Scientists ponder how to get nuclear genie back in the bottle

— -- A new nuclear weapons report by a panel of scientists and two new books by weapons scientists show just how deeply the nuclear genie still haunts the scientific heirs of the Manhattan Project.

"Scientists have always felt a special responsibility for nuclear weapons, the one weapon they have created of such import," says physicist John Browne, a former head of Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory.

Now, amid pressing economic and wartime worries, nuclear weapons are poised once again to enter public debate, fueled by warnings from Congress and a campaign pledge by President-elect Barack Obama to support the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The treaty, which bans nuclear weapon test explosions, has been ratified by 143 nations, but not the United States.

Global Zero, a group of world diplomats, generals and leaders, met in Paris earlier this month to discuss plans to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide over the next 25 years. And weapons scientists are joining the jousting for the nuclear attentions of the Obama administration.

"For the last eight years and even before that, things in the nuclear world have really been drifting," says Browne, who headed the scientific panel that produced the nuclear weapons report, co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Crises have popped up in places like North Korea and Iran, but focus on weapons themselves has lagged, Browne says. "Now there is a lot more discussion and thought about the role of nuclear weapons."

The report, Nuclear Weapons in 21st Century U.S. National Security, puts forth three major goals for the new administration:

•Prevent nuclear weapons from spreading, including in North Korea and Iran.

•Cut global stocks of nuclear materials to keep them from terrorists.

•Lower U.S.-Russian nuclear weapon stockpiles.

"All things nuclear are interrelated," Browne says. "Everyone looks at parts of these things but don't see the connections. There's really a chance now for a more thoughtful discussion."