Chris Spedding

Technological Risk Programme Manager at @BASIC_int. Futures, foresight and (occasionally) football.

[Alice Gorman @drspacejunk]

You know what I don't like about lunar mining/settlement: it takes away the Moon and its futures as everything I can imagine, and collapses it into someone else's narrow and dry industrial, accounting, utilitarian vision. It sucks the life out of the Moon.

[Joe Morrison @mouthofmorrison]

Today we announced a new capability: bistastic imaging. Helped along by the invaluable support of our partners @DARPA, we've started launching and operating SAR satellites in tandem pairs flown in precise formation in order to simultaneously image a target.

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

Although certification of the process by the massively overworked and understaffed ONR might take longer than we would like.

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

Enablers! This is genuinely huge, as the thread more eloquently explains, welding RPVs is a nightmare - and if you can eb weld at a variety of sites in future, SMR factories might actually be a reality (at some point).

[Jordan Taylor @Jordan_W_Taylor]

A spark in the darkness...

This week Sheffield Forgemasters achieved, in 24 hours, the welding of a nuclear Small Modular Reactor RPV mockup that should have taken up to a year.

How?

Incoming energy revolution: This is the Electron Beam Welding thread!

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

+ the OST and some other little bits. If it is a reactor, it should technically be LEU fuelled, but who knows

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

Just my luck. The one day I take a break from twitter is the one day space reactor security twitter kicks off. Autonomous reactors in space aren’t new, certainly not to Russia, but there’s not much outside of common sense when it comes to safety.

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

IAEA Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space

https://t.co/5Md8CZkVGB

[Jessica West, PhD she/her @JessicaWestPhD]

Ahem: seems like a good time to think about peace and arms control approaches to the weapons problem in outer space 🚀☮️🇺🇳

Big thanks to @Andy4Science for the opportunity to discuss my #SpacePolicy work @ploughshares_ca and similar efforts at the #UN.

https://t.co/nVbG6gSHwj

[Haydn Belfield @HaydnBelfield]

This measured approach seems right: gpt4 doesn't seem to dramatically increase risk over google/Wiki, but lets evaluate the next gen carefully

I'm interested in if these tests have looked at dif languages. Eg LLM might be able to provide more Russian info than Russian-lang web

[BASIC @BASIC_int]

January Newsletter is out now!

🖋️ 'Arctic Diplomacy at a Crossroads'
💬 Recent Nuclear Responsibilities Dialogue
🌐 CoP: Gender and Nuclear Weapons: Measuring the Impact

And more...

Read it here: https://t.co/vGOZzg5vMb

[Zuzanna Gwadera @zuzannagwadera]

Great stuff from my colleague @walberque. Attn @EVN_nuclear: apart from the deep dives into all things arms control, nonpro and disarmament, William interviews his guests on their career trajectories - the pod is a gold mine for those new in the field or aspiring to join it!

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

This was a fascinating discussion touching on ambiguity, conventional deterrents, and, of course, new technologies. A great round up by @anahita_parsa.

[BASIC @BASIC_int]

🆕 In November 2023, @APPG_Security hosted a meeting, 'Does the Britain's Deterrent Policy Need Updating?'

Read BASIC Policy Fellow @anahita_parsa's report on the session for insights from Lord James Arbuthnot, @mgmessmer, and @GrahamStacey12. ⬇️ https://t.co/QXbz29oO5P

[BASIC @BASIC_int]

🚨 Call for Interest - Community of Practice on 'Gender and Nuclear Weapons: Measuring the Impact'.

Join us to measure the impact of existing approaches to gender in the nuclear policy field. More information below ⬇️ https://t.co/CBEckByou1

[Dr Alexander Ghionis @alexghionis]

AI brings great promise, but could it also enable new threats to the chemical & biological weapons prohibitions?

With @DrJRMoon, our latest policy briefing presents framings that help unpack these complex issues.

➡️https://t.co/sXJW7nDPfO

@SPRU @SussexUBusiness #OPCW #1972BWC

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

@UnlearnEcon Always thought nudging was a hilarious, but untintentionally accurate, term, if you mapped it to a force equilibrium diagram, the nudge is a fart in a hurricane of structural forces demanding you stay put. Anyway nice article (I presume, haven’t read it).

[Chris Spedding @ChrisSpedding]

You should never pass up an opportunity to work with @mgmessmer !!

[Casillic @Casillic]

Nuclear shuttle systems definition study. Phase III. Volume III. Program support requirements. Final report
https://t.co/rr8A7modon

[Actual Names @ActualNames1]

Sheffield Tuesday

United States Census, 1880 #pureexcitement

[Dr Alexander Ghionis @alexghionis]

Thank you @MayraAmen and everyone else who attended, it was a very rich discussion and generated a lot to broaden our perspectives on the framing, materiality, & impacts of #AI in relation to #chemicalweapons and #bioweapons. #CBW #1972BWC #OPCW @BASIC_int