About
IGCC
 
HOME
 

program partners

Learn more about IGCC's unique cross-disciplinary partnerships with:

Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories

Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy

PUBLIC POLICY AND NUCLEAR THREATS

July 6–26, 2008


Summer course for professionals and graduate students

A program of the UC Institute on
Global Conflict and Cooperation
funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Application deadline extended to May 23, 2008.
Tuition assistance available for graduate students.


Jump to:

Applications
  For Ph.D. or Masters students

  For professionals/faculty
2008 brochure
2007 program
IGCC PPNT IGERT program
Email for more information

A rapidly evolving nuclear landscape poses major challenges and opportunities for the United States. The most critical of these issues include the growing threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, the renaissance of civilian nuclear power, and the pressing need to renew the country’s aging intellectual infrastructure of specialists equipped to address America’s nuclear weapons policies.

The Public Policy and Nuclear Threats course is designed to cover important issues in U.S. nuclear strategy and policy, supported by an understanding of the scientific foundations of this policy. This course aims to give participants the knowledge and analytic tools to contribute to the debate on future U.S. nuclear policy.

The three-week course features lectures, discussions, debates and mini-workshops on a wide range of issues. During each week, participants will attend talks by distinguished researchers, academics, policy officials, and operational specialists from the University of California system and other leading universities, the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and federal government agencies dealing with nuclear policy, threat, detection, and safeguard issues.

Course Outline

The course is broken into three one-week modules.

Week One: Nuclear Opportunities and Challenges

This module examines the nuclear "renaissance" of civilian nuclear energy and the challenges for nonproliferation that this focus brings. This module also covers the historical development of the current U.S. nuclear force posture and U.S. nuclear strategy. It includes instruction in deterrence theory and practice, U.S. nuclear strategies and use doctrines, and an introduction to the U.S. nuclear policy process. This module introduces students to the fundamentals of technology that are relevant to U.S. nuclear policy, including past and present issues in U.S. warhead production and delivery and the nuclear fuel cycle.

Week One will cover:

Past and future of civilian nuclear power

Deterrence theory
U.S. nuclear policy Technical and policy issues in the U.S. nuclear stockpile
Nuclear weapon design and delivery systems The demand for nuclear proliferation

Week Two: Nuclear Nonproliferation and Counterproliferation

This module considers proliferation threats from the U.S. perspective. It builds a technical foundation by examining opportunities presented by attribution science. It also examines the challenges of nuclear terrorism and counter-terrorism. Also included are several panels on why actors seek nuclear weapons and the utility of international institutions as tools for nonproliferation and counterproliferation.

Week Two will cover:

The international nonproliferation regime

Attribution science and nuclear forensics
Counterproliferation strategies Nuclear terrorism
Safeguards systems, technologies and issues  

Week Three: Nuclear Policy Today and Tomorrow

This module assesses the new nuclear threats to the United States from different regions and the potential policy solutions. First, the United States faces a continuing need to consider the changing nuclear postures of great powers like China and Russia. Second, the United States must face the strategic implications posed by new and potential regional nuclear powers, such as North Korea, Iran, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. The module concludes by comparing these different sources of nuclear threats and examining the competing policy options open to the United States.

Week Three will cover:

U.S. National Nuclear Strategy

Major power nuclear strategies and doctrines
U.S. deterrence policy Nuclear proliferation concerns on the Korean Peninsula, Iran, and the Middle East

For more information about any aspect of hte program, please email igcc-recruiting@ucsd.edu.



IGCC is a non-profit, nonpartisan institute with official 501(c)(3) status. We welcome your tax-deductible donations to help support our work, and encourage you to contact us about our programs and activities.
Copyright 2001–2008 by the Regents of the University of California on behalf of IGCC.
Click Here for Terms and Conditions of Use