Archive
Indian Opposition Leader Urges Change to “No-First-Use” Policy
A senior member of India’s main political opposition party on Tuesday called for changing the nation’s longstanding policy of “no-first-use” of its nuclear arsenal, the Indian Express reported (see GSN, Nov. 1, 2010).
(Mar. 16) – Indian Bharitaya Janata Party lawmaker Jaswant Singh, shown last year, on Tuesday urged his country to alter its “no-first-use” nuclear weapons policy (Farooq Naeem/Getty Images).
“I am of the view that the policy-framework that the [National Democratic Alliance] devised in 1998 is very greatly in need of revision because the situation that warranted the enunciation of the policy of ‘no-first-use’ or ‘nonuse against non-nuclear weapons [states],’ ‘credible deterrence with minimum force,’ etc. has long been overtaken by Read more…
Nuclear Reactor/ Weapon sites across the US
Middle East Unrest Could Harm WMD-Free Zone Talks
Protesters chant slogans on Saturday during a demonstration outside an Egyptian state security building in the outskirts of Cairo. Recent political instability throughout the Middle East could complicate efforts to establish a regional weapons of mass destruction-free zone, current and former officials said (Wissam Nassar/Getty Images).
The unrest and revolutions sweeping through the Middle East have raised doubts over the potential for regional nations to hold previously planned talks focused on forming a weapons of mass destruction-free zone, Arms Control Today reported in its March issue (see GSN, March 1).
At the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in New York, member nations agreed to hold a 2012 meeting on “the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.”
“We are absolutely committed” to the WMD-free zone meeting, White House WMD point man Gary Samore said in an interview last month. “But there’s a lot of uncertainty because of the unrest in the Middle East.”
In the last two months, longstanding regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have fallen, and protests in Libya have escalated into full-scale fighting between militants and forces loyal to Col. Muammar Qadhafi. Protests have also erupted in Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Read more…
Russia Vows to Sell Missiles to Syria
MOSCOW – Russia announced Feb. 26 that it intended to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with cruise missiles despite the turmoil shaking the Arab world and Israel’s furious condemnation of the deal.
“The contract is in the implementation stage,” news agencies quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying.
Russia initially agreed to send a large shipment of anti-ship Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria in 2007 under the terms of a controversial deal that was only disclosed by Serdyukov in September 2010.
The revelation infuriated Israel and the United States and there had been speculation that Russia would decide to tear up the contract amid the current turmoil plaguing Read more…
Limited Nuclear War Could Deplete Ozone Layer, Increasing Radiation
By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — A nuclear conflict involving as few as 100 weapons could produce long-term damage to the ozone layer, enabling higher than “extreme” levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, new research indicates (see GSN, March 16, 2010).
(Feb. 24) – A 1971 French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll. The ozone layer could sustain lasting harm from a nuclear exchange involving as few as 100 weapons, allowing increased levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, according to new research (Getty Images).
Increased levels of UV radiation from the sun could persist for years, possibly with a drastic impact on humans and the environment, even thousands of miles from the area of the nuclear conflict.
“A regional nuclear exchange of 100 15-kiloton weapons … would produce unprecedented low-ozone columns over populated areas in conjunction with the coldest surface temperatures experienced in the last 1,000 years, and would likely result in a global nuclear famine,” according to a presentation delivered on Friday at a major science conference in Washington.
Today, there are five recognized nuclear powers — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. India, Israel and Pakistan are all known or widely assumed to hold nuclear weapons, while North Korea has a Read more…
Iran Broadens Search for Raw Uranium: Intel
An intelligence assessment by an International Atomic Energy Agency member nation says Iran has broadened its secretive worldwide effort to secure unrefined uranium for its atomic work, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 23).
The finding fits with estimates that indigenous sources of raw uranium were insufficient for the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear activities, according to AP. The United States and its allies have expressed concern that Iran’s uranium enrichment program could generate nuclear-weapon material, but Tehran has maintained its atomic efforts are geared strictly toward civilian endeavors.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held an undisclosed meeting in January with high-level managers of mineral extraction in Zimbabwe “to resume negotiations … for the benefit of Iran’s uranium procurement plan,” the document states.
“This follows work carried out by Iranian engineers to map out uranium deposits in Africa and assess the amount of uranium they contain,” according to its two-page summary.
Salehi’s trip is an example of Iranian uranium acquisition activities that could encompass more than Read more…
Russia, Iran to Ink Medical Isotope Export Deal
An agreement is being finalized for Russia to export medical isotopes to Iran, the Russian state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom announced yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 22).
Israeli President Shimon Peres delivers a speech in Madrid today. Peres said the passage of two Iranian navy ships through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea showcased the potential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran (Javier Soriano/Getty Images).
A spokesman for the organization did not elaborate on the timing of the anticipated signing, RIA Novosti reported. Tehran’s need for molybdenum 99 and iodine 131 was addressed in talks between Iranian officials and Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko (RIA Novosti, Feb. 22).
The deal would involve transfers of each isotope from Russia to Iran every week, Interfax reported.
Under a 2009 bid put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran would have exchanged 1,200 kilograms of low-enriched uranium for material to fuel a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran. The Middle Eastern state ultimately rejected the plan worked out with France, Russia and the United States, which was aimed in part at deferring Iran’s ability to produce sufficient weapon material for a bomb long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about Iranian enrichment activities. Tehran has insisted its atomic ambitions are strictly peaceful.
Iran since December has two rounds of talks with Germany and permanent U.N. Security Council member states Read more…
Zardari to seek nuclear technology cooperation with Japan
TOKYO: President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday that since Japan was negotiating a deal with India to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the similar cooperation should be extended to his country.
“If Japan is willing to cooperate with India in nuclear technology and (is) giving nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, I do not see any reason why we should not deserve the same,” Zardari said in an interview with the Japanese media in Islamabad ahead of his departure for a three-day visit to Japan, published in leading Read more…
North Korea ‘preparing nuclear test’
North Korea has started digging tunnels at its nuclear test site in apparent preparation for a third atomic detonation, a report said Sunday.
North Korea started building at least two new tunnels at its
facility in northeastern North Hamgyong province for a possible underground atomic test, according to a South Korean official.
The source told Yonhap news agency: “It is obvious evidence that it (the North) is preparing a third nuclear test.”
The report comes after Pyongyang racked Read more…
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