February 9, 2024
The seminar focuses on the findings of the recently published book “Death Dust: The Rise, Decline and Future of Radiological Weapons Programs” co-authored by William Potter, Sarah Bidgood, Samuel Meyer, and Hanna Notte (Stanford University Press, 2023). Speakers discuss the evolution of radiological weapons, the key incentives for and impediments to their development and deployment, and the future prospects for their proliferation and use.
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction by Dr. William Potter, Director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
00:14:45 Case Studies: the U.S. and the Soviet Union by Ms. Sarah Bidgood, Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
00:27:04 Case Studies: Egypt and Iraq by Dr. Hanna Notte, Director, Eurasia Program, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
00:37:18 Lessons learned
01:00:24 Q&A
See Also
- Death Dust: Why the World Should Still Worry about Radiological Weapons – A Geneva Security Debate
Hanna Notte and William Potter discuss lessons from prior radiological weapons programs and past efforts to prohibit these weapons. - Death Dust: The Rise, Decline, and Future of Radiological Weapons Programs – CISAC Stanford
Death Dust explores the largely unknown history of the rise and demise of RW—sometimes portrayed as a “poor man’s nuclear weapon”—through a series of comparative case studies across the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and Iraq. - Death Dust
The little-known story of US and Soviet pursuit of radiological weapons.
