DDMI Co-hosts Nuclear Symposium in London

The DDMI co-hosted with the Oxford Research Group (ORG) a Symposium at the Royal Society entitled ‘Nuclear Futures – Realities and Choices.’ The Symposium marked the 25th Anniversary of the ORG’s work on nuclear weapons, and also honoured the work of its chief nuclear consultant Dr Frank Barnaby. Professor Wheeler (Director of the DDMI) and Professor Booth who spearhead the Institute’s Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds Project, spoke at the event which brought together a distinguished group of experts to explore the prospects for nuclear disarmament, the question of how far climate change might lead to increased reliance civil nuclear power, the proliferation and terrorism risks that might follow from such a ‘civil nuclear renaissance’, and the prospects for developing new structures of global governance to manage the spread of civil nuclear technology to an increasing number of states.

The meeting was held under the Chatham House rule and the rapporteur's report from this conference is now available. Contributors to the symposium have been invited to write up their presentations and a report of the proceedings that will be edited by Booth, Barnaby and Wheeler will be published in 2008. Booth and Wheeler also joined some of the other symposium members at a meeting the following day at the House of Lords. The meeting was organised by the NGO ‘WMD Awareness’ and it was chaired by its coordinator Carol Naughton. After the symposium participants had offered an overview of the themes from the previous day, the audience of journalists, parliamentarians, academics, NGOs, and students were invited to put questions.