Two Department of Energy (DOE) reports received much care and attention from Michael Cooke, 2013-15 Executive Branch Fellow in the DOE Office of High Energy Physics.

Not much separates the two chambers in the big picture, though there are some clear differences in program priorities.

There have been significant improvements during the past decade in the worldwide ability to detect covert nuclear explosions equivalent to only a few hundred tons of chemical explosive, experts told a recent AAAS-organized discussion on Capitol Hill.

All but the most determined efforts at evasion likely would be spotted by a growing array of seismometers, radiation monitors, and other devices designed to detect nuclear blasts underground, underwater, in the atmosphere, and in space, they said.