric toward Iran since the war started.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Deeply concerning: You can’t replace rigorous, adversary-driven testing with self-led drills and expect the same level of confidence. Security isn’t a box-checking exercise. It’s about proving systems work under real pressure. www.yahoo.com/news/article...
yahoo.com
US nuclear power regulator phases out agency-led commando drills at plants
By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power regulator voted last week to phase out agency-led security inspections at operating reactors, a move a safety advocate said
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Incidents like the strike near Bushehr risk normalizing something the international community has long tried to avoid: treating nuclear facilities as fair targets. That’s a precedent with consequences far beyond this conflict. www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...
aljazeera.com
Why an attack on Bushehr nuclear plant would be catastrophic for the Gulf
The US and Israel have repeatedly hit the plant, raising risks of radioactive contamination far beyond Iran's borders.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
We said the quiet part out loud, "The Budget focuses the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on its most important mission— producing a robust, credible, and modern nuclear deterrent..." whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
whitehouse.gov
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
www.linkedin.com/posts/nickol...
linkedin.com
The Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules | Nickolas Roth
https://lnkd.in/e_Zf-kcM We should all be deeply concerned by recent reporting from NPR that the U.S. Department of Energy has quietly rewritten key nuclear safety and security directives governing r...
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Any nuclear regulator or organization not actively planning to defend against drones is way behind the times. www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/879...
kurdistan24.net
France Activates Counter-Measures After Drone Swarm Breaches Airspace Near Nuclear Sub Base
French military deployed anti-drone measures after five UAVs breached the airspace of the Ile Longue nuclear submarine base, sparking a probe.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
The Trump administration is pursuing increased nuclear weapons production while reducing independent safety oversight of the organizations involved. And it’s not just weapons, commercial nuclear oversight is being eroded as well. www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-12/... @armscontrolnow.bsky.social
armscontrol.org
U.S. Weapons Complex Safety Board at Risk | Arms Control Association
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
This proposal is problematic on many levels, including that it rewards the attack on and seizure of a peaceful nuclear facility, norms that should not be reinforced. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Read in full: Trump and Putin’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine
In return for end to conflict, Russia will be given entire Donbas region and Crimea
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Most important point: “Trust has been difficult to build again.” missionlocal.org/2025/10/navy...
missionlocal.org
U.S. Navy found elevated plutonium in Bayview — S.F. says it was kept in the dark
San Francisco officials say they weren’t told that the Navy detected plutonium at the Hunters Point Shipyard for 11 months.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
"Even so, she said the latest arrests did not uncover the loot." This is why nuclear security is so important: Once material is stolen, it is very hard to get back. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
pbs.org
Key details emerge in Louvre jewel heist as 5 more are arrested
Key planning details have snapped into focus.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
I'd argue testing in the hands of anyone is a bad idea, but point well taken.
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
James Cameron @jjjcameron.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
And has done so to the United States' advantage, even in a narrow military-technical sense.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
In the 33 years before the U.S. halted nuclear testing in 1992, countries conducted over 1,000 tests. In the 33 years since? Roughly 20. The global moratorium—and the treaty backing it—has curbed both the spread and sophistication of nuclear weapons worldwide.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
My point exactly www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Officials Concede They Don’t Know Whereabouts of Iran’s Uranium Stockpile
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
The administration is either downplaying the risk of unaccounted for weapons useable material in Iran or is unaware. From this morning’s interview with VP vance: “The UN's Atomic Energy Watchdog said that Iran had 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Do we know what has become of that?”
podcasts.apple.com
Full Episode: Sunday, June 22, 2025
Podcast Episode · This Week with George Stephanopoulos · 06/22/2025 · 53m
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Want to kill the nuclear renaissance? Tie it to costly, risky, and unnecessary separated plutonium. www.reuters.com/business/ene...
reuters.com
US would assess nuclear waste, plutonium for reactor fuel under draft order
Nuclear waste and radioactive plutonium would be assessed as a fuel for reactors under a draft executive order being considered by the administration of President Donald Trump on expanding nuclear power, moves opposed by nonproliferation experts.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
This is the Mona Lisa of my nuclear nightmares.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
The Trump administration is proposing a 7% cut to Department of Energy Nonproliferation programs to fund unnecessary nuclear weapons programs. Doesn't sound like much, until you see the long term trend. Obsolescence by a thousand cuts, but the cuts began long before the 2nd Trump administration.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/s...
nytimes.com
Trump Freeze on Aid to Nuclear Inspectors Undercuts His Iran Policy
The president’s halt of foreign aid upended two U.S. programs that help the International Atomic Energy Agency find clues about Iran’s drive to build atomic bombs.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
"A 60 percent cut would be significantly more severe, according to the memo. It would fundamentally eliminate America’s role in preventing the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons..." www.wired.com/story/pentag...
wired.com
Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Documents obtained by WIRED show the US Department of Defense is considering cutting up to 75 percent of workers who stop the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
"Two weeks after it was hit by a drone, Ukrainian firefighters are still trying to extinguish smouldering fires within the large structure built over the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident..." www.iaea.org/newscenter/p...
iaea.org
Update 278 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine | IAEA
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Hard to tell the difference between DOGE & threat/adversary behavior. “Even if people don’t send classified information, the aggregation of all this information in one place would become classified information, which is a national security violation..." www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
Several administration officials tell workers not to reply to Musk email
Leaders at defense and intelligence offices were particularly wary of Musk’s demand over the weekend asking workers to outline what they did last week.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I can’t believe the next NTI Index might have to downgrade the United States for not having an independent nuclear regulator…😡 apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
Trump seeks greater control of independent regulators with his new executive order
President Donald Trump is moving to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal C...
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Joe Cirincione @joecirin.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Many of those Elon Musk fired are part of the management team overseeing tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians who build, maintain and guard the U.S. arsenal of some 5,000 nuclear weapons. Chaos and Nuclear Weapons are not a good mix. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
msnbc.com
Opinion | DOGE’s incompetence is a threat to America’s nuclear safety
The Trump administration is showing why chaos and nuclear weapons are not a good mix.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Great piece @joecirin.bsky.social: "Chaos & nuclear weapons are not a good mix. There are certainly savings to be found in the massive nuclear weapons complex...However, abruptly firing employees w/o cause & w/o a coherent plan is a recipe for disaster, not savings." www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
msnbc.com
Opinion | DOGE’s incompetence is a threat to America’s nuclear safety
The Trump administration is showing why chaos and nuclear weapons are not a good mix.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
When an adversary takes control or your org: “What do I do if someone with no need to know comes and says, ‘I need to see this file on Ukraine, or warhead design?’” an NNSA employee posed. “The idea of turning over sensitive or classified data versus losing your job? ” www.cnn.com/2025/02/17/c...
cnn.com
Trump officials struggled to reinstate nuclear weapons staff after firing hundreds | CNN
Officials backtracked on the terminations Friday after multiple members of Congress petitioned Energy Sec. Chris Wright to reverse course, explaining the dire national security implications.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
“Even the mere perception that DOGE was not minding proper security protocols could hinder the NNSA’s relationships with other countries, which are essential to its nonproliferation work.” www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
If DOGE Goes Nuclear
The risk of messing with the wrong computer system
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
What happens when this showdown occurs within USG organizations responsible for overseeing the world’s most dangerous technologies and materials? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
USAID security officials on leave after refusing access to Musk allies
Billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has been denigrating USAID, which is the world’s largest provider of food assistance.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
The United States is the world’s largest economic and military power, not a social media platform. If you recklessly eliminate government jobs, you jeopardize lives, not just tweets. www.ans.org/news/2025-01...
ans.org
Independent nuclear waste board members asked to resign
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
“Simultaneously deploying a missile defense system of questionable effectiveness against any real threat” while “suspending operative programs against nuclear or bioterrorists, sophisticated cyberattackers or others” is a “terrible trade-off” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Orders ‘Iron Dome’ for U.S., but Freezes Funds for Nuclear Protection
The United States is estimated to have spent more than $400 billion on the kinds of antimissile goals that the president now says will provide “for the common defense.”
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Excellent piece thebulletin.org/premium/2025...
thebulletin.org
Risks of geologic disposal of weapons plutonium
The US plans to bury its excess weapons plutonium at a geologic repository in southeastern New Mexico called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). But WIPP was not originally designed to handle high...
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Ebs @ebs02.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Sounds familiar www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/m...
nytimes.com
The Secret Pentagon War Game That ​Offers a Stark​ Warning for Our Times
The devastating outcome of the 1983 game reveals that nuclear escalation inevitably spirals out of control.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-p...
newsweek.com
Putin ally predicts nuclear "radiation zone" could end war in Ukraine
Konstantin Malofeyev said that if Russia fired a nuclear weapon, the resulting radiation zone would end the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Seems like the House wants to follow Russia’s recent NGO playbook. apnews.com/article/nonp...
apnews.com
House passes bill that would allow Treasury to target nonprofits it deems to support terrorism
The U.S. House passed legislation that would give the Treasury Department unilateral authority to strip the tax-exempt status of nonprofits it claims support terrorism.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Common sense security measures meet culture wars. It does not bode well for the prospects of keeping dangerous technologies out of the hands of violent extremists. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
Pentagon pick left Guard after being reported as possible ‘insider threat’ due to tattoo
Pete Hegseth was barred from protecting President Biden’s inauguration in 2021 after enlisted soldiers complained that Hegseth’s chest tattoo might signify that he was a white supremacist. The D.C. N...
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
“We didn’t believe that Hamas had this capability, and so we didn’t see it coming.” This security failure should thoroughly studied. This is a good start. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
Ben Loehrke @nonstrategic.bsky.social · 01/11/2023
Listening to excellent stories in conversation on Operation Auburn Endeavor. With Petre Mamradze, Matt Bunn, and event co-organizer @nickolasroth.bsky.social. “Nuclear Adventures” event in Tbilisi with @stanleycenter.bsky.social .
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 25/10/2023
Jamie Dimon @jpmorgan “I just would put on your table the most serious thing facing mankind is nuclear proliferation. If we’re not sitting here 100 years from now, it will be nuclear proliferation. It’s not our climate.” www.cnbc.com/2023/10/24/j...
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 25/09/2023
Near the top of the list of countries that should want stronger norms against state and non-state attacks on nuclear facilities. www.reuters.com/business/ene...
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 13/09/2023
Here's the problem: Whether or not it's true (and I have no reason to think it is), it's plausible. Given the relatively weak international condemnation of attacks on Ukrainian nuclear facilities, I worry the norm against it will disappear. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
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Reposted by Nickolas Roth
AmplifyUkraine 🔱🇺🇦 @amplifyukraine.eu · 22/08/2023
Russian media: Putin fires General Surovikin
kyivindependent.com
Russian media: Putin fires General Surovikin
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has removed Army General Sergey Surovikin from his post of Air Force Commander, Russian media reported on Aug. 22. The general was also the deputy commander of the Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 16/08/2023
"Zaporizhzhia is in a kind of grace period that is not infinite. A possible slow-motion disaster has been brewing for a long time and the world must be able to act now before it happens." katoikos.world/analysis/nuclear-fac…
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Nickolas Roth @nickolasroth.bsky.social · 01/08/2023
Smart. Provide little of the protection that might deter nuclear use, but make empty threats about retaliation that might be incorrectly interpreted. thehill.com/homenews/senate/4129937…
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