International Nuclear Watch & Discussion

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 01 Jun 2009 06:58

Cleric 'bans' Muslim use of nuclear weapons

Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa said using such weapons would violate Islamic teachings as Muslims as well as non-Muslims could be killed. He issued the religious ruling, or fatwa, following reports that the use of such weapons was legitimate, the state news agency MENA said.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 01 Jun 2009 16:17

xpost

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT ADOPTS PROGRAMME OF WORK AFTER TWELVE YEARS OF STALEMATE

By decision CD/1863, on the establishment of a programme of work for the 2009 session, the Conference on Disarmament will establish several Working Groups. Under agenda item 1, cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, it will establish a Working Group to exchange views and information on practical steps for progressive and systematic efforts to reduce nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal of their elimination, including on approaches toward potential future work of multilateral character. A second Working Group under this agenda item will negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, on the basis of the document CD/1299 of 24 March 1995 and the mandate contained therein (also known as the Shannon Mandate). It will also establish Working Groups on prevention of an arms race in outer space and on negative security assurances. The Conference will appoint Special Coordinators on the other agenda items, including weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons; radiological weapons; comprehensive programme of disarmament; and transparency in armaments; to seek the views of its members on the most appropriate way to deal with those issues.

This is the compromise proposal
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/pol ... CD1863.pdf

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 01 Jun 2009 23:02

India concerned over Pak's high N-arsenal stockpile

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 01:53

US Air Force officials publish new nuclear operations doctrine

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 01:56

US Declares Nuclear Sites to the IAEA

List of Sites, Locations, Facilities, and Activities Declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/sites.pdf

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 01:59

Ex-Japan officials acknowledge nuke deal

Four former top Japanese officials have acknowledged that Japan has a secret deal with the United States to allow nuclear weapons into the country.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 02:02

An Undersea Deterrent?

China's investment in a nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine force and the accompanying infrastructure indicates a major effort to take the boats to sea.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 02:08

Why we don't need to fear the bomb again

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 04:18

'China assisting Pakistan's plutonium nuke programme'

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 05:50

Russia, U.S. hold second round of nuclear disarmament talks

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Jun 2009 20:39

U.S. to Give Written Pledge on Nuclear Umbrella

At a summit in Washington on June 16, the U.S. will apparently give South Korea a written pledge about its protective nuclear umbrella.

negi · Post by **negi** » 02 Jun 2009 23:18

Pah... Unkil has gone insane

. This will only escalate the situation to the next level and in a way legitimize the NoKo's quest for more powerful bombs and capable delivery platforms .
America is unnecessarily creating problems for itself and the entire world for once confronted with Amriki nuclear umbrella NoKo and likes will try to develop/acquire weapons to penetrate that and PRC will be happy to oblige

.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 01:26

The Axis of Evil, Again

On the first point, it's worth recalling that every nuclear-weapons state got that way with the help of foreign friends. The American bomb was conceived by European scientists and built in a consortium with Britain and Canada. The Soviets got their bomb thanks largely to atomic spies, particularly Germany's Klaus Fuchs. The Chinese nuclear program got its start with Soviet help.

Britain gave France the secret of the hydrogen bomb, hoping French President Charles de Gaulle would return the favor by admitting the U.K. into the European Economic Community. (He Gallicly refused.) France shared key nuclear technology with Israel and then with Iraq. South Africa got its bombs (since dismantled) with Israeli help. India made illegal use of plutonium from a U.S.-Canadian reactor to build its first bomb. The Chinese lent the design of one of their early atomic bombs to Pakistan, which then gave it to Libya, North Korea and probably Iran.

Now it's Pyongyang's turn to be the link in the nuclear daisy chain. Its ties to Syria were exposed by an Israeli airstrike in 2007. As for Iran, its military and R&D links to the North go back more than 20 years, when Iran purchased 100 Scud-B missiles for use in the Iran-Iraq war.

Stephens equates civilian nuclear technology (a reactor) with bomb design assistance. While there are clear links showing transfer of weapons technology between various powers, no such link exists for the Indian bomb.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 03:02

Sweden poised to bury nuclear waste for 100,000 yrs

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 03:55

U.N. Hopes to Ban New Fissionable Material, Space-Based Weapons

President Obama has made a fissile-material treaty part of his arms-control agenda. But there are signs a fissile pact faces problems, in part because the conference approves only by consensus, meaning everyone must agree.

Pakistan's U.N. ambassador, Zamir Akram, made clear that verification of nuclear material manufacturing and stocks is "vital" to a fissile-material treaty "because of the nuclear cooperation arrangement in our neighborhood." That was a not-so-subtle reference to the U.S.-India nuclear agreement that made American nuclear technology available to the Indians while allowing New Delhi's military reactors to keep operating without international safeguards.

Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao made clear that her country would participate in the fissile negotiations but would "not accept obligations" that hinder India's "strategic program" or research and development, or those that "place an undue burden on our military non-proscribed activities."

She added that India considers nuclear weapons to be "an integral part of our national security and will remain so pending the global elimination of all nuclear weapons on a universal, nondiscriminatory basis."

Speaking for the Obama administration, U.S. delegate Garold N. Larson noted that a verifiable fissile material cutoff treaty is "the top U.S. priority at the Conference on Disarmament." He emphasized "verifiable" as marking "a significant gesture" because the Bush administration had subverted attempts at negotiating such a treaty by proposing it be done without any verification provisions.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 04:21

New NRG nuclear plant to cost $10 billion

The "all in" cost to build two 1,350-megawatt nuclear reactors in South Texas has risen 40 percent from 2006, Steve Winn, chief executive of Nuclear Innovation North America, told the Reuters Global Energy Summit.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 07:20

U.S. nuclear sites show up on Web

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) published last month a detailed 268-page dossier disclosing the addresses and specifications of hundreds of U.S. nuclear-weapons-related facilities, laboratories, reactors and research activities.

The document, which was removed from the Web on Tuesday, is a draft declaration of facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, required under agreements that the United States signed in 2004. It is considered highly sensitive though technically not classified.

"While much of this information is available by any number of means, one should be cautious when it is placed in the aggregate, in one source, and that creates security concerns."

document is still here:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/sites.pdf

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Jun 2009 07:32

Capital Region practices for "dirty bomb" scenario

Imagine a "dirty bomb" exploding in downtown Albany. Now envision two going off only blocks apart. That very possibility was simulated Tuesday as hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement officials manned would-be command posts on Albany-Shaker Road to prepare for the potentially catastrophic event.

The exercise, hosted by the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 06 Jun 2009 18:48

UK nuclear test veterans can sue MoD

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 07 Jun 2009 06:53

Latvia to abandon Soviet-era bomb shelters

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 07 Jun 2009 18:55

Uranium found at second Syria site - IAEA

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 07 Jun 2009 22:48

Is there more to the story about the W76?

Stockton said POGO's sources at the Pantex warhead assembly plant in Texas have indicated about a dozen W76 warheads are being assembled and disassembled there to maintain certification for the facilities and the technical personnel involved in those tasks. Stockton said those same sources indicated the holdup in delivering those warheads to the military was related to fogbank.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 08 Jun 2009 03:32

Clinton warns Iran against nuke use

"They may not be formal, as it is with NATO, but I don't think there is any doubt in anyone's mind that, were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation," Clinton said. When asked specifically if that counterattack would be by the United States, she answered, "Well, I think there would be retaliation." Israel is known to have scores of nuclear weapons of its own.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 08 Jun 2009 04:07

The CTBT debate begins again

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Jun 2009 03:03

Watchdog to Debate Fuel Bank for Nuclear Energy

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Jun 2009 03:05

Exelon: No public threat from Ill. tritium leak

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Jun 2009 03:09

Indonesia says to ratify CTBT treaty after US

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Jun 2009 03:18

[url=http://news.theNuclear%20fusion%20probe%20to%20be%20slimmed-downage.com.au/breaking-news-world/nuclear-fusion-probe-to-be-slimmeddown-20090609-c14u.html]Nuclear fusion probe to be slimmed-down[/url]

A decision approving the change will be put next week to the partners in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), she said.

A spokesman for ITER told AFP that the scaled-down version would entail using hydrogen initially. Key experiments using tritium and deuterium, designed to validate fusion as a producer of large amounts of power, would not take place until 2026, the spokesman said.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Jun 2009 04:12

Russia rules out nuclear arms cut while U.S. shield plans unclear

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 04:03

Small Nuclear Reactors in the Offing?

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 04:25

US Air Force Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC)

BALLISTIC AND CRUISE MISSILE THREAT 2009
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/missile/n ... IC2009.pdf

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 04:38

Global isotope shortage affects medical tests

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 05:55

Obama seeks global uranium fuel bank

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 06:19

The spy who started the Cold War

Broda was the KGB’s prize spy: from the Cavendish Laboratories at the University of Cambridge, he provided Soviet spy chiefs with a stream of Britain’s nuclear secrets, including the blueprint for the early nuclear reactor used in the US Manhattan Project. Agent “Eric’s” secrets enabled the Soviet Union to catch up in the race to build the bomb and set the stage for the nuclear standoff that followed.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Jun 2009 07:38

Iranian N-plant expanding rapidly

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 10 Jun 2009 11:40

A Spy’s Path: Iowa to A-Bomb to Kremlin Honor

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 11 Jun 2009 02:49

Atomic watchdog fails to elect new head

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said here Tuesday five candidates for its director-general post had failed to win two-thirds of the 35-member Board of Governors.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 11 Jun 2009 02:53

Company Calls New Small Nuclear Reactor a 'Game Changer'

Babcock & Wilcox Co.'s 125-megawatt reactor would be significantly smaller than the average 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor and is aimed at plugging a major "market gap," CEO Brandon Bethards said at a Washington press conference. The new reactor might come online as early as 2018.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 11 Jun 2009 02:54

Russia military says no nuclear warhead cuts below 1,500

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 11 Jun 2009 02:55

Topol-M, Bulava missiles to be core of Russian nuclear triad