weapons and war « nuclear-news

USA under international pressure to ratify nuclear bomb test ban

Pressure Mounts on Nuclear States to Ratify Test Ban IPS, By Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 2012 – The United States and a small group of other nuclear-armed nations are apparently coming under increasing pressure to accept the international community’s resolve to legally ban nuclear testing without delay. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Russia’s Missile Force, Air Force, Navy can’t agree on a unified nuclear command plan

Russian military dumps Unified Nuclear Command plan: Report
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/russian-military-dumps-unified-nuclear-command-plan-report_801650.html , September 25, 2012, Moscow: Russian Defence Ministry has abandoned plans to set up a unified command structure for
the country’s nuclear triad, according to Izvestia newspaper.

As a result, each major branch of the armed forces — the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), the Air Force and the Navy — will retain control over its own triad component, the daily reported, citing an unidentified source in the ministry.

In the absence of any official statement from the ministry, the paper suggested that the decision might result from an unresolved internal struggle for leadership within the new structure.

The creation of a unified strategic nuclear command has been one option under consideration by the Russian military since late 1990s. The idea’s proponents, including former SMF commander Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, argue it would streamline both the development and the deployment of Russia’s nuclear triad.

The plan envisioned the direct subordination of the command to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to the latest official figures, Russia has 494 deployed launchers for land, sea and air-based missiles armed with 1,492 warheads.

September 25, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

US Senator: Senate Resolution against Iran Amounts to Preemptive War TEHRAN (FNA) 23 Sept 12, – The US Senate voted 90-1 early Saturday on a non-binding resolution to impede Iran’s advancement in nuclear technology. Voting against the resolution was Sen. Rand Paul, arguing that the bill was a de-facto declaration of war. Continue reading →

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Montebello atomic tests left a legacy of cancer

Pat Coverley, now 83, saw most of his shipmates die young, “of various cancers suspected to be linked to radiation”

The [Royal Commission] findings delivered a scathing indictment of the manner with which these tests were conducted

Despite the findings, Drewe says the British and Australian governments have ever since fobbed off allegations that servicemen were exposed to high levels of radiation, making it almost impossible to mount a successful compensation claim.

One man’s island SMH, September 22, 2012 ”……..Drewe’s arrival by dinghy to the still-contaminated island (visit limit: one hour) was the eerie culmination of a lifelong obsession with the Montebello Islands. “It amazes me how fewAustralians know about these nuclear tests Britain arrogantly conducted in our backyard,” he declares. Continue reading →

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Danger of nuclear war in Asia

India-Pakistan dispute may pose nuclear threat to Asia: ex-Oz PM Indian Express 22 Sept 12 Asia continue to face three key conflicts involving states with nuclear weapons and highly uncertain nuclear doctrines, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned today.

“Asia Pacific was sprinkled with three flashpoints, each of which was capable of triggering one form of conflict or another,” Rudd said in his keynote address at the Singapore Global Dialogue.

“We must never forget that all three of these disputes involve nuclear states and in some cases, states with highly uncertain nuclear doctrines,” he warned, pointing to the dispute involving India-Pakistan, the Korean Peninsula, and the Taiwan Straits……. He called for restrain and reason on behalf of all parties to these disputes though acknowledged that the stakes were becoming increasingly high among claimants of islands in the East Asian waters.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indiapakistan-dispute-may-pose-nuclear-threat-to-asia-exoz-pm/1005908/2

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UN Security Council and status of world’s nuclear weapons

UN Security Council Vows No Nuclear Attack on Mongolia, Council on Foreign Relations by Micah Zenko September 19, 2012 On Monday, the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council reaffirmed their promise not to attack Mongolia with nuclear weapons. In 1995, each of the P5 pledged not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapons states that signed and ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); this was solidified when the Security Council voted 15-0 to pass Resolution 984 . In October 2000, the P5 specifically extended this “negative security assurance ” to Mongolia when it declared its nuclear weapons-free status…..

To learn more about the world’s nuclear powers, the Federation of the American Scientists maintains this useful chart , which draws on data provided by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Nuclear Notebook and Stockholm International Peace Research’s Yearbook ….. http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2012/09/19/un-security-council-vows-no-nuclear-attack-on-mongolia/

September 20, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

$352 billion the minimum cost to fix up USA’s Los Alamos nuclear arsenal

A study this summer by the nonpartisan Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, estimated costs would be at least $352 billion over the coming decade to operate and modernize the current arsenal. Others say the figure could be far higher, particularly if the work is delayed even longer.

Aging U.S. nuclear arsenal slated for costly and long-delayed modernization WP, By Dana Priest, September 15 The U.S. nuclear arsenal, the most powerful but indiscriminate class of weapons ever created, is set to undergo the costliest overhaul in its history, even as the military faces spending cuts to its conventional arms programs at a time of fiscal crisis.

For two decades, U.S. administrations have confronted the decrepit, neglected state of the aging nuclear weapons complex. Yet officials have repeatedly put off sinking huge sums into projects that receive little public recognition, driving up the costs even further. Now, as the nation struggles to emerge from the worst recession of the postwar era and Congress faces an end-of-year deadline to avoid $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts to the federal budget over 10 years, the Obama administration is overseeing the gargantuan task of modernizing the nuclear arsenal to keep it safe and reliable.

There is no official price tag for the effort to upgrade and maintain the 5,113 warheads in the inventory, to replace old delivery systems and to renovate the aging facilities where nuclear work is performed. Continue reading →

September 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Los Alamos nuclear weapons site – what a mess!

Some 640 people are designing the new uranium processing plant at Y-12. It will use 10 experimental technologies still being invented

Aging U.S. nuclear arsenal slated for costly and long-delayed modernization WP, By Dana Priest, September 15 “…….Situated on a remote mesa in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory was built secretly in early 1943 for the sole purpose of designing and building America’s first atomic bomb. In the decades since, the lab has emerged as one of the nation’s premier nuclear weapons design and research facilities, with 11,000 employees. But parts of Los Alamos are in serious disrepair. Inside one critical building, pipes carrying dangerous wastewater are duct-taped together at the joints to plug leaks; plastic bags have been wrapped around the tape to trap seepage…… picture below from POGO – Project on Government Oversght

The aging facility was slated for replacement 20 years ago. But in 1998, designers identified a fault line beneath the structure. The discovery pushed the price of reconstruction so high that no administration was willing to sign off. The Obama administration says safety requires its replacement — at a cost of $6 billion. Critics in Congress and among anti-nuclear groups, however, say the expensive new plant is unnecessary and would still present environmental dangers if built on the fault line. Continue reading →

September 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

If attacked, Iran might leave Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

Iran may quit nuclear non-proliferation treaty if attacked: IRGC commander English.news.cn 2012-09-17 TEHRAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) –– Commander of Iran ‘s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Sunday that Iran may quit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) if its nuclear facilities come under attacks, Continue reading →

September 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, weapons and war | Leave a comment

President Obama beholden to USA’s Nuclear Weapons Establishment

All of the president’s decisions, from the broad nuclear structure to the number of warheads and the top-secret target list, cascade through the nuclear establishment, affecting the types of weapons and delivery systems that must be available to meet the objectives

Still a growing number of former senior administration officials from both parties argue that more substantial cuts would encourage nonnuclear states to abandon their nuclear ambitions, making the world safer from political miscalculations and saving money for defense items that are actually used.

Aging U.S. nuclear arsenal slated for costly and long-delayed modernization WP, By Dana Priest, September 15“…….Nuclear Posture Review In an April 2009 speech, President Obama outlined his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Acknowledging that his goal might not be accomplished in his lifetime, Obama laid out an agenda for forging new partnerships to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ending production of fissile material for weapons and ratifying new treaties to reduce their numbers.

Since then, though, the president has taken few steps to implement his objective. Continue reading →

September 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

China’s nuclear dilemma, Phys Org. September 14, 2012 An expert assessment of China’s nuclear weapons strategy highlights the risk of escalation to nuclear war from a conflict beginning with conventional weapons, due to the unusual structure of the nation’s military. The new study, previously only available in Chinese, appears in the latest edition of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE.
The authors believe that this is the first comprehensive non-governmental study on how China’s nuclear-war plan was developed….. http://phys.org/news/2012-09-china-nuclear-dilemma.html#jCp

September 15, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear aspirations in Egypt

Will Egypt Go Nuclear? Israel National News, , September 13, 2012 Though Egypt does not have a nuclear energy program, that reality could soon change. President Mohammed Morsi made clear that Egypt wishes a civilian nuclear energy program.The Muslim Brotherhood wants nuclear weapons. We may soon miss the riots……. Continue reading →

September 14, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Egypt, politics, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons for Myanmar

The producers of the DVB documentary say evidence of Myanmar’s nuclear programme has come from top-secret material smuggled out of the country over several years

Myanmar has developed the capacity and is now using laser isotope separation, a technique for developing nuclear weapons.

Myanmar develops nuclear weapon http://www.weeklyblitz.net/2522/myanmar-develops-nuclear-weapon September 2, 2012 Myanmar’s military junta has secretly gained nuclear
power and soon the country will emerge as the third nuclear nation in South Asia. The issue of developing nuclear bomb by Myanmar came into media’s focal point following broadcast of a documentary in Al Jazeera Television. Continue reading →

September 3, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Burma, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Russia planning UNMANNED long-range nuclear strategic bombers.

Russia’s Unmanned Strategic Nuclear Bomber Is A Really Terrible Idea http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/09/russias-unmanned-strategic-nuclear-bomber-is-a-really-terrible-idea/

JESUS DIAZ 1 Sept 12, AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE COMPANY TUPOLEV IS DEVELOPING A NEW STEALTH PLANE THAT WILL REPLACE RUSSIA’S MIGHTY BUT AGEING NUCLEAR STRATEGIC BOMBER FLEET. CALLED THE PAK-DA BOMBER, IT WILL ENTER SERVICE IN THE MID-2020S, JUST IN TIME TO FACE THE USAF’S NEW STEALTH STRATEGIC NUCLEAR BOMBERS. BUT THAT’S INOFFENSIVE COMPARED TO WHAT’S COMING NEXT.

The PAK-DA would be a standard nuclear bomber, with a on-board human crew controlling it. The next step, however, opens a potentially lethal and morally questionable Pandora’s Box. Lt General Anatoly Zhikharev — the commander for that branch of the Russian Air Force — says that they are thinking about a sixth generation to enter service “around 2040-2050″: unmanned long-range nuclear strategic bombers.

Somehow, the idea of having those birds in the sky makes me extremely nervous. You know, long range planes capable of flying for hours with a few nuclear bombs in their belly, with their wireless communication links ready to be intercepted and deciphered by hackers. Sure, the latter would be hard, but when it comes to computer security, there’s nothing impossible.

But regardless of potential accidents or security issues, I just can’t see the point of these or any other strategic bombers right now. Just like Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was saying before being slapped by Putin, “these aircraft will not get anywhere. Not ours, not theirs [the Americans]. With modern air defence systems, these targets will be destroyed on the way.”

He’s right. While a country like Iran can’t defend itself against stealth bombers, you can be sure that both the Russians and the Americans would be able to intercept any air attack. Which is precisely why the USAF is trying to develop ultra-sonic scramjets that could be silently launched as an alternative to easily-detectable Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles launches.

And if none of the two superpowers — well, there’s China there, quickly ramping up but still behind US and Russian military technology — are going to attack each other, what’s the point of keeping up with this stupid soft armament race, anyway? [RIA Novosti via DEW Line ]

September 1, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

No sensible reason for Israel to attack Iran, following new nuclear report

New Iran Nuclear Report Should Not Be Signal to Attack Bloomberg, By the Editors Aug 31, 2012 The latest report on Iran’s nuclear program from the International Atomic Energy Agency gives ample ammunition to Israeli leaders who argue that they need to bomb now. The report confirms what we have long understood, that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapons capability.

But that’s all. The report doesn’t change the calculus about whether Israeli airstrikes would be the best way to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons effort, and it doesn’t say Iran is building a weapon. Continue reading →

September 1, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, Israel, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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