January 12, 2026
Three researchers affiliated with SGS are part of a newly established Expert Panel on Nuclear Disarmament Verification (EXPAND). Funded by the German Foreign Ministry, the core group held its first meeting in December 2025 at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany to develop a plan of work for the next two years. As part of this effort, the panel will review existing verification technologies and mechanisms, seek to identify gaps that would need to be filled, and recommend future R&D strategies to fill these gaps. Going beyond prior efforts in this area, dedicated work streams also include verification challenges associated with non-strategic nuclear weapons, delivery systems for nuclear weapons, tritium control, and outer space. The effort will also engage and help mentor next-generation scientists working in the area of nuclear disarmament verification.
The SGS participants are Pavel Podvig, Moritz Kütt, and Alex Glaser.
The work of the expert panel seeks to prepare for and complement the work envisioned for the UN Group of Scientific and Technical Experts (GSTE) on Nuclear Disarmament Verification, which will begin its work in 2027. Introduced by Brazil and Norway, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution (A/RES/79/240) to establish such a group with an overwhelming majority of 167 Member States on December 24, 2025. Only the United States and Russia voted against this resolution, while Iran and Israel abstained.
The work of EXPAND builds on an earlier project funded by the German Foreign Ministry, which resulted in the edited volume Toward Nuclear Disarmament: Building Up Transparency and Verification, edited by Malte Göttsche and Alex Glaser.