Program

Evaluating Megatons to Megawatts: Setting the Conditions
 

Monday, June 16, 2025

Columbia University’s AC4 at the Interchurch Center - Conference Room A/C

475 Riverside Drive, New York City
 

Bios - Process - Methodology - Hughes Text
 

Prior to the demise of the USSR and out of concern for the decaying conditions and security of nuclear materials in its vast nuclear complex,  in an October 1991 Op-ed in The New York Times, Thomas Neff suggested conversion of Soviet weapons HEU as the technical component of the “Grand Uranium Bargain” by which “valuable material … can be processed for use in commercial nuclear power plants.” A novel aspect of this proposal was that the U.S. purchased the HEU converted for civil use: an “HEU Deal” was struck between former adversaries, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The program was subsequently branded as Megatons to Megawatts - M2M.

The Amaldi Team in Italy, through the formal responsibility of the STES (Scienziati e Tecnologi per l’Etica dello Sviluppo), contributed to the process with a proposal that was presented jointly by Italy and the USSR as the "Edoardo Amaldi Project" at the Fourth NPT Review Conference on 31 August 1990 and at the International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA 35th General Conference of 19 September 1991. 

The conversion process achieved several significant results:

• The bombs were completely deactivated and made unusable
• Radioactive material was being used through standard lifecycle for civil application and thus was no longer as dangerous
• A relevant amount of electricity could be produced for civilian use with significant economic and ecological results.
   

The 2025 CNDSI Working Seminar is the first of three occasions dedicated to the evaluation of the M2M program. This will focus on the conditions that made the conception and actualization of the program possible. It will focus on the scientific cooperation between US and Soviet researchers, the technical aspects, and the motivations that preceded the launch of M2M. The following 2026 and 2027 Working Seminars will be dedicated respectively to the actual experience of M2M and its results. All CNDSI Working Seminars will occur on the third Monday of June at Columbia University. They are by invitation only, and participants must attend in person.
 

Schedule
 

9:15 - 9:45 AM   Arrival at Columbia University’s AC4 at the Interchurch Center

Conference Room A/C -  475 Riverside Drive, New York City

Informal introductions
 

9:45 - 10:00 AM  Welcome

Andrea Bartoli
 

10:00 - 11:30 AM  Session One

“Megatons into Megawatts: History, Lessons and the Future”

Jeffrey Hughes
 

11:30 - 11:45 PM Break
 

11:45 - 1:15 PM Session Two

“Scientific Cooperation as Prerequisite to Nuclear Disarmament”

Frank von Hippel
 

1:15 - 1:45 PM Lunch
 

1:45 - 3:15 PM Session Three

“The motivations behind the Grand Uranium Bargain” 

Danna Beth Harris
 

3:15 - 3:30 PM  Break
 

3:30 - 4:45 PM Session Four
 

“M2M as Cooperative Ecosystem”

Nikolas Katsimpras
 

4:45 - 5:00  PM Conclusion 

“Environmental Considerations”

 Joshua Fisher 
 

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2026 Working Seminar on “Actualizing M2M” Monday, June 15, 2026

2027 Working Seminar on “The Results of M2M”  Monday, June 14, 2027