Double Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change

by Daniel B. Poneman

Overview

Making the case that we can use nuclear power to combat climate change even as we reduce the risks of nuclear terror.

Humanity faces two existential threats: nuclear annihilation and catastrophic climate change. Both have human origins, and both are linked to the use of nuclear energy. Inherent in the use of atomic fission is the risk that the technology and materials can be diverted to terrorists or hostile nations and used to make nuclear weapons. The key question is whether we can use nuclear energy to reduce the threat of climate change without increasing the risk that nuclear weapons will be used.

In Double Jeopardy, Daniel Poneman argues that the world needs an “all-of-the-above” energy policy, one that advances the goal of decarbonizing the environment through all available means—including nuclear power. Poneman makes a compelling case that we can enhance the ability of nuclear power to combat climate change even as we reduce the risks of nuclear terror. Doing so will require well-crafted laws and policies, implemented with an ethos of constant vigilance and embedded in a culture that weaves safety and security goals into the fabric of our nuclear programs. This will enable government and industry to work together to maximize energy and climate benefits while minimizing safety and security risks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262037303
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	05/28/2019
Series:	Belfer Center Studies in International Security
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Daniel Poneman is a Senior Fellow with the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Centrus Energy Corp., which provides enrichment, fuel, and fuel services to utilities that operate nuclear reactors throughout the world. Poneman previously served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, as Acting Secretary of Energy, and on the National Security Council staff. He is the coauthor of Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Preface xiii

Introduction: Two Existential Threats xv

Part I Facing the Apocalypse

1 The Nuclear Threat 3

2 The Climate Threat 35

Part II Rising to the Climate Challenge

3 Bending the Carbon Curve: The Value in Hedging 51

Recommendation 1 Put a Price on Carbon Emissions.

4 Negawatts Beat Megawatts: Doubling Down on Efficiency 63

Recommendation 2 Promote Market Mechanisms That Reward Efficiency.

5 "It's the Carbon, Stupid!" Remembering Our Objectives 69

Recommendation 3 Level the Playing Field for All Lower-Carbon Energy Sources.

6 Investing in Innovation: Enabling Quantum Change 83

Recommendation 4 Increase Investment in Fundamental Research and Long-Term Development.

7 Hang Together or Hang Separately: Our Common Destiny 93

Recommendation 5 Leverage the Paris Climate Agreement into More Effective International Action.

Part III Back to the (Nuclear) Future

8 Nuclear Energy: Once More unto the Breach 103

Recommendation 6 Accelerate the Deployment of Nuclear Energy.

9 Safety and Security First 111

Recommendation 7 Deepen Nuclear Safety and Security Culture through Best Practices and Peer Reviews.

10 And, in the End 117

Recommendation 8 Implement a Consent-Based Approach to Nuclear Waste Disposal in the United States.

11 Not Too Cheap to Meter, But 123

Recommendation 9 Improve Nuclear Power Economics through Practice and Policy.

12 Restoring U.S. Nuclear Leadership 131

Recommendation 10 Lead Global Development and Deployment of Advanced-Generation Reactors.

13 A New Paradigm for U.S. Nuclear Diplomacy 139

Recommendation 11 Launch an Assured Nuclear Fuel Services Initiative.

14 Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make 157

Recommendation 12 Eliminate the North Korean Nuclear Threat.

15 Physician, Heal Thyself 173

Recommendation 13 Strengthen Stewardship of the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal.

16 Conclusion: No Time to Delay 177

Acknowledgments 187

Notes 189

Illustration Credits 235

Index 239

About the Author 253

About the Belfer Center Studies in International Security 255

About the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs 259

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Nuclear weapons and climate change present very different but very significant global risks. Dan Poneman is one of the few who has worked at and contributed to mitigation of both risks and now has shared this experience through insightful analysis and commonsense recommendations. Double Jeopardy should be required reading for policymakers.

—Ernest J. Moniz, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative

Double Jeopardy is a must-read for anyone who cares about the world our grandchildren will inherit. Dan Poneman shows us how we can address the two greatest threats to our long-term future—at the same time. Brilliant!

—Susan Eisenhower, member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future

Dan Poneman has done what very few have even tried, and what no one has actually succeeded in doing—to persuade almost everyone along the long ideological spectrum that the issues of climate change and nuclear power are inextricably connected. There will be no addressing the former without the latter. Read this book. If it will not change your mind, then at least it will change your approach. Very few authors can do that. Poneman has.

—Hugh Hewitt, host, The Hugh Hewitt Show, and Professor, Chapman University School of Law

In this insightful and useful book, Dan Poneman explores the two great existential threats that we face: nuclear annihilation and climate change. He provides not just convincing analysis but also some clear and crisp proposed solutions. In a time of muddled thinking, this book is urgently needed.

—Walter Isaacson, Professor of History, Tulane University, and former president and CEO, Aspen Institute

Presidents of both parties have relied upon Dan Poneman's wise counsel on matters of global nuclear and energy security. In this important book, Dan outlines a rationale and a roadmap for reinvigorating America's nuclear leadership, which is indispensable to protecting our planet and all who live here.

—Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator and Co-Chair, Nuclear Threat Initiative

In Double Jeopardy, Dan Poneman draws on his extensive experience as both a policymaker and a businessman to make a compelling case for how nuclear energy can help address one of the world's most pressing problems—climate change—without inviting nuclear catastrophe. This thoughtful, well-researched, and highly readable book is a cry for, and a roadmap to, the reestablishment of American leadership in a key industry that has implications far beyond the realm of energy.

—Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Nuclear proliferation and climate change are two of the most vexing challenges facing humanity. Dan Poneman is an expert on both subjects. His clearly written, urgent call to action brings these two vitally important issues together in a novel and highly informative way.

—Henry Paulson, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman, Paulson Institute

In clear and simple prose, Double Jeopardy tackles two of the toughest challenges of our time: nuclear proliferation and climate change. Poneman has served his nation well under both Republican and Democrat presidents, and the solutions he recommends have the staying power that only bipartisanship can produce.

—Brent Scowcroft, former U.S. National Security Advisor

Daniel Poneman draws upon his great knowledge of and experience with nuclear power—as a policymaker and scholar and in the private sector—to demonstrate the key role it can play in meeting energy and environmental objectives and how, at the same time, to assure nuclear security on a global basis.

—Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman of IHS Markit and author of The Prize and The Quest

Editorial Reviews

Poneman says that there are two existential threats to human existence: climate change and nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The first, he argues, requires a greater investment in nuclear energy to reduce humanity's dependence on carbon fuels—but this, he notes, risks aggravating the second threat. So his recommendations address both threats together. He proposes shifting to lower-carbon energy sources, including nuclear power; fully implementing the Paris climate agreement; and, among other nonproliferation moves, eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat. It's a daunting list.—Foreign Affairs—

From the Publisher