JUNE 2009 UPDATE

• Isotopic Signatures of Weapon-grade Plutonium from Dedicated Natural-uranium-fueled Production Reactors and Their Relevance for Nuclear Forensic Analysis, Nuclear Science & Engineering, forthcoming (September 2009).
• Statement on Iran's Ability to Make a Nuclear Weapon and the Significance of the 19 February 2009 IAEA Report on Iran's Uranium-Enrichment Program (with R. Scott Kemp), 2 March 2009.
• RELATED: Allies' Clocks Tick Differently on Iran, The New York Times, 15 March 2009.
• Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Commissioned Report for the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, ICNND Research Paper No. 9, February 2009.
• RELATED: ICNND Research Reports.
• Verification of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty: The Case of Enrichment Facilities and the Role of Ultra-trace Level Isotope Ratio Analysis (with S. Bürger), Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 280, No. 1 (2009), pp. 85-90.

LATE 2008 UPDATE

• Fissile Material Stockpiles and Production, 2008 (with Z. Mian), Science & Global Security, 16(3), 2008.
• Characteristics of the Gas Centrifuge for Uranium Enrichment and Their Relevance for Nuclear Weapon Proliferation, Science & Global Security, Volume 16, Nos. 1-2 (2008), pp. 1-25.
• Global Fissile Material Report 2008, co-edited with H. Feiveson, Z. Mian, and F. von Hippel, published by the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), October 2008.
• The Gas Centrifuge and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (with H. G. Wood and R. S. Kemp), Physics Today, September 2008, pp. 40-45.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. degree in Physics, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, April 2005.

From September 2001 to August 2003, visiting scientist at the Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), holding a training and research fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC/MacArthur) within the Global Security & Cooperation Program.

Master's degree in Physics (German degree: Diplom-Physiker) from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, May 1998.

WORK

Since February 2005, member of the research staff of the Program on Science and Global Security (SGS), Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

Since January 2006, member of the research staff of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), www.fissilematerials.org.

From 1999 to 2005, member of the research staff of the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science, Technology, and Security (IANUS), Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Verification of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty: The Case of Enrichment Facilities and the Role of Ultra-trace Level Isotope Ratio Analysis (with S. Bürger), Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 280, No. 1 (2009), pp. 85-90.
• Fissile Material Stockpiles and Production, 2008 (with Z. Mian), Science & Global Security, 16(3), 2008.
• Characteristics of the Gas Centrifuge for Uranium Enrichment and Their Relevance for Nuclear Weapon Proliferation, Science & Global Security, Volume 16, Nos. 1-2 (2008), pp. 1-25.
• Global Fissile Material Report 2008, co-edited with H. Feiveson, Z. Mian, and F. von Hippel, published by the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), October 2008.
• The Gas Centrifuge and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (with H. G. Wood and R. S. Kemp), Physics Today, September 2008, pp. 40-45.
• A Frightening Nuclear Legacy (with Zia Mian), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 64, No. 4, September/October 2008, pp. 42-47.
• Can Future Nuclear Power be Made Proliferation Resistant? (with Harold Feiveson, Marvin Miller, and Lawrence Scheinman), CISSM Working Paper, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland, University of Maryland, July 2008.
• Verification of an FMCT: The Case of Enrichment Facilities (with Stefan Bürger), INMM 49th Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 13-17 July 2008.
• Signatures of Weapon-grade Plutonium from Dedicated Production Reactors, INMM 49th Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 13-17 July 2008.
• Computational Analysis of Signatures of Highly Enriched Uranium Produced by Centrifuge and Gaseous Diffusion (with Houston G. Wood), INMM 49th Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 13-17 July 2008.
• Nuclear Forensics: Role, State of the Art, Program Needs, Report by the Joint Working Group of the American Physical Society (APS) Panel on Public Affairs and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy, Washington, D.C., February 2008.
• Resource Letter PSNAC-1: Physics and Society: Nuclear Arms Control (with Zia Mian), American Journal of Physics, 76 (1), January 2008, pp. 5-14.
• Global Fissile Material Report 2007, co-edited with H. Feiveson, Z. Mian, and F. von Hippel, published by the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), October 2007.
• Performance Gain with Low-Enriched Fuel and Optimized Use of Neutrons, Proceedings of the 29th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR), 23-27 September 2007, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Weapon-Grade Plutonium Production Potential in the Indian Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (with M. V. Ramana), Science & Global Security, Volume 15, No. 2 (2007), pp. 85-105.
• Neutron-Use Optimization with Virtual Experiments to Facilitate Research-Reactor Conversion to Low-Enriched Fuel, Institute for Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) 48th Annual Meeting, 8-12 July 2007, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
• Fissile Materials: Global Stocks, Production and Elimination (with H. Feiveson, Z. Mian, and F. von Hippel), Appendix 12C in SIPRI Yearbook 2007, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 558-576.
• The Gas Centrifuge and the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (with R. S. Kemp), pp. 88-95 in Shi Zeng (ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Workshop on Separation Phenomena in Liquids and Gases (SPLG), 18-21 September 2006, Beijing, China, Tsinghua University Press, 2007.
• Nuklearterrorismus: Die vermeidbare Katastrophe? (with F. von Hippel), Spektrum der Wissenschaft, August 2006, pp. 68-75. See also exchange of letters to the editors, December 2006, pp. 8-9 (in German).
• Global Fissile Material Report 2006, co-edited with H. Feiveson, Z. Mian, and F. von Hippel, published by the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), September 2006.
• Brave New Nuclear World (Schöne neue nukleare Welt), with Z. Mian, published in German, Wissenschaft und Frieden, 3/2006, 24. Jahrgang, August 2006.
• Final Report to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Investigations on the Technical Options for the Conversion of the FRM-II Research Reactor, with M. Englert and W. Liebert, published in German, Interdisciplinary Research Group on Science, Technology, and Security (IANUS), Darmstadt University of Technology, June 2006.
• Optimization Calculations for the Use of Monolithic Fuel in High-Flux Research Reactors (with M. Englert and W. Liebert), Transactions of the 10th International Topical Meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management (RRFM), European Nuclear Society (ENS), 30 April - 3 May 2006, Sofia, Bulgaria.
• Life in a Nuclear Powered Crowd (with Z. Mian), INESAP Information Bulletin, Issue No. 26, June 2006, pp. 4-8. This article has first been published in INES Newsletter, No. 52, April 2006.
• On the Proliferation Potential of Uranium Fuel for Research Reactors at Various Enrichment Levels, Science & Global Security, Volume 14, No. 1 (2006), pp. 1-24.
• Thwarting Nuclear Terrorism (with F. von Hippel), Scientific American, February 2006, pp. 56-63.
• Global Cleanout: Reducing the Threat of HEU-fueled Nuclear Terrorism (with F. von Hippel), Arms Control Today, Vol. 36, No. 1, January/February 2006, pp. 18-23.
• About the Enrichment Limit for Research Reactor Conversion: Why 20%?, Proceedings of the 27th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR), 6-10 November 2005, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Neutronics Calculations Relevant to the Conversion of Research Reactors to Low-Enriched Fuel, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Physics, Darmstadt University of Technology, April 2005.
• Monolithic Fuel and High-Flux Reactor Conversion, Proceedings of the 26th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR), 7-12 November 2004, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria.
• Beyond A.Q. Khan: The Gas Centrifuge, Nuclear Weapon Proliferation, and the NPT Regime, INESAP Information Bulletin, Issue No. 23, April 2004, pp. 50-54.
• Research Reactor Vulnerability to Sabotage by Terrorists (with G. Bunn, C. Braun, E. Lyman, and F. Steinhausler), Science & Global Security, Vol. 11, Nos. 2-3, December 2003, pp. 85-107.
• Mathematica as a Versatile Tool to Set-up and Analyze Neutronic Calculations for Research Reactors (with F. Fujara, C. Pistner, and W. Liebert), Proceedings of the 25th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR), 5-10 October 2003, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• The Conversion of Research Reactors to Low-Enriched Fuel and the Case of the FRM-II, Science & Global Security, Volume 10, No. 1 (2002), pp. 61-79.
• On the Importance of Ending the Use of HEU in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: An Updated Assessment (with F. von Hippel), Proceedings of the 24th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR), 3-8 November 2002, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.
• Bavaria Bucks Ban, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2002, pp. 20-22.

TEACHING

Graduate level course, Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), with F. von Hippel, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Spring 2006 and Spring 2007.

From 2000 to 2004, co-organization of a graduate-level seminar series at Darmstadt University of Technology dedicated to technical aspects of arms control and nonproliferation. Title of the course in the Spring/Summer 2004: Nuclear Weapons and Their Proliferation.

Teaching assistant for the course Systems Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (22.351) taught by M. Kazimi at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nuclear Engineering Department, Spring 2003.

From 1994 to 1996, teaching assistant for various courses in Theoretical Physics at Darmstadt University of Technology, including Introduction to Theoretical Physics, Classical Mechanics, Classical Electrodynamics, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Mechanics.

SLIDES FROM SELECTED LECTURES AND TALKS

• Global Fissile Material Report 2008 -- Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty: Scope and Verification (with F. von Hippel, Zia Mian, and Jean du Preez), United Nations, First Committee, New York City, 10 October 2008.
• The Threat from Weapon-grade Highly Enriched Uranium, Panel Discussion: Getting Bomb-Grade Uranium Out of Civilian Hands: Beyond the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Washington, D.C., 8 October 2008.
• Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty: Scope and Verification (with R. Rajaraman, A. Meerburg, S. Johnson, and F. von Hippel), IAEA General Conference, Vienna, Austria, 1 October 2008.
• Preventing Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: The Fissile Material Dimension, Future of Nuclear Energy Conference, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Chicago, IL, 26 September 2008.
• Nuclear Forensics: Capabilities, Limits, and the "CSI Effect" (with Tom Bielefeld), Science and Global Security Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 24 July 2008.
• A Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty and Its Verification: Progress Report from the International Panel on Fissile Materials (with Frank von Hippel), United Nations Office at Geneva, Palais des Nations, 2008 NPT Preparatory Committee Meeting, in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), 2 May 2008.
• Toward a Global Cleanout of Nuclear Weapon Materials: Nuclear Weapon and Fissile Material Stockpiles and Reductions, United Nations, New York City, 19 October 2007.
• Detection of Special Nuclear Materials, Lecture for Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), Princeton University, 16 April 2007.
• Dynamics and Control of Infectious Diseases, Lecture for Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), Princeton University, 9 April 2007.
• The Gas Centrifuge and Nuclear Proliferation, Iran, the West, and the Region, The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD), Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, 11 March 2007.
• Making Highly Enriched Uranium, Lecture for Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), Princeton University, 26 February 2007.
• Satellite Imagery, Lecture for Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), Princeton University, 19 February 2007.
• Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Lecture for Topics in International Relations: Protection Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WWS-556d), Princeton University, 12 February 2007.
• Weapon-Grade Plutonium Production Potential in the Indian Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, Princeton University, 13 December 2006.
• Brave New Nuclear World: The Expansion of Nuclear Power and its Relevance for the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Conference on the Future of Nuclear Energy, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the University of Chicago, 1-2 November 2006, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• The Role of Neutron Scattering Simulations in Identifying Optimum Strategies to Convert Research Reactors to Low-Enriched Fuel, International Workshop on Applications of Advanced Monte Carlo Simulations in Neutron Scattering, 3-4 October 2006, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland.
• Life in a Nuclear Powered Crowd, Presentation at the "New Approaches to Cooperative Security" Workshop, Wye River Conference Center, Queenstown, Maryland, 14 June 2005.
• Neutronenphysikalische Berechnungen zur Umstellbarkeit von Forschungsreaktoren auf niedrig angereichertes Uran, Presentation in the Plasma Physics Seminar Series, Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, 23 November 2004.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament: Developing the technical basis for cooperative international policy initiatives to support nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament; Verifying a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT); Reducing --and eliminating if possible-- global stocks of fissile materials; Assessing fissile material production capabilities worldwide based on detailed reactor models and neutronics calculations.

Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Detecting clandestine fissile material production; Converting research reactors to low-enriched fuel and eliminating highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the civilian nuclear fuel cycle; Improving safeguards on centrifuge enrichment plants; Limiting the use of proliferation-prone nuclear technologies in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Nuclear Energy: Assessing the potential role of nuclear energy in a carbon-constrained world, with a particular emphasis on proliferation implications that would be associated with any significant expansion of nuclear energy; Assessing the viability of specific reactor and fuel cycle concepts considered for future use.

Nuclear Forensics: Determining signatures of plutonium from various types of dedicated production reactors; Determining signatures of highly enriched uranium obtained with different enrichment processes; Evaluating the role, capabilities, and limits of nuclear forensic analysis; Applying nuclear forensics to support nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament initiatives.

MISCELLANEOUS

Since July 2008, member of the Science & Global Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, www.thebulletin.org.

In 2007-2008, member of a joint working group of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Nuclear Forensics: Role, State of the Art, Program Needs.

Since 2007, coordination of the seminar series of the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University.

Since 2007, member of the Independent Group of Scientific Experts (www.igse.net), which has been formed to develop and demonstrate technologies and procedures for remote environmental sampling for clandestine fissile material production and other novel methodologies.

Since 2005, Associate Editor of the Journal Science & Global Security.

Adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Environment and Reactor Safety (BMU, Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit), March 2000-June 2001.