Bharat Rakshak

NRao wrote:"Chinese nuclear weapons pose no threat to other countries": envoy

abhishek_sharma wrote:Some of the leading figures of the atomic age argue for a dramatic reduction in nuclear weapons — ultimately down to zero. Why?

Consider the administration's recently released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). One of the conditions that would permit the United States and others to give up their nuclear weapons "without risking greater international instability and insecurity" is "the resolution of regional disputes that can motivate rival states to acquire and maintain nuclear weapons." Another condition is not only "verification methods and technologies capable of detecting violations of disarmament obligations," but also "enforcement measures strong and credible enough to deter such violations."

The first condition would require ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, settling the Korean War, resolving Kashmir and the other India-Pakistan disputes, and defusing Iran's tensions with its neighbors and with the U.S. It also means solving any other significant conflicts that might arise.

The top secret minutes of the meeting record that: "Minister Botha expressed interest in a limited number of units of Chalet subject to the correct payload being available." The document then records: "Minister Peres said the correct payload was available in three sizes. Minister Botha expressed his appreciation and said that he would ask for advice."

“Even though we have a hydro potential in excess of 4,000MW along the river Nile, we cannot avoid nuclear energy because there are environmental limits to how much hydro you can get out of the river,” the NPA source observed.

Although Uganda has some 380MW of installed capacity on the Nile, output from the twin power stations at Nalubaale and Kiira at one point dwindled to 135MW due to a severe drop in Lake Victoria Water levels.

Britain has a total nuclear arsenal of fewer than 225 weapons, with 160 currently operational, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.

Gerard wrote:Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons
Exclusive: Secret apartheid-era papers give first official evidence of Israeli nuclear weapons

The top secret minutes of the meeting record that: "Minister Botha expressed interest in a limited number of units of Chalet subject to the correct payload being available." The document then records: "Minister Peres said the correct payload was available in three sizes. Minister Botha expressed his appreciation and said that he would ask for advice."

On Thursday, a US diplomat drew a line in the sand by warning the US would reject the final document if it contained any reference to "time-bound disarmament"

Israel says it will not take part in a conference aimed at achieving a nuclear-arms free Middle East, proposed at a UN meeting in New York.

Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), backed plans for the meeting in 2012.

China suggests the sale is grandfathered from before it joined the NSG, because it was completing work on two earlier reactors for Pakistan at the time. "China and Pakistan conduct civilian nuclear cooperation fully in compliance with the two countries' respective international obligations," said Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong. "The cooperation is transparent, only for peaceful purpose and subject to IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] supervision."

Right now, Pakistan is blocking negotiations at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, citing the U.S.-India deal and the NSG exemption for India. Many NSG states think that China -- the only one of the NPT's five nuclear-weapons states never to have declared a moratorium on producing fissile material for nuclear weapons -- stands behind Pakistan in holding up the negotiations.

The National Research Universal reactor supplied a third of the world's medical isotopes until it was shut down in May of last year after a pinprick-sized radioactive water leak was discovered. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. made a request Friday for a formal hearing in hopes of restarting medical isotope production at the Ontario plant by mid-summer.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized startup of a $3 billion uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico, the first major nuclear facility to be licensed in the US in the past three decades.

Neshant wrote:the reason they publically object to it since it rubbishes the NPT.

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
June 15, 2010 …………………….

QUESTION:The China-Pakistan nuclear deal – we understand that the U.S. will oppose or plans to oppose that in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. I’m wondering, what are the arguments for opposing that? And secondly, how do you respond to those who say that the U.S. opened the door to this kind of agreement with the U.S.-India deal?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we have asked China to clarify the details of its sale of additional nuclear reactors to Pakistan. This appears to extend beyond cooperation that was grandfathered when China was approved for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that such cooperation would require a specific exemption approved by consensus of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, as was done for India. So we’re not looking at any difference between the two.

QUESTION: And maybe China informed you about the sale of these two nuclear plants?

MR. CROWLEY: I think, Lalit, this was an issue that we’ve had periodic discussions with China for some time.

US State Dept

negi wrote:Guys I think Chinese proposal for sale of reactors to Pakistan might pass through the NSG with just enough help from Unkil and its camp (they might abstain from voting). Remember PRC abstained from voting when Unkil tabled India's case in the NSG ? I clearly see both Lizard and Unkil have been in bed over this issue umpteen times and an equal-equal for TSP is due. The only difference is since PRC is the initiator , Unkil will get to keep its good boy image in the NPA world else there is no way PRC can pull this off all by itself.

Now United States negotiators at the NSG meeting in New Zealand face a conundrum in trying to oppose the proposed Pakistan deal while dodging charges of hypocrisy, given the administration only last year sealed a US deal to supply India with civilian nuclear equipment, the Christian Science Monitor reported.