weapons and war « nuclear-news

The difference between a uranium nuclear weapon and a plutonium one

Uranium or plutonium? , The Korea Times, By Andrei Lankov”….. It makes a big difference whether they test a plutonium device, as they have done twice before, or if this time we will see the first test of a uranium one. There is a major difference between the two.

Plutonium occurs naturally only in tiny quantities and hence has to be produced artificially in a nuclear reactor where it is a normal byproduct of nuclear fission. However, a nuclear reactor is a large machine which cannot possibly be hidden by the prying eyes of satellites.

If the outside world knows the technical details of the reactor, it is possible to guess its total plutonium output, from when the reactor became operational. Analysts believe that North Korea’s nuclear reactors have produced between 30 and 50 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium (enough for five to 10 nuclear bombs).

Uranium is different. Highly-enriched uranium (HEU), which is used in nuclear weapons, is produced by enriching uranium ore. There are different technologies but most of the time a cascade of centrifuges is used, with each centrifuge in the cascade producing a more concentrated product.

Unlike unwieldy reactors, such cascades are relatively easy to hide from satellites and reconnaissance planes. There is no way to be sure that all the centrifuge cascades have been located. Therefore it is difficult to estimate the size of stockpiles of HEU in a given country, and this means that HEU is remarkably more dangerous when it comes to proliferation….. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/05/304_110408.html

May 7, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Reference, Uranium, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Can Israel maintain its secret nuclear arsenal?

Israel’s atomic arsenal could fall victim to a new U.S. nuclear policy Haaretz, 4 May 12, Senior Haaretz analyst Amir Oren says that if Obama wins in November, he will likely push for dramatic new reductions in nuclear arsenals; in addition to the U.S. and Russia, Israel may also have to give up some of the nuclear warheads it reportedly holds.

By Amir Oren “…..According to a secret document of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which was drawn up at the end of the Bill Clinton administration and leaked during the period of the George W. Bush administration, Israel had “60 to 80” nuclear warheads in 1999. The document’s authors did not expect this number to change much in the next two decades….. http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/israel-s-atomic-arsenal-could-fall-victim-to-a-new-u-s-nuclear-policy-1.428231

May 5, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

USA and Russia – just the bare 2,800 non-strategic nuclear warheads !

The report concludes that non-strategic nuclear weapons are neither the reason nor the solution for Europe’s security issues today but that lack of political leadership has allowed bureaucrats to give these weapons a legitimacy they don’t possess and shouldn’t have.

2,800 Nuclear Warheads in Russian and U.S. Arsenal, According to New
Report http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/05/01/2800-nuclear-warheads-in-russian-and-u-s-arsenal-according-to-new-report/ May 1, 2012 From the Federation of American Scientists: A new FAS Special Report – Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons – concludes that Russia and the United States combined possess an estimated 2,800 nuclear warheads for their non-strategic nuclear forces. Several thousand other non-strategic warheads have been retired and are awaiting dismantlement. Continue reading →

May 2, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

North Korea preparing for 3rd nuclear test

NK nuclear test seen ‘imminent’ The Korea Times, By Kang Hyun-kyung, 1 May 12 North Korea appears to be preparing for a third nuclear test amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the reclusive nation’s failed launch of a satellite when it fell into the West Sea on April 13. Continue reading →

May 2, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear balance of terror makes India and Pakistan less safe

Nuclear missiles don’t give security The Daily Star, Praful Bidwai, 1 May 12, “…….Nuclear weapons have made India and Pakistan more, not less, insecure. Millions of civilians in both are vulnerable to, but defenceless against, attacks by nuclear-capable missiles. Both are stockpiling large quantities of bomb fuel. Pakistan is building new plutonium facilities even as it expands its uranium enrichment programme. Continue reading →

May 1, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | history, India, Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Japan wants India to sign the Nuclear non Proliferation Treaty

Sign nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Japan tells India The Hindu, 30 April 12, SANDEEP DIKSHI Japan on Monday asked India to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) even as the two sides decided to reopen talks on a bilateral civil nuclear agreement…..
“We have instructed our negotiators on the way forward,” Mr. Krishna said and added the two countries understood the “concerns” of each other which were related to their historic experiences. Officials explained this to mean that while India says its clean non-proliferation record was good enough to restart civil nuclear talks, Japan feels that since India is not a signatory to the NPT, it should demonstrate its commitment to a ban on testing in words…. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3371546.ece

May 1, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Japan, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Cut your nuclear weapons drastically – China urges USA and Russia

China wants ‘drastic’ US, Russia nuclear arms cuts, Daily Times, 1 May 12 A senior Chinese diplomat told a nuclear meeting in Vienna that the development of missile defence systems which ‘disrupt’ the global strategic balance should also be abandoned, in a possible reference to US plans that have angered Russia

China called on the United States and Russia on Monday to make “drastic” cuts in their nuclear arsenals, saying countries with atomic weapons should pledge not to be the first to use them. Continue reading →

May 1, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India pursuing nuclear missile system

India developing radar-destroying Anti-Radiation Missile, DNA, Apr 29, 2012, After the success of Agni-V project, India is developing an Anti-Radiation Missile (ARM) which can hugely multiply the strike capabilities by destroying the enemy’s advance warning system. Continue reading →

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israeli experts criticise Netanyahu’s belligerent stand towards Iran

Mr Diskin’s comments echoed those previously made by Meir Dagan, the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency until January last year, who said that a strike on Iran would lead to ”regional war” and encourage Iran to continue its nuclear program.

‘Messianic’ Israeli leaders warned over Iran strike, Sydney Morning Herald, Karin Brulliard April 30, 2012 JERUSALEM: The recently retired chief of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency has described the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, as men driven by ”messianic feelings” and said that he had ”no faith” in them to lead a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The scathing comments by Yuval Diskin, who had kept a low profile since retiring last year, added to the sense of a divide between Israel’s security establishment and its political leadership over Iran. Last week the head of Israel’s military, Lieutenant-General
Benny Gantz, said sanctions and the threat of military action would deter Iran from building nuclear bombs, an analysis that contrasted with Mr Netanyahu’s and Mr Barak’s grimmer assessments. Continue reading →

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The military madness of North Korea

there it is: a nation that starves its people to feed its military spouting a philosophy of friendship and cooperation.

The despairing result of all this is that it is the people who suffer, not the leaders. It’s not enough that famines devastate the population, as North Korea endured in the nineties and from which it has not recovered, but that military madness should overwhelm all other considerations.

Paranoid state fuels military madness SMH, April 27, 2012 ‘The Government of the Republic promotes friendship and cooperation with the various countries of the world. It makes every effort in unity with all the peace-loving peoples of the world to … reduce armaments, nuclear armaments in particular, thereby meeting the desire of human beings to live in a world, free from nuclear weapons.’ – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea website
‘Once the above-said special actions kick off, they will reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style’. – The Korean People’s Army Command
It would be lunacy, rib-chuckling idiocy, if it were not so serious.
Both statements are the creation of North Korea. Continue reading →

April 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Satellite photography indicates North Korea’s nuclear activity

New photo shows work at NKorea nuclear test site Google News, By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press 28 April 12, WASHINGTON — New satellite imagery appears to show a train of mining carts and other preparations under way at North Korea’s nuclear test site but no indication of when a detonation might take place. Continue reading →

April 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear missile envy played out between India and Pakistan

Anything you can do... Pakistan follows India with its own missile test Launch is latest proof of escalation of arms in Asia as new report stresses the threat to rest of the world ANDREW BUNCOMBE The Independent, 26 APRIL 2012 A week after India successfully tested a long-range missile, Pakistan yesterday said it had also fired an upgraded nuclear-capable device in a reminder of the ongoing arms race that has gripped Asia. Officials in Pakistan said they had completed a positive trial of the Shaheen-1A, an intermediate range missile that is capable of reaching targets across India. Continue reading →

April 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel’s Secret Illegal Nuclear Biological And Chemical Weapons

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/israels-secret-illegal-nuclear.html April 2012, In this article, we will explore the secret weapons of mass destruction program in Israel, which still has not been disclosed to the UN or anyone else for that matter. Not disclosing the possession of weapons of mass destruction is illegal.

The UN required Iraq to disclose the nuclear program it had along with all other weapons of mass destruction. The UN did not require and still has not required that Israel disclose all of it’s weapons of mass destruction; nuclear, biological or chemical. Why not? ….

According to this BBC movie , Israel not only possesses weapons of mass destruction, it has actually used one or more of these secret weapons of mass destruction in Gaza. Of course, they will not confirm or deny that they even have any of these weapons. Nor will they admit that they used any of these weapons.

The thing that is so ironic about the possession of weapons of mass destruction is that this nation has been subject to genocide in the past, so one would think that they would be the LAST nation on Earth to use or stockpile these types of weapons. They know the horrors of genocide, but now they seem intent on accumulating and also using them.

Israel is outside of all international weapons of mass destruction treaties. It will not even disclose whether it even has a nuclear plant, much less nuclear weapons. The whole nuclear and weapons program is completely secret, and completely covered up. Continue reading →

April 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, Resources -audiovicual, weapons and war | Leave a comment

A ‘limited’ war would bring starvation to billions, and a nuclear winter

Billions face starvation due to nuclear weapons, Herald Sun : AFP April 25, 2012 MORE than a billion people worldwide could starve if India and Pakistan unleash nuclear weapons because even a “limited” nuclear war would cause major climate disruptions, a study says.

In addition to clouds of radiation which could contaminate farmland far from the centre of the blasts, the study found soot released into the atmosphere would devastate crop yields by cooling global temperatures and reducing rainfall worldwide.

The study provides hard data to back up dire warnings of the global – and unintended – consequences of nuclear weapons, said author Dr Ira Helfand of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

“It is not just the arsenals of the US and Russia that pose a threat to the whole world,” Helfand told AFP. Continue reading →

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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