Dr. Nick Bontis’ Post

President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ program was a POWERFUL gesture amid the troubling competition of the early Cold War. After the unprecedented destruction of WWII, the USA was offering to share the bounty of its wartime innovation for the peace, prosperity, & advancement of friendly nations around the world. Unfortunately, the USA squandered its head start toward building an atomic energy base in the 70 years since President Eisenhower’s speech. With public opinion divided by anti-nuclear hysteria, America & its Allies lost their nerve & failed to reap the full economic gains of cheap, clean, reliable, safe, & peaceful nuclear power. Had climate activists embraced commercial nuclear power in the late 1990s, 2000s, or the early 2010s, advanced economies like the USA could have already made greater strides toward decarbonization in a way that could have vastly improved their prosperity & security. Of course, upgrading American strength would have been inconsistent with many of those same activists’ other hopes for a utopian future. While talk has finally turned to nuclear adoption at this year’s COP28 summit in Dubai, we cannot forget that many of our leaders have long bowed to revolutionaries who vilified nuclear power & pushed for the replacement of cheap & reliable fossil fuels with unreliable solar & wind power — even as Communist China copied Western nuclear power plant designs & scaled up one of the world’s largest nuclear power sectors. Maintaining cheap & reliable power is an essential aspect of what it means to be a “1st world” country; and yet China is rising in that criteria while the historically more energy secure West is unnecessarily sinking due to its own policies. As a new era of small, modular, mass produceable, & safe nuclear fission reactors dawns, & the Axis regimes overtly weaponize energy flows against our Allies, this feels like an opportune time for America to give ‘Atoms for Peace’ another shot. Will free societies get out of our own way, return to an intelligent balance of regulation & risk taking, & let our builders do the hard work of securing our prosperity & security? Or, in our sheepish fear of something going wrong, are we content to cede our children’s future to totalitarians with plans to enslave us all? What would Ike say? https://lnkd.in/g2tVufHr

The impact of South Dakota on our country 1743 - The LaVerendrye Brothers, exploring for France, become the first white men to leave proof of their presence in South Dakota. They bury a lead plate on a hill on the west bank of the Missouri River near present day Fort Pierre to claim the area for France. 1804-1806 - Lewis and Clark make first camp site in Union County, the first military expedition to enter South Dakota. 1817 - Joseph LaFramboise starts a fur trading post at the site of present day Fort Pierre. This marks the beginning of the oldest continuous white settlement in South Dakota. 1830 - Fort Tecumseh, later Fort Pierre, established as fur trade center. 1831 - The Yellowstone becomes the first steamboat to travel on the Missouri River in South Dakota. 1861 - Dakota Territory is formally established. The legislation creating the new territory is signed by President James Buchanan. The new territory includes the present states of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and most of Wyoming. William Jayne of Illinois is appointed as the first territorial governor. 1874 - Rumors of gold and the need for military posts on the Great Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills area result in the Black Hills Expedition of Lt. Col. George A. Custer. 1966 - The Pathfinder Atomic Power Plant built by Northern States Power Company near Sioux Falls begins producing electricity. It was considered the world's first all-nuclear power plant. After only one year's operation, however, it was converted to a conventional power plant because of technical problems.  

This year, A&S remained steadfast in our commitment to advancing biosecurity and eliminating the threat posed by chemical weapons. Responding to the Secretary Austin's charge to be prepared for a contested biothreat environment, our Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs team spearheaded completion of the landmark Biodefense Posture Review (BPR). This comprehensive review identified critical reforms, including the establishment of the #Biodefense Council to enhance collaboration at the Department's senior-most levels. The Council, inaugurated in September 2023, is already making strides in refining the Department's strategic approach to biodefense. Focused on early warning, improving preparedness, and expediting response times, the Council is a testament to our commitment to safeguarding against biological threats and fortifying the Total Force. Read the full BPR here: https://lnkd.in/eb2xCQqJ Earlier in the summer, destruction of the last chemical munitions in the declared U.S stockpile was completed at the US Army’s Pueblo and Blue Grass depots in Colorado and Kentucky. Not only did the United States meet its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, but it also achieved 100% destruction ahead of the congressionally mandated deadline. This historic milestone decades in the making underscores our unwavering commitment to a world free of chemical weapons and pays tribute to the dedication of generations of our nation's public servants: https://lnkd.in/eVTNTfZ3