Bharat Rakshak

The presidency announced that control of the National Command Authority, which analysts and lawyers confirmed is responsible for nuclear weapons, had shifted to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

As recently as December 2008, the Secretary of Defense Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management, chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, said the weapons were an important guarantee of NATO security and also supported nonproliferation efforts by preventing allied states from developing their own weapons programs.

CH2M Hill has designed the computerized mill to process up to 1,000 tons of uranium daily, five pounds of uranium to the ton. The mill's design is so environmentally friendly and technologically advanced, there's nothing like it in the world, Glasier says.

He's already talking to overseas customers: "The Chinese are acquiring uranium assets everywhere they can," he says. And here at home, he estimates that, in the country's clean energy future, electric utilities will generate enough need to boost uranium from its present $46 to a more robust $70 per pound. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission already has 22 applications for new nuclear plants nationwide; globally there are 53 new plants under construction and 436 operational.

Previously, a senior administration official told The Cable that the NPR spun out an early analysis on nuclear-weapons levels specifically to inform the START follow-on negotiations, meaning that the two processes are closely coordinated and the numbers should match. The official also said that the limit for deployed warheads under the follow on would be between 1,500 and 1,675 and the limit on delivery vehicles would be somewhere between 500 (the Russian position) and 1,100 (the U.S. proposal).

Also, according to the official, the START follow-on will not limit weapons that aren't deployed and will not force either side to rearrange its strategic architecture, which on the U.S. side is based on what's known as the nuclear triad, the combination of intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers, and submarine-based missiles.

The Pentagon and NNSA are reportedly still pushing to move forward with the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, a Bush administration effort to build a new class of nuclear warheads that has been sold as a means of updating the arsenal and maintaining the nuclear expertise and experience found in the U.S. government.

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher has made it clear that she opposes RRW and prefers a stockpile modernization plan, which could include some new weapons but would be branded as more of refurbishing the existing ones.

Advocates of new nukes lost ground inside the debate following a report by what's known as the "JASON" group, an independent scientific panel that was tasked to determine whether or not the existing nuclear stockpile needed new testing or could be relied upon using "Life Extension Programs."

"JASON finds no evidence that accumulation of changes incurred from aging and LEPs have increased risk to certification of today's deployed nuclear warheads," the report states, adding, "Lifetimes of today's nuclear warheads could be extended for decades, with no anticipated loss in confidence, by using approaches similar to those employed in LEPs to date."

The new JASON report has forced NNSA to abandon efforts to call for increased reliability as a way to justify a decision to design a new warhead, the source explained. The NNSA put out a press release that many view as trying to undermine the report.

The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, which independent experts confirm has no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon. Uranium deuteride is the material used in Pakistan’s bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.

Moscow maintains a robust nuclear warhead production capability, regularly remanufacturing each warhead every 10 to 15 years--a necessity because Russian warheads aren't nearly as well maintained as U.S. warheads. As such, they begin to suffer from age-related defects much sooner. As Victor Reis, assistant secretary of energy for defense programs, remarked in a 1998 hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, "[The Russians] have a somewhat different system where they do tend to go back and remanufacture the whole system. Their system, as best we understand it, is perhaps not quite as finely tuned as ours. . . . They are very concerned about that issue."

International commission on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament

Gareth Evans
(Australia) (Co-chair)
Yoriko Kawaguchi
(Japan) (Co-chair)
Turki Al Faisal
(Saudi Arabia)
Alexei Arbatov
(Russia)
Gro Harlem Brundtland
(Norway)
Frene Noshir Ginwala
(South Africa)
François Heisbourg
(France)
Jehangir Karamat
(Pakistan)
Brajesh Mishra
(India)
Klaus Naumann
(Germany)
William Perry
(United States)
Wang Yingfan
(China)
Shirley Williams
(United Kingdom)
Wiryono Sastrohandoyo
(Indonesia)
Ernesto Zedillo
(Mexico)

Gerard wrote:China's nuclear missiles hidden "underground maze"

Nuclear officials were monitoring water supplies east of Toronto Wednesday after a nuclear plant leaked 52,000 gallons of tritium-laced water into Lake Ontario.

The world’s approximately 23,300 nuclear weapons are stored at an estimated 111 locations in 14 countries, according to an overview produced by FAS and NRDC.

Demonstration of a Chinese AP1000 derivative moved a step closer with a joint venture project company. Construction of the first CAP1400 is scheduled for April 2013.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Iran's recently disclosed second uranium enrichment plant is "immune" to conventional bombing.

The Wall Street Journal reports Dec 27 that a consortium led by South Korean companies has won a $20.4 billion contract to build four new nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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The UAE expects the first reactor to enter revenue service in 2017.

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The winning team include Korea Electric Power Corp., Samsung and Hyundai business groups, Doosan Heaving industries, and Westinghouse.

Reuters reports that the South Korean team will supply four 1,400 MW light water reactors. The design was completed in 2002 and is being used to build new power stations in South Korea. Reuters also reports that the four units to be built in the UAE are expected to have a life cycle of 60 years. The deal reportedly includes operations of the reactors, turbines, and other balance of plant facilities.

Nuclear fuel for the reactors could come from other vendors including Areva. The UAE said it is in discussions with Areva for supply chain support outside the scope of the initial contract.

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The UAE is expected to become a net exporter of electricity to other countries in the region including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The New York Times reports the UAE regional transmission and distribution grid will require "substantial upgrades."

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Why did Areva lose?

The bid by French state-owned nuclear giant Areva, which was expected by many to win the reactor portion of the deal, may have been impacted by the UAE’s review of the firm’s track record at a project in Finland. It is is significantly over budget and behind schedule.

Recent public disputes with Finnish nuclear regulatory authorities, Siemens, and subcontractors, have not helped the project’s international image. While Areva has claimed to be making progress in resolving these problems, it apparently wasn’t fast enough for the UAE.

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The Korean bid was reportedly considerably lower than the bid submitted by the French group, according to several wire services. Operating costs over 60 years, including fuel, and which could be as much as another $20 billion, are not accounted for in the inital award. KEPCO, the South Korean utility, is expected to take an equity position in the project.

GE-Hitachi also submitted a bid, but there are no details on it in news reports today. The Wall Street Journal's assessment of the bid process on Nov 17 turns out to have been on target.

Korea and Westinghouse nuclear history of collaboration

According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), Westinghouse has a significant presence in South Korea in terms of the number of operating reactors. Nuclear energy provides 40% of the country’s electricity and there are plans to increase that figure to 56% by 2020..

Gagan wrote:At least India should be building its 220MW, 540 MW or 700MW PHWRs in Sri lanka / Bangladesh / Vietnam / Malaysia etc.
Why can't India be more proactive?
I guess the thing holding back the Nuclear sector all these was the NSG sanctions. But what about other sectors? Shipbuilding for example? There was no NSG holding India back there, yet India's yards don't aggressively target videshi orders. But soon India needs to reach out.
Much as I hate to say this, China is doing the things today that I want India to be doing - projecting national hard, soft and economic power in the region and beyond.

The middle east is eagerly looking at nuclear power, they have the money, India has goodwill there. They will prefer India to china mostly.
We shouldn't let the Koreans and the Chinese break into that market.

There are reasons why CANDU is such a hard sell internationally. Compared to our Russian, European and American rivals, Canada has less to offer in terms of export credits, industrial offsets and diplomatic arm-twisting.

The country could assert its sovereignty by reclaiming the right to reprocess spent fuel rods, which is restricted by the bilateral agreement. The other two areas are mining and enrichment of uranium, and making and use of nuclear fuel.

"The governments of Pakistan and India today exchanged lists of their respective nuclear installations and facilities," a ministry statement said.

It added that the lists were handed over to officers of the Pakistani and Indian high commissions in New Delhi and Islamabad.

The Obama Administration continues to negotiate with the Russians over a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), but one big question is whether it can get the result through the U.S. Senate. A group of Senators is telling the White House that it will have little or no chance of success unless it also moves ahead with nuclear-warhead modernization.

The warning comes in a recent letter from 40 Republican Senators and Independent-Democrat Joe Lieberman reminding the President of his legal responsibility under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 to present budget estimates for modernizing U.S. nuclear forces along with any new Start pact.

With Start's expiration December 5, Russia has pulled inspectors from a factory that's building the next generation of Russian ICBMs and scaled back electronic monitoring—called telemetry—of missile production and movements.

I remember those days well. As an officer in the Marine Corps, I was a member of the original team assigned to the newly created On-Site Inspection Agency, tasked with implementing the INF treaty. In June of 1988, a scant six months after the ink had dried on the INF Treaty document, I had the honor of participating in the first-ever inspection carried out under the INF Treaty as a member of the advance party dispatched to a Soviet missile production facility outside the city of Votkinsk. For the next two years I helped forge a new chapter in arms control history, overseeing the installation of a monitoring facility outside the gates of a factory that had produced SS-12 and SS-20 intermediate-range missiles, and was still producing the modern road-mobile SS-25 intercontinental missile.

In addition to making sure that the Soviets lived up to their end of the bargain (the Soviets had a similar monitoring operation at work in Magna, Utah, where U.S. Pershing II missiles had been produced)

These inspectors had the right to monitor continuously--24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for up to 13 years--the missile plant's portals and to patrol the perimeter. The plant itself could not be entered.