Boiling Fish at Yongbyon

FromArms Control Wonk

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Boiling Fish at Yongbyon

FromArms Control Wonk

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Length:

33 minutes

Released:

Sep 9, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

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Looks like Yongbyon is running a little hot. The IAEA has announced that it believes the DPRK is conducting a plutonium reprocessing campaign at Yongbyon. Jeffrey and Aaron discuss why the DPRK would want to do this. What could the mystery be? Why would the DPRK reprocess plutonium? For nukes. It's for nukes. Basically like the DPRK has been saying. Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!

Released:

Sep 9, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

The nuclear weapons, arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation podcast. Companion to the popular Arms Control Wonk blog (www.armscontrolwonk.com). Hosted by Jeffrey Lewis & Aaron Stein.

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What's Up with Turkey's S400?: Turkey previously announced that its S400 air defense regiment would be activated and in service by the end of April, 2020, after its delivery from Russia in 2019. Since it is now May 2020, with no S400 deployment in sight, Aaron and Scott sat down... by Arms Control Wonk
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Mort Halperin and the Okinawa Decision: Mort Halperin a giant as an academic and a policy practitioner. And he's working on a memoir that covers his sixty year career in foreign policy. Mort played an important role in the US decision to revert Okinawa to Japanese control without nuclear... by Arms Control Wonk
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North Korea's New SLBM: The Pukguksong-3: It is finally here! Two years after seeing posters for the Pukguksong-3 during Kim Jong Un's visit to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science in 2017, the North Korea has finally tested the next generation of its... by Arms Control Wonk
43 min listen
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53 min listen
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54 min listen
Renewed Nuclear Testing in China?: The Wall Street Journal reported that "" based on the State Department's 2020 Annual , but that is not quite what the report actually says. Jeffrey and Anne sit down to talk about open-source tracking of the Lop Nur nuclear testing site, the... by Arms Control Wonk
28 min listen
North Korea's Mysterious Engine Test: Sohae is open for business! The ACW Gang talks North Korea's recent engine test at Sohae and marvels (again) at the power of satellite imagery. Was this test Kim's "Christmas Gift" to Trump? Or just a stocking stuffer? Support us over at ! by Arms Control Wonk
17 min listen
Investigating PS752 with Open-Source Intelligence: After the on U.S. forces in Iraq, the IRGC appears to have accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner flying out of Tehran. The Iranian government took about 3 days to admit that it was shot down, initially denying that it was shot down. Prior to... by Arms Control Wonk
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Biden and the Bomb: Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. While the popular perception of Biden is that he's quite moderate, on nuclear issues he's always been relatively progressive. Aaron and Jeffrey discuss Biden and bomb. Support us over at ! by Arms Control Wonk
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Iran's Four Steps: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has announce yet another "step" away from the JCPOA, the fourth this year. As Iran resumes feeding UF6 into some of the cascades at the Fordow Enrichment Plant, Anne and Jeffrey discuss the steps that led us... by Arms Control Wonk
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43 min listen
The U.S.'s Post-INF Ballistic Missile: Launch a missile, get a pod, post-INF Treaty edition. On December 12, 2019, the U.S. Air Force and the Strategic Capabilities office tested a "prototype conventionally-configured, ground-launched ballistic missile" from Vandenberg AFB. The trio... by Arms Control Wonk
20 min listen
The PLA Rocket Force's Rapid Expansion: China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) has been very busy in the last few years, testing new high-tech missiles and standing up new launch brigades. Superproducer Scott joins Jeffrey and Anne to talk about reports of the PLARF... by Arms Control Wonk
36 min listen
Making the Easy Stuff Hard: Re-joining the JCPOA: Biden campaigned on rejoining the JCPOA, but some of that enthusiasm has dried up since he took office. Aaron and Jeffrey debate what's going on, strategies for negotiating re-joining the JCPOA, and the fallacy of letting the perfect get in the way... by Arms Control Wonk
32 min listen
Russia's Nudol Anti-Satellite Missile Test: In mid-April, Russia tested a direct ascent anti-satellite missile (DA ASAT), the Nudol/PL19, against a point in space. Anti-satellite weapons are an old favorite of the pod, so Anne, Aaron, and Jeffrey meet to discuss the history of anti-satellite... by Arms Control Wonk
33 min listen
Saving the World with Datayo: , director of and Deputy Director of the , joins Jeffrey and Scott to talk about Datayo, a project aimed at reducing nuclear risks and fostering a transparent, collaborative, and high-quality analytic information environment. Scott fawns over... by Arms Control Wonk
45 min listen
Iran's Fifth Step: The ACW crew discusses the JCPOA...again. Iran has announced its 5th step away from the JCPOA. The trio discusses what that means, what it doesn't mean, and where we go from here. And, for your ease of reference, Iran's Five Steps: May 2019: No... by Arms Control Wonk
20 min listen
Tailkits and the Turks: US Nuclear Weapons in Turkey: The New York Times reported recently that US officials are considering removing US nuclear weapons from Turkey. Aaron knows a bit about this, so Jeffrey called in from his car on the road to San Francisco, and Anne called in from a foggy Monterey to... by Arms Control Wonk
33 min listen
Jeffrey Visits the Test Site: Road trip to Vegas. As part of an NGO transparency visit, NNSA opened up the Nevada Test Site to a group of international nuclear weapons experts, including one Dr. Jeffrey Lewis. Jeffrey goes through what he saw: P Tunnel, The BEEF, and the crown... by Arms Control Wonk
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Iran’s Missile Strikes in Iraq: As it turns out, the ACW trio thinks that Iran’s missiles are accurate. Super accurate. As Anne flies across the United States, Aaron and Jeffrey spoke about Iran’s ballistic missile strikes Ain Assad Air Base in Iraq, why the strike on Erbil may... by Arms Control Wonk
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New START and the Future of Arms Control: President Biden has extended for five more years. But what are we going to do with those years? How to we actually advance stability? Aaron and Jeffrey talk about the steps necessary to secure stable, effective arms control treaties, the... by Arms Control Wonk
33 min listen
Visualizations and Verification: James Palmer of the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment joins the ACW trio to talk about the importance of 3D modelling and data visualization, including recreations of North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site and virtual reality training simulations.... by Arms Control Wonk
34 min listen
Iran's Space Launchers and Solid Missiles: Iran tested a satellite launch vehicle, and it failed. But this isn't a reason to cheer. Iran showed off a lot of goodies this month, pointing to an active solid-propellant missile program and has no said a future satellite launch is going to use a... by Arms Control Wonk
32 min listen
Fancy Ass SWERVE: But just what the heck did the DOD actually test? Jeffrey and team turn their analytic methods towards figuring out exactly what this strange, Frankenmissile was, and the open-source research lessons that can be gleaned from academic papers and... by Arms Control Wonk
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The Relevance of the Nuclear Posture Review: Is the Nuclear Posture Review something worth doing, or a massive waste of time and political capital? Jeffrey and Aaron vote "waste." The NPR takes up a ton of time, leaves policy on autopilot during its duration, and burns a ton of bandwidth that... by Arms Control Wonk
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The Wollo-Ri Suspected Nuclear Warhead Manufacturing Facility: Another day, another suspected nuclear facility in North Korea. Anne and Jeffrey discuss the Wollo-ri Suspected Nuclear Warhead Manufacturing Facility. They discuss how the CNS team has monitored this site since 2015, the satellite imagery... by Arms Control Wonk
29 min listen
Mysterious Explosions in Iran: In a cross-over podcast with FPRI’s Middle East Brief, Aaron speaks with Fabian Hinz, a frequent guest on the podcast, about the recent explosions in Iran and what open source intelligence has revealed about the two incidents. You can find the... by Arms Control Wonk
24 min listen
Unravelling the Israeli Ballistic Missile Program: Israel maintains a technologically advanced but understudied ballistic missile arsenal. Jeffrey and Aaron dive into the French, South African, and American influences on the arsenal, how to model the Jericho missile families, and the history of... by Arms Control Wonk
40 min listen

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Boiling Fish at Yongbyon

Boiling Fish at Yongbyon

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Arms Control Wonk

Related podcast episodes