Disarmament Through Diplomacy

In USA Today, Oppenheimer Project founder and co-executive director Charles Oppenheimer identifies two broader lessons on nuclear issues from the recent Israel-Iran conflict. Challenging conventional wisdom, he argues the Trump administration should use the ceasefire as an opportunity to pursue the more ambitious goal of pursuing engagement with Russia and China on global nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear science. 

Africa’s First Nuclear-Focused Summit

Last week, our Co-Executive Director Karen Pak Oppenheimer joined the inaugural National Energy Innovation Summit for Africa (NEISA) in Kigali — the first nuclear energy-focused summit organized and led by an African country, with participation from across East and West Africa. Hosted by Rwanda, NEISA marked a turning point: African countries are making the case for nuclear energy not just for access, but to industrialize, stabilize power grids, and build energy security and climate resilience. The message was clear: Africa’s energy future must be sovereign, integrated, and inclusive — and nuclear is part of that path. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also spoke at this conference and urged international financial institutions to support nuclear energy as a reliable solution for Africa’s energy challenges. To help this effort, Grossi said the IAEA is prepared to work with private and regional banks to stimulate funding for nuclear initiatives across the African continent.

Google Joins the Nuclear Renaissance

Bill Gates and Google have bet on the potential of fusion energy as a commercial power source. The reportedly multi-billion dollar deal with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is a major step toward CFS’s goal of commercializing fusion energy in the 2030s, and is further evidence of the nuclear renaissance.

Together, these developments reflect a pivotal shift: nuclear issues are no longer confined to defense but are central to diplomacy, development, and decarbonization.