Science AMA Series: We are physicists Rush Holt and Frank von Hippel,
here to answer your technical questions on the Iran Nuclear Deal (and
anything else), AMA!
Abstract
We recently co-authored an open letter to President Obama, which was
signed by several dozen prominent scientists, supporting the nuclear
deal with Iran. We are physicists and experts in nuclear issues, and are
here to answer questions about the science and technology of producing
fissile materials and nuclear weapons, operating nuclear power plants,
and monitoring these and other activities to prevent nuclear
proliferation, especially as they relate to the proposed Iran deal. Rush
Holt: I am an astrophysicist and currently head of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). I was a New Jersey
congressman from 1999-2015, and a five-time Jeopardy champion who beat
IBM’s supercomputer Watson. I have worked on international security and
proliferation issues for many years, both in and out of government.
Frank von Hippel: I am a physicist and professor at the Woodrow Wilson
School at Princeton, where I work on nuclear arms control,
nonproliferation, and energy issues. I was founding co-chair of the
International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), served as assistant
director for national security in the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy from 1993-4, and am a MacArthur fellow. Since there
are two of us, we’ve enlisted a helper to collate our answers, but we’ll
leave our names so you know who’s talking. Ask us anything! We’ll start
posting answers around 1pm eastern (5 pm UTC, 10 am PT) Edit: That’s it
for us, thanks everyone. This has been a pleasure.