nuclear-news

Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials
Global Security Newswire Jan. 12, 2009 Preventing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from falling into extremist hands is a more important security priority for the United States than stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Bush administration report delivered to the team preparing for Barack Obama’s presidency, the New York Times reported yesterday

“Only one of those countries has a hundred nuclear weapons,” the report’s lead author said. Concerns persist over Islamabad’s ability to protect the arsenal, according to the Times.

U.S. intelligence officials have briefed Obama on the possibility that some Pakistani scientists with radical Islamic sympathies have sought to join the ranks of the nation’s nuclear elite……………………….The official also expressed concern that militants could try to steal nuclear weapons that were being transferred between facilities. Some U.S. officials were concerned that the recent terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai might have been intended to spur Pakistan to move tactical nuclear weapons to border positions so they could be stolen, the Times reported.

U.S. targets A.Q. Khan nuclear network WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sanctions will be placed on 13 people and three companies “for their involvement in the A.Q. Khan nuclear proliferation network,” the U.S. State Department said Monday.

Khan, a Pakistani scientist, operated an international black market in nuclear material to a number of states with a history of poor relations with the United States.

He was arrested in February 2004 and eventually pardoned by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

The sanctions, which follow a U.S. review of the network, “will help prevent future proliferation-related activities by these private entities, provide a warning to other would-be proliferators, and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to using all available tools to address proliferation-related activities.”

The department notes that Khan spearheaded an “extensive international network for the proliferation of nuclear equipment and know-how that provided one-stop shopping for countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons.”

Iran and Libya received centrifuge components, centrifuges, and designs from Khan and his associates, and the United States believes the network “provided centrifuge designs, equipment, and technology to North Korea.”………………”While we believe the A.Q. Khan network is no longer operating, countries should remain vigilant to ensure that Khan network associates, or others seeking to pursue similar proliferation activities, will not become a future source for sensitive nuclear information or equipment.”

Austria furious at re-opening of nuclear plant
Radio Netherlands 12 Jan 09 “We were really aghast when we heard that it’s being taken back into use,” was the angry comment from Herwig Schuster – spokesperson for the Austrian branch of Greenpeace – at the news that the Bohunice V 2 nuclear power station, located just 100 km from Vienna in neighbouring Slovakia, is to re-open. After numerous protests, from Austria in particular, the power station was officially closed at the end of last year. But now, because of the problems with the supply of gas from Russia, the Slovak government has indicated that it wants to bring the reactor back into use.

Greenpeace’s Herwig Schuster argues that the re-opening would involve an enormous risk:

“Bohunice V 2 is an old Soviet-made power station. The casing is porous, and the level of protection so weak that anything that lands on it – an aircraft for example – would damage it”.