Acknowledgments

There is growing interest worldwide in using civilian nuclear power to meet our increasing energy demands. But the spread of nuclear technology, in the absence of rigorous safety and security regimes, presents unique risks, from the potential proliferation of weapons capabilities to new states and subnational and terrorist groups to catastrophic accidents. As we have learned from incidents such as the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power site, a nuclear incident anywhere affects the prospects of nuclear power everywhere.

The Academy’s Global Nuclear Future (GNF) Initiative is working to prevent such incidents by identifying and advocating for measures that promote strong safety cultures and limit the security and proliferation risks raised by the growing global appetite for nuclear energy. The GNF Initiative has created an interdisciplinary and international network of experts who are working together to devise and implement nuclear policy for the twenty-first century.

To help reduce the risks resulting from the global expansion of nuclear energy, the GNF Initiative addresses the following key policy areas: the international dimension of the nonproliferation regime, the entirety of the fuel cycle, the physical protection of nuclear facilities and materials, and the interaction of the nuclear industry with the nonproliferation community and national regulatory structures. Each of these areas presents specific challenges and opportunities, and each requires informed and thoughtful policies if we are to reach a comprehensive response to the risks posed by the spread of nuclear technology.

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Stephen M. Goldberg, who was instrumental in helping to define the directions of the work on internationally supervised consolidated interim storage in the earlier phases of our project. The GNF Initiative itself was founded through the joint efforts of Steven E. Miller and former project codirector Scott D. Sagan.

We are grateful to Carnegie Corporation of New York, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Flora Family Foundation, and the Kavli Foundation for their support.

Steven E. Miller, Codirector of the GNF Initiative
Harvard Kennedy School

Robert Rosner, Codirector of the GNF Initiative
University of Chicago