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US to study proliferation risk of HALEU nuclear fuel, after warning by scientists

By Timothy Gardner January 10, 2025

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. agency in charge of nuclear security is commissioning a study on the proliferation risks of a more-enriched uranium fuel that nuclear power developers want to fuel new high-tech reactors, the head of the agency said this week.

Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a statement published in the journal Science that it is important to address proliferation concerns of so-called high assay, low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU.

“NNSA recognizes that reactor type, fuel enrichment level, fuel quantity, and fuel form are important factors in evaluating proliferation risks and believes that risk-informed and adaptive approaches to the proliferation challenges inherent in nuclear energy are warranted,” Hruby said.

Planned new nuclear plants, known as small modular reactors, or advanced reactors, must set high standards for safety and security, “especially considering Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant,” she said.

Russia in 2022 took the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, by force after it invaded Ukraine.

Hruby’s statement was in response to an article published last year in which scientists said HALEU poses a security risk because it can be used without further enrichment as fissile material in a crude nuclear weapon.

HALEU is uranium fuel enriched up to 20% instead of the 5% level of uranium fuel used in today’s commercial reactors.

Several companies are hoping to develop a wave of reactors that would use HALEU, including the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, which wants to build a $4 billion plant in Wyoming by 2030. Nuclear has gotten attention from technology companies seeking new ways to power data centers and as U.S. power demand is growing for the first time in decades. None of the plants have yet to be built.

TerraPower did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In October, the U.S. Energy Department rolled out initial contracts to four companies hoping to produce HALEU domestically. Currently, commercial amounts of HALEU are only produced in Russia. The U.S. contracts will last up to 10 years and each awardee received a minimum of $2 million, with up to $2.7 billion available subject to congressional appropriations.

Hruby said NNSA has regularly collected data and evaluated HALEU risks, and is finalizing plans to commission a National Academies report. The reports are largely classified, she said. But the information will be used to inform programs, develop actions, and make recommendations to stakeholders.

Edwin Lyman, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an author of last year’s report, said he appreciated that Hruby is asking for the independent review of HALEU by the National Academies. “We are hopeful that this effort will lead to tighter security controls on HALEU to prevent its misuse by proliferators and terrorists.”

The authors had written that if HALEU enrichment is limited to 10% to 12%, the supply chain would be far safer with only modest costs.

January 12, 2025 Posted by | safety, Uranium | Leave a comment

Jimmy Carter hailed as ‘action’ hero for stopping nuclear meltdown at 28

Jimmy Carter hailed as ‘action’ hero for stopping nuclear meltdown at 28  https://nypost.com/2021/12/16/jimmy-carter-is-action-hero-for-stopping-nuclear-disaster/
By Hannah Sparks, December 16, 2021  Who needs action movies when there are real-life superheroes like Jimmy Carter among us?

A viral Twitter thread is reminding the world that the 39th US President James Earl Carter Jr., now 97, actually rescued Ottawa, Ontario, from nuclear destruction as a 28-year-old way back on Dec. 12, 1952.

“Do you remember the world’s very first nuclear meltdown? That time the US President, an expert in nuclear physics, heroically lowered himself into the reactor and saved Ottawa, Canada’s capital?” asked Canadian physicist University of Ottawa professor Jeff Lundeen in his now-viral thread, originally posted Tuesday but officially trending two days later.

Sounds like schlocky action movie, but it actually happened!”

Lundeen’s revelatory tweet to his modest 1,078 followers now boasts nearly 50,000 likes, more than 20,000 retweets and hundreds of cheerfully shocked comments. He included data from the Ottawa Historical Society and a snippet of a 2011 report documenting Carter’s heroics, and he followed up with several other media sources that recount the historic tale.

As the story goes, the Plains, Ga., native planned his entire life to join the Navy — and did so when he received his appointment to the Naval Academy in 1942. After graduating with distinction, Carter spent two years completing his service ship duty before signing on to the Submarine Force. Following a series of relocations and promotions, the young lieutenant would request to join Captain Hyman G. Rickover’s nuclear sub program, where they were developing the world’s first atomic subs.

Rickover then sent Carter to work for the US Atomic Energy Commission, where he served on temporary duty with the Naval Reactors Branch. Meanwhile, a few months later, an accidental power surge at Chalk River Laboratories in Ottawa caused fuel rods within a nuclear research reactor to rupture and melt — risking a full nuclear meltdown.

It was the first such incident of its kind, and Carter’s team of 23 men was ordered to clean it up.

I

n a scene straight out of modern-day blockbusters, the operation would require the brave men to descend into the core by rope and pulley so they could deconstruct the reactor bolt by bolt. The lab had set up a duplicate reactor as a training field for Carter’s team, who would get only one shot at the real thing. Each man would have to descend into the core and complete their high-flying tasks in 90-second spurts, as exposure to toxic radiation within the reactor posed a high risk to their long-term health.

Their plan went off without a hitch. The core was shut down and then rebuilt. From there, Carter went on to become the engineering officer for the USS Seawolf, one of the first submarines to operate on atomic power. By 1961, he retired from the Navy and Reserves, and, in 1963, ran for his first political office.

For those who admire the single-term Democratic president, Lundeen’s tweet was just another reminder of Carter’s selfless service — and good jokes.

One top Twitter response included a quote from the president, who visited Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island power plant in 1979, during their disastrous partial meltdown.

When asked by media if he thought it too dangerous to visit the radioactive site, he reportedly quipped, “No, if it was too dangerous they would have sent the vice president.”

January 9, 2025 Posted by | incidents, PERSONAL STORIES, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff reported hearing loud blasts near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)

 IAEA 5th Jan 2025,
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-269-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff reported hearing loud blasts near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) today, coinciding with reports of a drone attack on the plant’s training center, marking yet another threat to nuclear safety at Europe’s largest NPP, according to Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) team stationed at ZNPP reported hearing two loud explosions coming from outside the perimeter of the site at approximately 12:45 and 15:45. For now, the IAEA has not yet been able to confirm any impact. The IAEA team also reported hearing machine gun fire coming from the site on multiple occasions.

The IAEA is aware of reports of an alleged attack by a drone at the ZNPP training center today, just outside of the site’s perimeter. Reports state that there were no casualties and no impact on any NPP equipment.

The ISAMZ team has reported that the intensity of military activities in the vicinity of Europe’s largest NPP – including multiple explosions at various distances from the site – has increased over the last 24 hours. “An attack on any nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable,” Director General Grossi stated. “In light of the increased military activity at ZNPP, I once again call for maximum restraint to avert the clear danger to its safety, and for the strict adherence to the five concrete principles established by the IAEA at the United Nations Security Council to protect the facility and the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety during an armed conflict also defined by the IAEA”.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Faslane Peace Camp warns of growing nuclear risks amid rising tensions

Cammy Gallagher

SCOTLAND is on the front line of a new international arms race spurred on
by a rise in frosty nuclear rhetoric. Just last month, the UK was declared
to be “directly involved” in the Ukraine war, meaning HM Naval Base
Clyde at Faslane – only 25 miles outside Glasgow – could be seen as a
“legitimate target”.

For the occupiers of Faslane Peace Camp,
site-sitting over the festive period, action and awareness are needed now
more than ever to pull us back from the brink of a nuclear winter just one
year before the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Acknowledging the risk of dealing in nuclear currency, Pete Roche, director
at Edinburgh Energy and Environment Consultancy, advocates for an energy
system throughout Scotland and the UK that runs entirely on renewables. The
previous Greenpeace campaigner said: “It is perfectly feasible to run
Scotland and the UK’s energy system on 100% renewables. This could save
well over £100 billion by 2050 compared to business as usual.”

 The National 4th Jan 2025
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24832799.faslane-peace-camp-warns-growing-nuclear-risks-amid-rising-tensions/

January 7, 2025 Posted by | safety, UK | 1 Comment

The Time Navy Lt. Jimmy Carter Was Lowered Into A Partially Melted-Down Nuclear Reactor

The recently deceased 39th president had a hand in the dawn of the nuclear submarine age, including one especially dangerous mission.

The War Zone, Geoff Ziezulewicz, 30 Dec 24

resident Jimmy Carter’s time as a U.S. Navy officer might have been brief, but it served to inform the rest of his days before passing away Sunday at the age of 100. Prior to his political career and Nobel Prize-winning peacemaking efforts, Carter stood at the side of the father of the nuclear Navy during its infancy, and even got lowered into a melted-down nuclear reactor as a junior officer. Decades later, the former president was stunned to learn of the capabilities carried by the secretive spy submarine that bears his name to this day. 

Ensign James Earl “Jimmy” Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, and applied to join the Navy’s nuclear submarine community a few years later, according to the Navy…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After Carter joined the Navy’s nuclear efforts, the 28-year-old and his crew were sent to repair the Chalk Water nuclear reactor near Ottawa, Canada, in late 1952. The reactor had suffered a partial meltdown, and a team was needed to shut it down, take it apart and replace it. Carter and the rest of the team took a train up north and soon got to work.

“They built an identical replica of the reactor on an adjacent tennis court to precisely run through the repair procedures, due to the maximum time humans could be exposed to the levels of radiation present in the damaged area,” a Navy history recounts. “Each member of the 22 member team could only be lowered into the reactor for 90-second periods to clean up and repair the site.”

Official accounts don’t clarify whether Carter was in command during the mission, or his precise role. Still, the future president did his part, Canadian journalist Arthur Milnes later recounted.

“He was lowered into the building … with his wrench, and he had to run over to the reactor casing and he had one screw to turn,” Milnes said after interviewing Carter about the incident. “That was all the time he had. And then, boom, back up.”

Carter and the others were regularly tested after the mission was finished to look for long-term health effects.

“They let us [crew members] get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now.” Carter told CNN in 2008 while reflecting on the incident. “We were fairly well-instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that, I had radioactivity in my urine.”

In his autobiography, “A Full Life, Reflections at Ninety,” Carter recounted the distinctive perils of being a submarine officer:

“Although some enlisted men could concentrate almost exclusively on their own fields of responsibility as engine men, electricians, torpedo experts, boatswains, quartermasters, gunners or operators of navigation and fire control equipment, every officer was expected to master all of these disciplines…we knew one mistake could endanger everyone aboard.”…………………………………………………………………………

Carter lived an extraordinary life, by all accounts. His time in the submarine community played a critical role in all that came after, and he remained a Navy man until the end.

You and I leave here today to do our common duty—protecting our Nation’s vital interests by peaceful means if possible, by resolute action if necessary,” Carter told the graduating class of Naval Academy midshipmen in 1978. “We go forth sobered by these responsibilities, but confident of our strength. We go forth knowing that our Nation’s goals—peace, security, liberty for ourselves and for others—will determine our future and that we together can prevail.”

RIP President Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024, https://www.twz.com/sea/the-time-navy-lt-jimmy-carter-was-lowered-into-a-partially-melted-down-nuclear-reactor

January 1, 2025 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Earthquake-prone Indonesia considers nuclear power plan as 29 possible plant sites revealed

ABC News, By Natasya Salim, Tri Ardhya and Sally Brooks, 28 Dec 24

In short:

Indonesia’s energy council has proposed 29 sites for nuclear power plants in a bid to secure reliable energy sources and reduce carbon emissions.

Environmental groups say the plan is “dangerous”, partly because the country is prone to earthquakes.

What’s next?

The energy council is searching for foreign investors to back the plan. 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. The new detail on plant site locations has renewed safety concerns among environmental advocates in part because Indonesia is prone to natural disasters. 

The archipelago mostly sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire where tectonic plates frequently collide and cause earthquakes and other disasters.

Twenty years ago, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province and triggered the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, that killed some 230,000 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries.

Hendrikus Adam, from environmental not-for-profit organisation WALHI, said authorities needed to learn from past nuclear power disasters, including those caused by earthquakes and tsunamis like the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011.

“We think nuclear plants are risky, dangerous and harmful for humans and the environment,” said Mr Adam.

“The development of a nuclear plant itself is also very expensive and hazardous.”

……………………………………………. Last month, National Development Planning Deputy Minister Vivi Yulaswati said Indonesia was in talks with the US and Russia about acquiring technology to develop nuclear power plants.

Separately, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity firm PLN has reportedly signed agreements with companies in the US and Japan to build small modular reactors, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said earlier this month……….

Details of the agreements are scarce and PLN declined to comment for this story………….

Currently none are in commercial operation in any Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country…..   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-27/earthquake-prone-indonesia-plans-for-nuclear-power/104758008

December 28, 2024 Posted by | Indonesia, politics, safety | Leave a comment

There’s a Major Problem With the Nuclear War Bunkers The Rich Are Buying

“Bunkers are, in fact, not a tool to survive a nuclear war.

 https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-war-bunkers-problem 24 Dec 24

Truth Bomb

As more and more rich people rush to buy and build bomb shelters, experts suggest they’re little more than a psychological defense mechanism for wealthy people who want to feel a shred of control in an unpredictable world.

As the Associated Press reports, the bunker business was worth $137 million last year and is slated to grow to $175 million by the end of the decade, per analysis from BlueWeave Consulting.

According to experts who spoke to the outlet, however, these shelters do more to address atomic anxieties than nuclear realities. After all, you’re eventually going to need to crawl out of your bunker and face the horrific situation back on the surface.

“Bunkers are, in fact, not a tool to survive a nuclear war, but a tool to allow a population to psychologically endure the possibility of a nuclear war,” explained Alicia Sanders-Zakre of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Radiation after a nuclear bomb detonation, as Sanders Zakre described it, is a “uniquely horrific aspect of nuclear weapons.” Even those who survive the fallout, which involves radioactive particles raining down on the area surrounding the blast, will be unable to escape its long-lasting, intergenerational health effects like those seen in Chernobyl after its reactor meltdown nearly 40 years ago. And that’s without getting into starvation, thirst, and the breakdown of social order.

“Ultimately,” she said, “the only solution to protect populations from nuclear war is to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

Shelter Skelter

Despite the promises made by companies catering to so-called “doomsday preppers,” nonproliferation expert Sam Lair told the AP that such efforts are likely futile.

“Even if a nuclear exchange is perhaps more survivable than many people think, I think the aftermath will be uglier than many people think as well,” Lair, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said. “The fundamental wrenching that it would do to our way of life would be profound.”

As Lair pointed out, politicians used to urge the citizenry to build their own bomb shelters half a century ago. Now, the “political costs incurred by causing people to think about shelters again is not worth it” — though that sort of concern clearly doesn’t extend to the big business of bunkers.

While doomsday prepping is now as American as apple pie, the revival of bunker culture isn’t limited to our shores: over in Switzerland, where each resident is guaranteed a spot in a bomb shelter in the case of nuclear war, the government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to update its vast array of Cold War-era bunkers.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Releases Report Confirming Radioactive Material Lost in Transit — Shipping Container Arrives Damaged and Empty in New Jersey

WCBM: Dec. 18, 2024,

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has confirmed that radioactive material was lost in transit earlier this month, heightening fears about public safety and sparking theories about mysterious drone activity in New Jersey.

Officer Lew, a prominent political commentator, highlighted the NRC’s event report during a review of regulatory alerts.

“While looking at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Alerts. I can confirm that there is radioactive material that has gone missing on Dec 2nd, 2024 out of New Jersey. This might be the reason for the drones… just speculation at this point,” he wrote.

The missing material, identified as a Ge-68 pin source manufactured by Eckert & Ziegler, was reported lost by its licensee on December 3, 2024. Shipped for disposal, the container arrived at its destination severely damaged and empty.

According to the NRC’s report, the radioactive source, while classified as “Less than IAEA Category 3,” still poses potential risks if mishandled or exposed for prolonged periods.

According to the report:………………………………………….more https://wcbm.com/national-headline/u-s-nuclear-regulatory-commission-releases-report-confirming-radioactive-material-lost-in-transit-shipping-container-arrives-damaged-and-empty-in-new-jersey/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHUIsVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaC7ofrCr2kLP94TcSi7EYfOtaubssy-0TKBwUEdQvNgm4uJEV2_JCc9yQ_aem_BLSGE-89x-qjcSu3l2UQqw

December 24, 2024 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear Power Plants Report Massive Uptick In Drone Sightings

The drone reports filed by nuclear power plant operators for the entire year nearly doubled in just the week after Dec. 10.

Howard Altman, The War Zone 21st Dec 2024

he number of drone flyovers of nuclear plants for the entire year nearly doubled in one week, from December 10th to December 17th, according to data provided to The War Zone by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Between Jan. 1 and Dec.10, nuclear facility licensees reported a total of 15 drone events. As of about 1 p.m. Dec., 17, that number had jumped to 26, NRC spokesman Dave McIntyre told The War Zone on Friday in response to our query. While the timeline overlaps with a rash of drone sightings across the country and especially in the New Jersey area – including over military installations and energy infrastructure – it is unclear at the moment what, if any, connection there is to the dramatic increase in suspicious drone events over nuclear facilities…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… https://www.twz.com/news-features/massive-uptick-in-official-drone-sightings-by-nuclear-power-plants

December 23, 2024 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Aldermaston nuclear bomb factory makes explosives error

 By Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter, 21 Dec 24

 Aldermaston’s nuclear bomb making factory AWE has been ordered to
improve procedures after damaging an explosives component. The Office for
Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served an improvement notice on the Atomic
Weapons Establishment following an incident at its Aldermaston site.

 Newbury Today 21st Dec 2024 https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/awe-told-to-improve-by-nuclear-regulator-after-explosives-er-9397154/

December 23, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Regulator warns against delays in work on Chernobyl’s shelter

“Further delays in the implementation of the project to dismantle the unstable structures of the Shelter under the NSC shell increase the risk of their collapse, which could lead to extremely negative consequences.“

WNN, 20 December 2024

The head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, Oleg Korikov, has urged against any further delays in the project to dismantle the unstable shelter facility, which was built at speed in 1986 to cover Chernobyl’s damaged unit 4.

He was speaking during a meeting of backers of the International Cooperation Account for Chernobyl, which was established in November 2020 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) at the Ukrainian government’s request to support a comprehensive plan for Chernobyl. The EBRD had already led the project to fund and construct the New Safe Confinement building which is now in place covering the whole of the reactor involved in the accident, including the initial shelter built around it in a matter of months.

Korikov said that equipping the New Safe Confinement with the necessary equipment and the dismantling of the unstable structures of the original shelter had already been postponed because of funding issues. This work was an integral part of the three-stage international Shelter Implementation Plan, which was firstly to stabilise it – the 2008 work gave it a design life to 2023 – and secondly to build a larger secure construction to enclose it – the New Safe Confinement (NSC) which was completed in 2017 – which would then pave the way for the dismantling and decommissioning stage.

“Further delays in the implementation of the project to dismantle the unstable structures of the Shelter under the NSC shell increase the risk of their collapse, which could lead to extremely negative consequences. This state of affairs causes serious concern for the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine,” he said.

The Shelter Object – also known as the ‘sarcophagus’ – still contains the molten core of the reactor and an estimated 200 tonnes of highly radioactive material. The stability of the structure has developed into one of the major risk factors at the site.

The licence for the storage of radioactive waste within the shelter was extended last year from 2023 to 2029, with a 2025 deadline for the development of a new design for the dismantling of “unstable structures with an unacceptably high probability of collapse”, and a 31 October 2029 deadline for completion of the dismantling.

In October it was announced that a new study was being funded by the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account which aims to determine the scope of deconstruction work for unstable Shelter structures and provide an initial cost estimate and enable the beginning of design work for the dismantling of the unstable Shelter structures………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The New Safe Confinement is the largest moveable land-based structure built – with a span of 257 metres, a length of 162 metres, a height of 108 metres and a total weight of 36,000 tonnes equipped…………….. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/warning-against-delays-in-work-on-chernobyls-old-shelter

December 21, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Europe fears nuclear catastrophe: This plant sets off all alarms due to risk of explosion

 Eco News by Sanusha S.. 12/14/2024

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), located in eastern Ukraine, has been a focal point of global attention due to the conflict in this country. The Russian troops captured this plant in 2022 and since then have faced a multitude of threats like fire, military action, or damage to infrastructure. Notwithstanding clarifications from nuclear safety experts regarding the safety precautions taken at plants, it has been a severe reminder of the need for urgent global protocols to guard against those facilities during armed conflict.

……………………………………………………………..Zaporizhzhia: A plant which is embattled in a nuclear fire unprecedented conflict

This is the most unprecedented scenario: a nuclear plant turned into military target. Constant shelling, drone strikes and even presence of landmines on the premises intensifies risk of nuclear incident because of the occupation of ZNPP by Russian forces.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has sent inspectors and even suggested creating a demilitarized safety zone around the site, thus, these measures remain unimplemented. The agency has identified that all seven pillars of nuclear safety are compromised at Zaporizhzhia.  These include protection of critical infrastructure and prevention of military use of the facility……………………………………….
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/europe-fears-nuclear-catastrophe/9437/

December 20, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Drone strikes UN vehicle on way to inspect Ukrainian nuclear plant

An armored vehicle belonging to the UN’s atomic watchdog was hit by a
drone strike on its way to inspect a Ukrainian nuclear power plant on
Tuesday, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed on Russia.
The strike took place as the vehicle traveled in a convoy to the
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as part of efforts by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to safeguard the facility amid fears it could
be caught in the crossfire of Russia’s war on Ukraine, sparking a nuclear
disaster. The IAEA said the strike destroyed the back of its armored
vehicle but the two people on board were not harmed.

 CNN 10th Dec 2024 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/10/europe/drone-attack-iaea-ukraine-russia-intl-latam/index.html

December 13, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Rocket fuel eating away at US, China nuclear weapons

Fast-aging fuel has likely rendered many US and Chinese ICBMs unusable, raising urgent questions about their nuclear arsenals.

Asia Times, by Gabriel Honrada, December 10, 2024

Aging rocket fuel may be quietly crippling the world’s nuclear arsenals, according to a new report exposing the ticking time bomb inside both US and Chinese missiles.

This month, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Chinese rocket scientists have discovered that the solid fuel used in intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) ages much faster than previously known, potentially rendering hundreds of missiles unusable.

Research conducted at China’s National Key Laboratory of Solid Rocket Propulsion in Xian revealed that significant changes in the fuel columns can occur within 30 years, making them unable to withstand the loads during flight. This finding could explain the frequent launch failures experienced by some nuclear powers in recent years.

The study, led by senior engineer Qin Pengju, found that while the aged propellant appeared stable during routine storage, it became significantly more brittle under high pressure. It mentions that the research focused on the solid fuel commonly used in ICBMs: ammonium perchlorate, aluminum powder and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) binder.

SCMP says the study’s findings suggest that the fuel’s ductility under pressure can be compromised after just 27 years, leading to possible rapid fractures during launch. It notes that the issue has raised concerns about the US’s declining nuclear deterrent capability, which relies on Minuteman III missiles manufactured in the 1970s and Trident II missiles that have been operational for nearly three decades.

Perhaps illustrating the unreliability of aging ICBMs, a failed Minuteman III ICBM test in November 2023 has heightened concerns about the US’s aging land-based nuclear arsenal. The unarmed missile was terminated during a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base due to an anomaly.

While the Minuteman III as a whole is still considered a reliable weapons system, its subcomponents, such as the silo, electronics and warhead, are old and may have been neglected.

Asia Times has previously reported that the US faces mounting pressure to replace its aging Minuteman III ICBMs as delays and cost overruns plague its next-generation LGM-35A Sentinel program.

Budgeted initially at US$95.8 billion, the Sentinel’s cost has surged to an estimated $160 billion, forcing the Pentagon to justify the increase under the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment. Due to Covid-19 disruptions and inflation, production delays have postponed its deployment until 2029. As a result, the US Air Force must extend Minuteman III’s lifespan.

Aside from old delivery systems, Asia Times reported in January 2024 that the aging of plutonium pits in US nuclear weapons poses a significant challenge to the country’s strategic deterrent. Despite plutonium’s 24,000-year half-life, microscopic changes over time can affect the storage safety and explosive yield of nuclear weapons.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has struggled to produce new plutonium pits, with current production capacity unlikely to meet the goal of 80 pits annually until 2030 or later. This shortfall is attributed to a post-Cold War culture of complacency, a lack of skilled workers and restrictive environmental regulations.

Existing pits, designed for older weapons, may not perform as required in newer systems, raising concerns about the reliability of the US nuclear arsenal.

Keeping the 1970s-era Minuteman III poses significant challenges. In a February 2014 RAND report, Lauren Caston and other writers mention that central to keeping the aging Minuteman III in service is the aging infrastructure and components that require continuous modernization to maintain operability………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://asiatimes.com/2024/12/rocket-fuel-eating-away-at-us-china-nuclear-weapons/

December 12, 2024 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Drugs found in control room at Dungeness Nuclear Power Station

Millie Bowles
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/romney-marsh/news/drugs-found-in-nuclear-power-station-control-room-316864/

mbowles@thekmgroup.co.uk. 05 December 2024

Staff were drug tested and sniffer dogs were deployed after a bag of suspected drugs was found at a nuclear power station.

The package, believed to have contained powdered drugs thought to be cocaine, was discovered by a worker at Dungeness B Power Station last month.

December 8, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

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