A Guide to Satellite Imagery Analysis for the Nuclear Age – Assessing China’s CFR-600 Reactor Facility
Satellite imagery has long served as a tool for observing on-the-ground activity worldwide, and offers especially valuable insights into the operation, development, and physical features related to nuclear technology. This report serves as a “start-up guide” for emerging analysts interested in assessing satellite imagery in the context of the nuclear field, outlining the steps necessary for developing comprehensive and effective analytical products.
What goes on in the mind of an analyst during satellite imagery analysis? Four broad steps included in this report – establishing context, collecting imagery, analyzing imagery, and drawing conclusions – serve as a simple outline for analysts interested in assessing satellite imagery with a particular focus on the nuclear field. This report uses China’s CFR-600 reactor site as a case study, providing a roadmap to the analytical thought processes behind the analysis of satellite imagery.
This report was adapted into an ArcGIS StoryMap, an interactive multimedia narrative. Click here to view the StoryMap.
Satellite imagery has long served as a tool for observing on-the-ground activity worldwide, and offers especially valuable insights into the operation, development, and physical features related to nuclear technology.
This report outlines a framework relying on “Cooperative Technical Means” for effective arms control verification based on remote sensing, avoiding on-site inspections but maintaining a level of transparency that allows for immediate detection of changes in nuclear posture or a significant build-up above agreed limits.
The grant comes from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) to investigate, alongside The British American Security Information Council (BASIC), the associated impact on nuclear stability.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.