nuclear-news

Poor security of enriched uranium around the world

the countries with active enrichment programs…… claimed the plants they are building or expanding are producing fissile materials only for use in civilian applications.

But the materials themselves [enriched uranium] can be shifted from one of these purposes
to the other, either by national government or by terrorists 

Fissile materials remain poorly protected, 1/12/12 By R. Jeffrey Smith, iWatch News A new industrial plant producing a key nuclear weapons ingredient, enriched uranium, opened in China last year, near the Sichuan city of Hanzhong. Other such plants opened last year in France and Japan. Argentina is trying to get one started, the Dutch are expanding theirs, and the United States has recently approved construction of such a plant in Idaho and the expansion of another in New Mexico.

The production of highly-enriched uranium is expanding in some countries, in short, even though arms control experts and government officials frequently depict stocks of the material as a troublesome invitation to nuclear weapons proliferation….. Continue reading →

January 13, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Three noteworthy developments in nuclear news

NUCLEAR WEAPONS, Killed in Iran: Part of a Nuclear Trifecta , TIME, By MARK THOMPSON, January 11, 2012 It has been a busy day or so on the nuclear front:

– An Iran nuclear scientist was assassinated Wednesday morning in Tehran.

– The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock warning of nuclear war to 11:56 p.m. – one minute closer to the midnight when it believes nuclear war could break out.

– And the Nuclear Threat Initiative released its Nuclear Materials Security Index, a database charting publicly for the first time 32 nations that possess the fissile guts of nuclear weapons – and how secure they are.

The trio consists of three discrete elements, but – like a radioactive Venn diagram – they overlap in disconcerting ways…..
nuclear weapons remain the crack cocaine of world leaders, crazy or not, who want the security they seem to offer. And those who fear such weapons falling into what they deem to be the wrong hands are just as determined to see they don’t get them.

That certitude is apparently behind the killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a 32-year old Iranian chemist. He died after an unknown killer, riding a motorbike, affixed a bomb to his gray Peugeot 405 in northern Tehran that exploded moments later. “The bomb was a magnetic bomb and is the same as those previously used to assassinate scientists,” Tehran Deputy Governor Safar Ali Baratlo said, “and is the work of the Zionists.” Both Israel and the U.S. have denied involvement in such attacks………  : http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/01/11/killed-in-iran-part-of-a-nuclear-trifecta/#ixzz1jIEDcSrA

January 12, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear security recommendations from The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)

NTI Launches Nuclear Materials Security Index Global Priorities for Security Needed All Governments Can Do More WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ “…….Recommendations
NTI recommends actions for the global community to take, in parallel with steps to improve state stewardship.

Build the Foundation for a Global Nuclear Materials Security System

• Establish an international dialogue on priorities for materials security through the Nuclear Security Summit or a subsequent process
• Benchmark progress and hold states accountable for security
• Build appropriate transparency to increase international confidence by:
  • Publishing and providing access to nuclear materials security regulations
  • Declaring nuclear materials inventories
  • Inviting regular peer reviews
• Stop increasing stocks of weapons-usable materials

Improve State Stewardship of Nuclear Materials

• Eliminate weapons-usable nuclear materials completely in as many states as possible
• Strengthen security and control measures, including physical protection, control and accounting, and personnel measures at facilities and during transport of nuclear materials
• Bring all civil uranium enrichment and reprocessing facilities under IAEA safeguards
• Better target assistance to states with urgent needs
• Ratify and implement existing materials security-related treaties. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) assesses nuclear security in 176 countries

Full rankings are available  on the website, www.ntiindex.org.  

NTI Launches Nuclear Materials Security Index Global Priorities for Security Needed All Governments Can Do More WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) today released a first-of-its-kind, public baseline assessment of the status of nuclear materials security conditions in 176 countries. The NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index underscores that there is no global consensus about what steps matter most to secure some of the world’s most dangerous materials against theft and recommends actions to hold countries accountable, increase transparency and benchmark progress. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear security worst in N Korea, Pakistan, Iran, India, China and Israel

 The project ranks the 32 states which possess more than a kilogram of highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium, according to some weighed criteria: how much stuff they have and in how many places; the security and control measures in place; to what extent they stick to global norms and agreements on nuclear security; the domestic political will and capacity to enforce those norms, and the fragility of their societies including the level of corruption.

India, China and Israel ranked among the world’s worst for nuclear security
The Guardian, Julian Borger, 11 Jan 12, A new index assessing the vulnerability of the world’s stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material produces some surprising results. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a respected non-proliferation think tank, and the Economic Intelligence Unit have produced a new ranking systemto assess the security of the world’s scattered stocks of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment