Dylan Spaulding

My life in Gaza: ‘We burned our copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four to bake bread. What would Orwell think of us now?’ From fleeing Gaza City to a birthday in the family – Karim recounts a month in the territory

Could there be a more dystopian headline? I don’t want to find out.

Well gang, it's happened: OpenAI has built a platform filled exclusively with fake, AI content.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and I think it's safe to say we're basically kissing reality goodbye.

Here's the story: www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

And some thoughts 🧵

As candidate for mayor of New York City, Mamdani must make his position on extending New START limits clear. His silence on minuteman upload is deafening.

Pope Leo rebukes climate skeptics after Trump calls warming a ‘con job’ The Illinois native’s comments come a week after the U.S. president derided the fight against climate change.

Pope Leo XIV denounced people who deny climate change today, arguing that they are contributing to the destruction of God's creation.

Seeking a New Moral Compass on Nuclear Weapons Aboard the Golden Rule A sailboat that symbolized anti-nuclear activism in the late 1950s has been restored as a reminder of the need for arms control.

“What the Golden Rule symbolizes is as relevant today as in 1958 when Bigelow and his crew set out from California for the first time.” Read UCS’s @dkspaulding.bsky.social reflections as a temporary crew member aboard the recently restored boat, a symbol of anti-nuclear resistance.

You wouldn’t think the cost of a fixed-price construction contract could increase—but hundreds of NNSA’s run over, to the tune of $37.5 million just in FY23. NNSA’s construction budget is always tight so unexpected increases mean delays for other projects. www.gao.gov/products/gao... #nukesky

NNSA spends a lot of money on nuclear weapons & infrastructure. NNSA has requirements (similar to those of the Nunn-McCurdy Act) to formally notify Congress about cost overruns and assess the reasons for the overruns, but it hasn’t consistently done so.
www.gao.gov/products/gao...

Seeking a New Moral Compass on Nuclear Weapons Aboard the Golden Rule A sailboat that symbolized anti-nuclear activism in the late 1950s has been restored as a reminder of the need for arms control.

I recently had the privilege of crewing aboard a sailing vessel called the Golden Rule, a boat that was used to protest nuclear tests in the Pacific in 1958. This piece is a reflection on the anti-nuclear movement that the boat helped to start and a look at where we are today. Please check it out:

The program I work for, @scifri.bsky.social, is one of the programs that WNYC Studios is offering free to affected stations. Heads up, station friends!

How to Make the Next Trump-Kim Meeting a Success Kim Jong Un could be willing to agree to a nuclear weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia because it would threat North Korea the same as China, Russia, and the United States.

“As unrealistic as the establishment of a nuclear weapons–free zone in Northeast Asia may seem, talking about it can be a vehicle for improving security in the region..” The latest from my colleague, @gkucs.bsky.social on prospects for a potential Trump-Kim reunion.

Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero -- And Nuclear Peril Today | The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero -- And Nuclear Peril Today | AtomicBowl The U.S. all-star football game in the atomic ruins of Nagasaki--and why it matters today

This is a well done documentary that highlights oft-overlooked aspects of the US atomic bombings and diverges from the 'traditional' (often inaccurate) accounts that have descended from censored records and interpretations based on US exceptionalism which ignore the most callous aspects.

Trump's hope to 'take back' Bagram airbase dismissed by Taliban official Bagram airbase was handed over to the Afghan military shortly before the Taliban returned to power.

What I really want to know is what Trump heard, and from whom, that got processed and spit back out as "we need Bagram air base cause it's an hour from where China makes their nukes." www.bbc.com/news/article...

It’s Time to Rethink US Nuclear Weapons Manufacturing There is no technical justification for replacing the entire US nuclear arsenal—but the government is willing to spend more than $2 trillion to do just that.

The DOE has ordered a review of a key part of nuclear modernization - plutonium pit production. Here’s my take on why it (and plans for other parts of the US triad) deserve reconsideration and rescoping. At present, ambition and reality don’t align.

Even conservative thinktanks are projecting the cost of Golden Dome to be anywhere from $252 billion to $3.6 trillion over 20 years. Before the US commits itself to an unfeasible, easily defeated, false sense of security, it should be honest about the costs and capabilities.

'Looks like a toy, but it's real': BBC examines a downed Russian drone Drones like this one were shot down over Polish airspace in the early hours of Wednesday.

Another good reminder that sophisticated defenses can be easily overwhelmed with very low-tech countermeasures. While this is air defense, proponents of missile defense would be wise to take note. The same truth applies.

South Korea outraged at 300 workers treated as ‘prisoners of war’ in US raid As Hyundai-LG workers fly home after visa ordeal, Koreans bristle at ‘humiliation’ and sense of betrayal by Seoul’s ally

There are no words for how stupid and unnecessarily destructive these charades are for international relations, the economy, and regional stability outside the US. The US used to be thought of as a bulwark against tyranny and instability. Now are are a catalyst.

What’s the Plan for ‘Golden Dome’? Even Experts Aren’t Sure A sweeping U.S. missile defense program comes with many risks, costs and uncertainties, analysts say

Excellent @sciam.bsky.social Golden Dome article details the lack of information about the proposed system, the enormous amount of taxpayer $$$s it will consume (even as it fails), & the negative ramifications for US security overall: www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...

I don't control the press releases, I just "say the stuff"... Statements like these are usually meant for journalists who are already covering the issue and, I agree, not very suitable for public consumption. I will pass along the feedback so that they might be made more digestible.

and which are criticized here:

LANL's estimates are based on CAP88 modeling, which they briefly address here:

@tayloraloy.bsky.social Apologies for lack of context. I agree that given public concern, venting into another container would seem logical and I voiced that to NMED. LANL rejected that option because it results in additional waste. Given the obvious public concern, another FTWC seems better to me.

Rushed Approval of Tritium Venting for Los Alamos National Laboratory Ignores Public Input, Alternatives Statement from Dr. Dylan Spaulding on Los Alamos National Laboratory plan to release tritium gas in New Mexico, despite strong community opposition.

"Rushed Approval of Tritium Venting for Los Alamos National Laboratory Ignores Public Input, Alternatives" - statement by my colleague @dkspaulding.bsky.social www.ucs.org/about/news/r...

Police dismantle longstanding White House peace vigil on Trump’s orders Anti-nuclear protest had been in place for decades before president ordered its removal after journalist’s question

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There's also this, as well as his attempt to name streets in the new development with names like "America First Ave".

Dilemma strategico sul plutonio, gli Stati Uniti tra deterrenza e sicurezza L’opportunità deriva dal riciclaggio dei “pit”: le instabili sfere di plutonio al centro delle bombe nucleari. Ma riutilizzare i nuclei per la produzione di energia è un’intuizione tanto vantaggiosa q...

Dylan Spaulding, dell’Union of Concerned Scientists, sottolinea che “la produzione e la gestione di pit su ampia scala, non è necessaria adesso”... I sound so much better in Italian!

A new report from @mknight.bsky.social at @scientistsorg.bsky.social explores the issue of presidential 'sole authority' to launch nuclear weapons. "Sole authority appears like a dangerous toy in the hands of unstable, unreliable, or erratic presidents." Its high time we got rid of it.

Parenting is hard but you’re doin’ it right.

Pit production is on track to follow suit. The question is whether DOE will take the opportunity to identify what is actually achievable and on what timescales vs waiting for failure to cause parts of the current program to crumble on their own. Which will it be? Stay tuned... 🍿

Two previous examples: 1) The Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) facility at Savannah River, originally projected to cost ~$1.5B, was cancelled in 2018, by which time projected cost was $17B. 2) The Uranium Processing Facility at Oak Ridge, originally estimated to cost ~$600M, up to $11B by 2023.

Gebara expresses optimism on Sentinel flight test, NNSA pit rate - ExchangeMonitor The Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara,said on a Wednesday webinar that the first

And now this admission from Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara:

🚩 "pit production is not a “critical path,” meaning it is a program that has more flexibility, for the nation’s nuclear capabilities."🚩

EXACTLY.