Vita
Christopher Fichtlscherer has been a researcher for the project “Arms Control and New Technologies” since March 2021 and also works on the DSF-funded project “Nuclear Warhead Authentication Based on Gamma and Neutron Emissions - How to Discourage Cheating?”. Christopher Fichtlscherer studied mathematics and physics in Darmstadt, Stockholm, and Hamburg and graduated with distinction. Since then, he has been working on his PhD in the “Nuclear Verification and Disarmament” research group at RWTH Aachen. During his studies, he received support from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, among others. He has conducted research in Vienna (Institute of Security and Risk Sciences), Daejeon (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Princeton (Program on Science and Global Security), and Cambridge (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Research Profile | Current Projects
Christopher Fichtlscherer’s work focusses on interdisciplinary issues in the field of nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament. He develops solutions using methods from the fields of physics and mathematics and deals in particular with the topics of nuclear verification and the authentication of nuclear weapons, analysing here the potential weaknesses of existing processes. Christopher Fichtlscherer has also researched the game theory model of deterrence and conducted various nuclear reactor simulations (space- and Generation IV reactors) in order to better assess proliferation risks and put forth possible alternatives. His work is concerned with various methods of approximation, inverse problems, and the Monte Carlo method, and he is developing new functionalities for the particle transport code "OpenMC".
Selected Publications
-
Fichtlscherer, Christopher,
Friederike Frieß,
Moritz Kütt. 2019.
Assessing the PRISM reactor as a disposition option for the British plutonium stockpile.
Science & Global Security 27 (2/3): 124-149. DOI: 10.1080/08929882.2019.1681736. -
Fichtlscherer, Christopher,
Friederike Frieß,
Moritz Kütt. 2020.
Britain has 139 tons of plutonium. That’s a real problem.
In: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists -
Fichtlscherer, Christopher. 2019.
Do we need highly enriched uranium in space (again)?.
In: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists