Two Birds with One Stone: Halting U.S. Nuclear Modernization and Solving Climate Change by Repurposing the National Security Laboratories
Loading...
Date
2016-06
Authors
Erwig, Alexander
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis analyzes the national security laboratories under the leadership of the
National Nuclear Security Administration and explores their role in U.S. nuclear
modernization, finding that five of the eight labs could easily be repurposed to focus on
the problem of climate change. The thesis begins by showing that U.S. spending on
nuclear modernization is not only extremely wasteful, but also dangerous as it pressures
other countries to pursue nuclear modernizations, thereby reversing the current
trajectory of disarmament and starting a new arms race. Cutting many of these programs
would save almost 300 billion dollars without affecting the United States' ability to
deter nuclear aggression. This thesis demonstrates that repurposing these savings and
the national laboratories could more than triple funding for climate change research.
Three labs would be more than sufficient to maintain the U.S. nuclear deterrent for
decades to come, which would allow the remaining five labs to utilize all of their
resources to address climate change. The thesis finds that by shifting the mission of the
laboratories, the labs would benefit the U.S. and the world by pursuing climate change
research while halting the dangerous trajectory of nuclear modernization.
Description
69 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Political Science and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2016.
Keywords
Laboratories, National security, Climate change, Ohio replacement, Los Alamos, Nuclear triad, Warhead modernization