Tournament: USC | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Advantage 2 is Waste

LFTR waste is less radioactive, decays way faster, and is easily stored

Sorensen 12 – Kirk, Founder and Chief Technologist at Flibe Energy, Grad student in Nuclear Engineering, former Chief Nuclear Technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering
~July, "Response to Oliver Tickell’s Anti-Thorium Article" http://energyfromthorium.com/tickell-rebuttal-jul-2012/~~gw
The significance of elimination of long-lived actinides/transuranics from the waste stream
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waste streams is perhaps the most significant differentiator over legacy spent nuclear fuel.

LFTRs can re-use current nuclear waste, reducing the amount needed to be stored

Sorensen 12 – Kirk, Founder and Chief Technologist at Flibe Energy, Grad student in Nuclear Engineering, former Chief Nuclear Technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering
~July, "Response to Oliver Tickell’s Anti-Thorium Article" http://energyfromthorium.com/tickell-rebuttal-jul-2012/~~gw
LFTRs would not be configured to directly consume waste fuel from conventional reactors, but
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reducing the long-term geologic storage requirements for legacy spent nuclear fuel.

Yucca Mountain is inevitable – fukushima fears, state pressure and lawsuits push adoption

Tollefson 11 (Jeff, former Knight fellow in science journalism at MIT,  "Battle of Yucca Mountain rages on", Nature, Vol. 473, No. 266, 5-19-11, RSR)rmm

By then, however, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was in the
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department. NRC officials say the commissioners are still deliberating on the issue. 

LFTRs generate less waste and prevent the opening of Yucca Mountain

Hargraves 12 – Robert, teaches Energy Policy at the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth College, PhD in physics from Brown University
~July, "THORIUM energy cheaper than coal"~gw
Less geological storage is needed for LFTR waste. LFTR reduces nuclear waste storage issues
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1000 that from PWRs. Geological repositories smaller than Yucca mountain would suffice. 

Yucca Mountain disposal risks creating a nuclear volcano

New Scientist 2
~http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17523571.300-yucca-mountain-could-become-nuclear-volcano.html~~gw
IF A volcano ever erupted beneath the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in
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published in Geophysical Research Letters (DOI: 10.1029/2002GL014665). 

Extinction

AetherPress Accessed 9
~http://www.aetherpress.com/news.htm~~gw
The planned Yucca mountain nuclear waste storage represents an unprecedented hazard for humanity. The
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, and may as well be the grandest disaster precipitated by our species.  

Yucca is inevitable – too unpopular in Congress,  perceived as costly and dangerous

Baram 11 – Marcus, Senior Editor at The Huffington Post, former reporter/producer for ABC News, Associate News Editor at Wall Street Journal, and News Editor at New York Observer
~5/13, "Where Do We Store Nuclear Waste? Solution Could Cost Billions, Take 20 Years, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/13/watchdog_n_861547.html~~ecl
The controversy over President Obama’s decision to pull the plug on the decades-long
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its license application for the repository, reports the Bureau of National Affairs.

Federal government forces indigenous people to accept dumping or move because they have no way to resist

Murphy 10 – Meghan A., writing in Social Eyes, Boston College’s sociology journal
~Fall 2010, "Environmental Exploitation of Indigenous and Minority People"; Social Eyes, Issue 2, http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/schools/cas_sites/sociology/pdf/2SocialEyes.pdf~~%23page=52~~ecl
Native American reservations are often targeted for nuclear waste dumps by the federal government and
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susceptible to farming pesticides and fecal bacteria from animal waste (Mascarenhas 2008). 

Environmental genocide on Native American lands perpetuates "human sacrifice zones" and threatens all aspects of Native American life

Hooks 4 – Gregory and Chad L., Washington State University Department of Sociology Chair %26 Smith, Texas State University Sociology Professor
~"The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans",  American Sociological  Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, p.562, August 2004~ecl
Some Indian lands have suffered such severe and prolonged environmental degradation that it is beyond
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and cultural welfare. (U.S. Department of Defense 2001). 

Rejecting racism is a moral imperative which outweighs all other impacts – conflict and destruction are inevitable within a society which allows it.

Menmi 2000 – Albert, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at U of Paris, Naiteire
~Racism, transl. Steve Martinot, p. 165~ecl
Of course, this is debatable. There are those who think that if one
AND
. True, it is a wager, but the stakes are irresistible.

Tournament: Navy | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Advantage 2 is Competitiveness

China is a powerhouse – Our tech competitiveness protected our heg, but it won’t for long

Rachman 11 – Gideon, chief foreign-affairs commentator for the Financial Times and author
~Jan/Feb, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/02/think_again_american_decline?page=full~~cn
"We’ve Heard All This About American Decline Before." This time it’s different.
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that al Qaeda and others have skillfully exploited, Obama or no Obama.

LFTR is our last shot to maintain competitiveness

Martin 11 – Richard, editorial director for Pike Research, author of "SuperFuel: Thorium, The Green Energy Source for the Future"
~2/1, http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/china-thorium-power/~~gw
China has officially announced it will launch a program to develop a thorium-fueled
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of energy in its own hands," stated the Wen Hui Bao report. 

Competitiveness prevents great power war —- power projection and "knowledge power"

Baru 9 – Sanjaya, Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School in Singapore
~Geopolitical Implications of the Current Global Financial Crisis, Strategic Analysis, Volume 33, Issue 2 March 2009 , pages 163 – 168~cs
Hence, economic policies and performance do have strategic consequences.2 In the modern
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only the Ottoman but also the Persian and Chinese) to western Europe. 

And, it’s the largest internal link to primacy

Gelb 10 - Leslie H., former New York Times columnist and senior official in the state and defense departments, is currently president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Fashioning a Realistic Strategy for the Twenty-First Century
Fletcher Forum of World Affairs vol.34:2 summer 2010 ~http://fletcher.tufts.edu/forum/archives/pdfs/34-2pdfs/Gelb.pdf-http://fletcher.tufts.edu/forum/archives/pdfs/34-2pdfs/Gelb.pdf~~
Power is what it always has been. It is the ability to get someone
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last few years has been the perception that our economy is in decline.

That prevents global instability and major war —- no viable replacement

Knowles 9 – Robert, Assistant Professor New York University School of Law,
AMERICAN HEGEMONY AND THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS CONSTITUTION, Arizona State Law Journal, Vol. 41, 2009
First, the "hybrid" hegemonic model assumes that the goal of U.
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formerly produced; as the largest consumer, it would suffer the most.

Heg is key to prevent nuclear war and extinction – even if multipolarity is inevitable, heg is vital to retain global social order

Barnett 11 – Thomas, Former Senior Strategic Researcher and Professor in the Warfare Analysis %26 Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, U.S. Naval War College American military geostrategist and Chief Analyst at Wikistrat, worked as the Assistant for Strategic Futures in the Office of Force Transformation in the Department of Defense
~3/7, http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/8099/the-new-rules-leadership-fatigue-puts-u-s-and-globalization-at-crossroads~~cs-http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/8099/the-new-rules-leadership-fatigue-puts-u-s-and-globalization-at-crossroads%5dcs
It is worth first examining the larger picture: We live in a time of
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the 20th century, setting the stage for the Pacific Century now unfolding.

The U.S. will act like the hegemon, even if it can’t anymore – this is a net turn to their heg bad arguments

Calleo 9 – David, Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and Dean Acheson Professor at its Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
~"Follies of Power: America’s Unipolar Fantasy" p. 4-5~cn
It is tempting to believe that America’s recent misadventures will discredit and suppress our hegemonic
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tide, all the makings of a grand historical tragedy are at hand.

Heg prevents a massive clash in Asia

Nyquist 9 – J.R., Geopolitical Analyst
~1-16 http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2009/0116.html~~cn
Japan was occupied by America forces, adopted a more democratic form of government,
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. Whatever the outcome, it will include a great deal of bloodshed.

The Soviet Union proves competitiveness is key to both the economy and effective foreign policy.

Morris 92 (Milton, vice president of research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C., Washington Quarterly, Autumn, Lexis)

Economic Competition for Expanded Domestic Opportunities. Even before the breathtaking developments of the past two years, it had become clear that growing economic competition was rapidly challenging military power as the key to global leadership. The end of the Cold War has confirmed that development, because the Soviet Union, a military giant, collapsed from economic weakness. Representative Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) notes in this regard that
Economic power is the new determinant of international stature. The restoration of U.S. competitiveness is critical not only to our domestic economy but to our foreign policy as well. Our economic problems are limiting the reach of our foreign policy at a time when the rest of the world is looking to the United States for leadership. n4

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
Plan: The United States Federal Government should provide matching funds to companies willing to develop and build a liquid fluoride thorium nuclear reactor in its federal laboratories.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Advantage 1 is Warming

Overwhelming scientific consensus indicates warming is accelerating and anthropogenic
Pearce 7 – Fred, environment consultant for New Scientist
~With speed and violence: why scientists fear tipping points in climate change, GoogleBooks, pp. 10-17~cn
First, the basic physics. As we have seen, much of this goes
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? Some of them can be heard making the case against climate change.
Warming turns and magnifies their impacts
Burke  8 – Sharon, Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy Security Project at the Center for New American Security
~Climatic Cataclysm: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Climate Change, GoogleBooks, pp. 157-161~cn
At the same time, however, the implications of both trends for human society
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, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Southeast Asia.

Warming makes oceans acidic – the impact is extinction

Kristof 6 – Nicholas, New York Times, American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes
~Jul, "Scandal Below the Surface," Online~cn
If you think of the earth’s surface as a great beaker, then it’s filled
AND
. We stand, so to speak, on the shoulders of plankton.

LFTRs solve – they’re cost-competitive and replace current sources of energy
Hargraves 11 – Robert, teaches Energy Policy at the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth College, PhD in physics from Brown University, and Ralph Moir, published ten papers on molten salt reactors during his career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, ScD in nuclear engineering from MIT
~Jan, http://www.naturals.ukpc.net/TR/Hansen/liq1.pdf~~gw
Burning coal for power is the largest source of atmospheric CO2 , which drives global
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, ending 10 billion tons per year of CO2 emissions from coal plants.
U.S. clean energy development key to global spillover
Roberts 4 – Paul, journalist, author, energy expert and writer for Harpers
~The End of Oil, pg. 325-6~cn
Politically, a new U.S. energy policy would send a powerful message
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business prospects in China that it now has its own vehicles in Beijing."

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Thorium reactors desalinate water

Halper 12 – Mark, contributing editor, energy, Smart Planet
~6/26, http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/us-partners-with-china-on-new-nuclear/17037~~gw
Many of those supporters urge the use of thorium reactors not only for generating electricity, but also for providing carbon-free heat to power industrial processes such as extracting oil from tar sands, or in the metals, chemicals and cement sectors, among others. They also point out that the reactors could power water desalination, and that they have valuable byproducts that could be used as fertilizers and for medical applications.

Desal key to prevent billions of systemic deaths

Beller 4 – Dr. Denis E, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
~"Atomic Time Machines: Back to the Nuclear Future," 24 J. Land Resources %26 Envtl. L. 41~sr
Our global neighbors need much more energy to achieve the standards of living of the
AND
1980 and 2000, while total energy use increased just 27 percent.10

Water scarcity coming now and will exacerbate regional conflicts – prefer predictive ev

Dinar 12 – Shlomi, associate professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations
AND
the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University
~10/18, Foreign Affairs, October 18, 2012, "No Wars for Water", http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138208/shlomi-dinar-lucia-de-stefano-james-duncan-kerstin-stahl-kenneth/no-wars-for-water?page=show~~sr-http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138208/shlomi-dinar-lucia-de-stefano-james-duncan-kerstin-stahl-kenneth/no-wars-for-water?page=show%5dsr
In short, predictions of a Water World War are overwrought. However, tensions
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, freshwater will only further frustrate stability efforts in the world’s volatile regions.

Central Asia goes nuclear

Ahrari 2001 (M. Ehsan, Prof. of National Security and Strategy of the Joint and Combined Warfighting School @ the Armed Forces Staff College, August, "Jihadi Groups, Nuclear Pakistan and the New Great Game," http://www.911investigations.net/IMG/pdf/doc-49.pdf)

South and Central Asia constitute a part of the world where a well-designed
AND
partners for the United States, thus representing a gain for all concerned.

Caucus instability escalates to global nuclear war

Tsepkalo 1998 (Valery V., Belarussian Ambassador to the U.S., Foreign Affairs, March/April, Lexis)

But abetting the continuing destabilization of Eurasia is not in the West’s interests. NATO
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disintegration, perhaps resulting in loss of control over weapons of mass destruction.

War in Latin America causes great power wars

Rochlin 1994 (James Francis, Prof. Pol. Sci. @ Okanagan University College, "Discovering the Americas: the evolution of Canadian foreign policy towards Latin America", p. 130-131)

While there were economic motivations for Canadian policy in Central America, security considerations were
AND
, such as Contadora, as will be discussed in the next chapter.

Egypt instability leads to nuclear war

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1992 ("Early warnings on the Nile", 11-19, L/N)

Were its government to fall in a coup and the National Democratic Party deposed after
AND
The impact would be devastating for stability in the short and long run.

Scarcity breaks down the Indus Waters Treaty – causes war

CFR ’11 (report based on travel in the region by the Committee’s staff and the work of experts in government, academia, and other international institutions "Avoiding Water Wars: Water Scarcity and Central Asia’s Growing Importance for Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Feb 22nd, http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/release/?id=0b32e452-9c4c-4417-82ee-d201bcefc8ae-http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/release/?id=0b32e452-9c4c-4417-82ee-d201bcefc8ae ~download link at the bottom)

The National Intelligence Council echoed these concerns in their Global Trends 2025: A Trans
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treaty’s utility in resolving water conflicts could have serious ramifications for regional stability.

Lack of water triggers conflict, not co-op – multiple reasons – no defense

Borer 4 – Professor at Naval Postgraduate School %26 Morrissette, Instructor at University of Georgia
~Parameters, December 22, 2004, Pg. 86(16) Vol. 34~sr
Where oil and water do mix: environmental scarcity and future conflict in the Middle
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a particularly volatile strategic issue, especially when it is in severe shortage.

Nuclear desalinization solves water

IAEA 7
~"Economics of Nuclear Desalination: New Developments and Site Specific Studies", July, http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1561_web.pdf~~sr-http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1561_web.pdf%5dsr
Seventy percent of the planet is covered with water, but only 2.5
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appropriate for remote areas that are not suitable for connections to the grid.

It’s economically viable

Seneviratne ’7 (Gamini Seneviratne 7, Nuclear News’s Vienna Correspondent, "Research projects show nuclear desalination economical", April, http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2007-4-3.pdf-http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2007-4-3.pdf)

The desalination of seawater using nuclear power is cost-effective compared with other primary
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~metric tons oil equivalent~ or %2421/bbl ~barrel~."

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Traditional nuclear technology has been rooted in governmental control through a constant need for power. Methods of power generation from uranium is engrained in old-world Cold War methodology of US imperialism

Martin 12—Award-winning science and technology journalist, editorial director for Pike Research ~Richard Martin, SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future, May 2012. (p. 95-6)~ (NSB)%26ab
THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1940S was an odd interregnum in U.S.
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nuclear power were eliminated. Uranium, and the bomb, had won.¶ 

The development of nuclear energy was merely a tool rooted in the quest of military dominance

Martin 12—Award-winning science and technology journalist, editorial director for Pike Research ~Richard Martin, SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future, May 2012. (p. 95-6)~ (NSB)%26ab

In a 2010 article on molten salt reactors in Mechanical Engineering magazine, David LeBlanc
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to the nation, and to humanity)— this was a dispiriting conclusion.

====The military industrial complex’s constant need to manufacture threats makes the US far more dangerous than empires of the past====
Hossein-zadeh 2006, Ismael  Ph.D. Professor of Economics 2006 ("The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism" WM)

Another salient hallmark of militarism is its constant need to invent (or  manufacture,
AND
markets and their share  of national tax dollars by increasing the Pentagon’s budget.

Imperialism causes backlash and global catastrophe

Foster 2003 – professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, co-editor of the Monthly Review (John Bellamy, Monthly Review, 55.3, "The new age of imperialism")

At the same time, it is clear that in the present period of global
AND
prove to be its own-we hope not the world’s—undoing.

Traditional nuclear discourse has blinded us from understanding the new beauty of thorium. Only the plan allows for the deconstruction militaristic thought and embracement of thorium power

Ferguson 11 – Scott, University of Washington
~2011,https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/16633/Factors%20in%20Thorium%20Fuel%20Adoption.pdf?sequence=1~~ab
The amount of connection between ordinary Americans and the possibilities of nuclear energy, let
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could be using thorium based nuclear fuel to solve its energy needs. ¶ 

Our function is not merely to attack discourses. The political engagement of the aff is a crucial step in breaking the violent hegemony of the status-quo.

Keenan et al ’4  (Thomas, PhD Student – U. Queensland Business School, Phil Graham, Senior Lecturer in Comm. – UQ Business School and Research Chair in Comm. And Tech – U. Waterloo, and Anne-Maree Dowd, PhD Student – UQ Business School, Discourse %26 Society, "A call to arms at the end of history: A discourse—Historical Analysis of George W. Bush’s Declaration of War on Terror", 15(2-3), May, Sage)
Martin and Rose (2003) suggest that the challenge for discourse analysis is to
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Discursive interventions will necessarily be decisive in the outcome between these two paths.

We internal link turn all their policy arguments. The discourse-creation of the 1AC is central to changing foreign policy actions. Only our framework can allow a just democratic society to flourish.

Lipman ’4  (Pauine, Prof. Policy Studies in College of Education – U. Illinois Chicago, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, "Education Accountability and Repression of Democracy Post-9/11", 2(1), March, http://www.jceps.com/print.php?articleID=23)

The importance of the symbolic dimensions of this conservative assault cannot be underestimated (see
AND
of globalization internationally, is to go beyond the limits of the sayable.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Helium-3

LFTRs create helium-3 – that spills over

DeVolpi 12 – Alexander, nuclear physicist
~Apr, http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ThoriumFueled-Reactor-Produce-Rare-Radioactive-2151476.S.103186934~~cn
A Thorium-Fueled Reactor to Produce Rare Radioactive Materials for Commercial and National-
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, modern medical diagnosis/treatment, and future fusion-energy production.

Key to space and preventing extinction

Jaeger 1 – James, Founder of Jaeger Research Institute
~"Earth’s Energy Problem," Universal Issues, December 14, http://www.mecfilms.com/universe/articles/energy.htm~~ bg
The problem is this: by 2050 we will need 1,520 terawatt-
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fossil fuel interests/politicians or to mystical and unrealistic alternative energy idiots. 

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Spillover of LFTR tech to Japan would solve their energy security and mend troubling US-Japan relations which are key to trade routes and US strategic interests in Asia

Nye and Armitage 12 – Joseph S, dean emeritus of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a trustee of CSIS, and Richard L., president of Armitage International and a trustee of CSIS
~Aug, http://csis.org/files/publication/120810_Armitage_USJapanAlliance_Web.pdf~~cs-http://csis.org/files/publication/120810_Armitage_USJapanAlliance_Web.pdf%5dcs
Japan is not an insignificant country positioned in a quiet part of the world.
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U.S.-Japan cooperation on nuclear research and development is essential.

U.S.-Japan alliance key to prevent nuclear war

INSS 2k
~Institute for National Strategic Studies, commission of a bipartisan study group including Armitage, Campbell, Kelly, Nye, Wolfowitz, and more, 10-11-2000, "The United States and Japan: Advancing Toward a Mature Partnership," http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SR_01/SR_Japan.htm-http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SR_01/SR_Japan.htm~~cs
Major war in Europe is inconceivable for at least a generation, but the prospects
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U.S.-Japan alliance is central to America’s global security strategy. 

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

LFTRs provide stable energy that makes space lasers possible

Maybury 12 – Chief Scientist @ USAF
~1/31, "Energy Horizons: United States Air Force Energy S%26T Vision 2011" http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/energy.pdf~~cs
Space is the ―ultimate high ground, providing access to every part of the
AND
plants decrease in size, their utility on board space based assets increases.

Space laser solves every conflict

Dunn 5 – Richard, senior analyst at the Northrop Grumman Analysis Center %26 MA Public Affairs at Harvard
~Sept, "Operational Implications of Laser Weapons", http://www.northropgrumman.com/analysis-center/paper/assets/Operational_Implications_of_La.pdf~~cs
Operations: Satellite-Based Laser Weapons24 — Space-based lasers may also¶
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would likely keep such a¶ satellite self-defense system relatively lightweight.

Tournament: ADA | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

LFTRs key to shipbuilding

Hargraves 12 – Robert, teaches Energy Policy at the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth College, PhD in physics from Brown University
~July, "THORIUM energy cheaper than coal"~cs
LFTR can power commercial ships. Powering ocean cargo vessels with LFTR electric power will
AND
to oil power, it can change from oil power to LFTR power.

Nuclear shipping revives US shipbuilding

Page 10 (Former officer of British Navy %26 Columnist-The Register, 9/27, "Nuclear merchant ships could open up Arctic routes for real," http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/27/nuclear_shipping/page4.html)
Certainly a reappearance of nuclear merchant ships could be excellent news for the UK shipping
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, would also be one of very few competitors for lucrative new business.

And, that’s key to naval power

NLUS 12 (Navy League of the United States, "America’s Maritime Industry The foundation of American seapower", 2012,  http://www.navyleague.org/files/americas-maritime-industry.pdf-http://www.navyleague.org/files/americas-maritime-industry.pdf, Date Verification – http://gsship.org/industry-links/)
Defense Industrial Base: Shipbuilding The American Maritime Industry also contributes to our national defense
AND
. They are unmatched in capability, but must maintain that lead. 13

More ev.

Crospey 12 Dr. Seth – Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, Former Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy, ""The U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Plan: Assumptions and Associated Risks to National Security", Statement before the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight %26 Investigations U.S. House of Representatives, 4/18, http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SethCropsey—USNavyShipbuildingPlan—Testimony041812.pdf
If the Navy’s assumption is mistaken that current political leadership will agree to large future
AND
international prominence and power visited Beijing last year and met with President Hu.

Naval Power on the brink – key to prevent Iranian prolif, sustaining Asian trade and stopping arms races

Collins 2/28 (Gabe Collins, Writer for The Diplomat - the premier international current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region, "The Consequences of Sequestration", February 28, 2013, http://thediplomat.com/2013/02/28/the-consequences-of-sequestration/?all=true)rmm
A less formidable U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf—and
AND
core areas of strategic interest much more costly and less likely to succeed.

Collapse of Asian trade causes nuclear war
Auslin 9 Michael, resident scholar at AEI, "Averting Disaster", The Daily Standard, 2/6, http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.29339/pub_detail.asp
As they deal with a collapsing world economy, policymakers in Washington and around the
AND
types of miscalculation and greed that have destroyed international systems in the past.

That’s the lynchpin of civilization

Brownrigg 7 (Director general of British Chamber of Shipping, "Speech to the Party Fringe meetings: Shipping – An Answer To Global Warming", http://www.findthatdoc.com/search-20687997-hDOC/download-documents-d-g-labour-party-fringe-sep-2007-doc.htm)
Somewhat provocatively, we’ve called this meeting ’Shipping – an answer to Global Warming’
AND
.  And this is the industry that transports 90% of world trade.       

South China Sea is the most likely scenario for US-China war

Glaser 12 Bonnie S., Senior Fellow – Center for Strategic and International Studies, "Armed Clash in the South China Sea," CFR, April, http://www.cfr.org/east-asia/armed-clash-south-china-sea/p27883
The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is significant. China, Taiwan
AND
and intensifying bilateral strategic competition would likely make managing such a crisis more difficult

Iranian prolif causes nuclear war, rapid arms races, cold war 2, and interventionism

Kurtz 2006 – senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (Stanley, "Our Fallout-Shelter Future", National Review Online, 8/28, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWU4MDMwNmU5MTI5NGYzN2FmODg5NmYyMWQ4YjM3OTU=)

Proliferation optimists, on the other hand, see reasons for hope in the
AND
so may we be all. Ready or not...duck and cover%21