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/ Archive| HavenWorks.com/nuclear/archive |
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/ Archive
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- "Iran
'has made 4,000 centrifuges'." ... "Iran has secretly
manufactured around 4,000 centrifuges capable of weapons grade uranium
enrichment - 25 times the quantity it has admitted to the UN, it was claimed
today." ... "Alireza Jafarzadeh, an exiled Iranian dissident who in 2002
helped to uncover almost two decades of covert Iranian nuclear activity,
said the centrifuges - rotating machines used in separation processes -
were ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz." ... "Mr
Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based thinktank
focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information - which he described as
"very recent" - had come from sources within the Tehran regime that had
proved to be accurate in the past." -Guardian.co.uk
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- 
- 
- "Australia
to Begin Talks on Uranium Exports to China (Update1)."
... "The agreement will set up safeguards to ensure Australian uranium
supplied to China is only used for peaceful purposes, Downer said today
in an e-mailed statement." -By Angela Macdonald-Smith
-Bloomberg
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Autos
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- Homes
- "Bush
Signs Massive Energy Bill Into Law." ... "In the
near term, the new legislation will extend daylight-saving time, give tax
breaks to drivers who buy cars with fuel-efficient technologies and try
to jump-start the construction of new nuclear power plants." ... "Environmental
groups and other opponents say the bill amounts to a gift to energy companies
that does nothing new to promote renewable energy." ... "The measure funnels
billions of dollars to energy companies, including tax breaks and loan
guarantees for new nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and wind
energy." ... "For consumers, the bill would provide tax credits for buying
hybrid gasoline-electric cars and making energy-conservation improvements
with better windows and appliances in new and existing homes." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Bush
Signs Sweeping Energy Bill." ... "President Bush
today signed a sweeping energy bill that provides billions of dollars in
tax subsidies to energy companies, but that even he acknowledged will do
little to alleviate the high prices of gasoline at the pump for most Americans."
... "The bill will provide tax breaks and loan guarantees for new nuclear
power plants, clean coal technology and wind energy. It will also require
utilities, for the first time, to comply with federal reliability standards
for the electricity grid, instead of relying on self-regulation, an effort
to avoid power blackouts, like the one that struck the Midwest and Northeast
in the summer of 2003." -By Maria Newman
-NYTimes
-
- "Iran
restarts uranium production: news@nature.com answers
questions about Iran's nuclear programme." ... "Does Iran have the capacity
to enrich uranium?" ... "An enrichment plant at Nantanz already houses
a few hundred centrifuges, and several thousand more are planned. But large-scale
enrichment is not yet possible in Iran, says IAEA spokesman Peter Rickwood.
Enriching to weapons-grade uranium-235 requires many thousands of centrifuges,
which poses serious engineering challenges." ... "But Paul Leventhal, founder
of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington DC-based group that lobbies
to prevent nuclear proliferation, notes that the IAEA's assessment may
not be the whole story. "The IAEA doesn't have a very good track record
for finding undisclosed nuclear facilities," he says." -By
Mark Peplow -Nature
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-
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- "Australia
to start nuclear fuel talks with China." ... "Australia,
which has an estimated 40 pct of the world's low-cost uranium resources,
already has 19 nuclear agreements covering 36 countries and earns some
300 mln usd annually from uranium exports."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
-
- "Iran
Resumes Uranium Conversion Against United Nations Wishes."
... "Iran resumed uranium conversion activities at its nuclear plant in
the central city of Isfahan today in a move that could bring prompt the
United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic."
-Bloomberg
- 
- 
-
- "N.
Korea talks broke over light-reactors, US envoy says:
Negotiations resume Aug. 29." ... "North Korea's unexpected insistence
that it still has the right to build light-water reactors to generate electricity
became the main deal-breaker during 13 days of sometimes acrimonious discussions
on eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, the chief US negotiator
said yesterday." -By Edward Cody-WashingtonPost
via -Boston/Globe
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- "Iran:
crisis looming over nuclear plans." ... "Threats
by Iran to re-start the process of enriching uranium could indicate that
it has taken a strategic decision to develop a nuclear fuel production
cycle." ... "If so, it could face UN sanctions in due course and one day
even a military attack on its facilities by Israel or the United States."
... "But nuclear experts and a new assessment by US intelligence say that
Iran is perhaps ten years from being able to make enough fuel for a nuclear
bomb." ... "Neither a diplomatic nor a military crisis has been precipitated
yet." -By Paul Reynolds-BBC
/News
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-
- "Iran
Says It Will Break U.N. Seals Placed at a Nuclear Plant."
... "Defying the warning of European leaders, Iran said Monday that it
was removing the seals placed by the United Nations nuclear agency at one
of its nuclear sites to restart activities there." ... "European diplomats
said that if Iran did go ahead and resume the nuclear activities, then
they would have little choice but to ask for the agency, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, to place the issue before the United Nations Security
Council for possible political and economic sanctions." -By
Nazila Fathi with contributions by Mark Landler and Graham Bowley -NYTimes
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- "Bush
seals nuclear agreement with India." ... "In a detailed
joint statement issued after talks on[e] day in Washington with Manmohan
Singh, India's prime minister, Mr Bush said he would seek agreement from
Congress to end more than four decades of sanctions that have barred full
US co-operation with India on civilian nuclear energy programmes." ...
"In return for the US pledges, India agreed that it was “ready to assume
the same responsibilities and practices and acquire the same benefits and
advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology.”"
... "This would include voluntarily placing its civilian nuclear facilities
under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, agreeing to additional
measures under the IAEA protocol, and co-operating fully in international
schemes to prevent the spread of nuclear enrichment and re-processing technologies."
-By Caroline Daniel and Edward Alden
-FT.com
-
-
- - Karl
Rove
- "Rove
leak is just part of larger scandal." ... "Let me
remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not
a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war." ... "In 2002
President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for a
casus
belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very
much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged
documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq
might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country
of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian
information was "fragmentary and lacked detail." ... "The role of Rove
and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the
effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to
justify a war." -By Daniel Schorr -CSMonitor
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- 
-
- "Top
Chinese general warns US over attack." ... "China
is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by
Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on
Thursday." ... "“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided
ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will
have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu." -By
Alexandra Harney, Demetri Sevastopulo, Edward Alden and Richard McGregor
-FT.com
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- "U.S.
Warns Iran on Nuclear Issue: Envoy to IAEA says military
action is an option if Tehran fails to take 'necessary steps.' North Korea
is urged to return to talks." ... "The United States continued its drumbeat
of criticism of Tehran's efforts to obtain nuclear capability Thursday,
saying it would not tolerate an Iran with nuclear bombs." ... "Separately,
Washington warned North Korea that the U.S. would look at "other options"
unless Pyongyang returned to six-party talks seeking a peaceful resolution
of the communist regime's nuclear activities." -By
Alissa J. Rubin
-LAtimes
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-
- "Saudi
Arabia Exempt From Nuke Inspections." ... "The U.N.
atomic watchdog agency approved a deal Thursday that keeps nuclear inspectors
out of Saudi Arabia despite an international push to scrap such arrangements
because they can be abused by proliferators." ... "In the past two decades,
the kingdom has been linked to prewar Iraq's nuclear program and to the
Pakistani nuclear black marketeer Abdul Qadeer Khan." -By
George Jahn -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
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- "Iran
Said to Admit Tests on Path to Atom Arms." ... "Iran
has admitted that it conducted small-scale experiments to create plutonium,
one of the pathways to building nuclear weapons, for five years beyond
the date when it previously insisted it had ended all such work, a senior
official of the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to report
Thursday." ... "Since 2003, when Iran first began admitting that it had
hidden 17 years of work from the nuclear agency, it made assurances that
its accounting of its activities was full. But it has repeatedly had to
revise that accounting, often in the face of evidence from the agency's
scientific analyses." -By Richard Bernstein with contributions
by David E. Sanger and Elaine Sciolino
-NYTimes
-
-
- "US
says Iranian nuclear reporting contradictions not due to error."
... "IAEA deputy director for safeguards Pierre Goldschmidt told the agency's
35-nation board of governors that Iran had falsely reported the timing
of plutonium experiments." -AFXNews
via -Forbes
- "Strain
shows in talks on Iran's nuclear aims." ... "Iran
and its European negotiating partners struggled in preliminary talks on
Tuesday to salvage their nuclear agreement following threats by Iran to
resume sensitive nuclear activities banned under the accord." ... "In the
talks on Tuesday, the Europeans reiterated their warning to Iran in a letter
earlier this month that they will end their two years of nuclear negotiations
and begin punitive action against Iran if it resumes nuclear activities
frozen under the November 2004 accord, a European official said." -By
Elaine Sciolino -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
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- "Laser
Could Rival Energy From Sun's Center." ... "In a
building the size of a football stadium, engineers have assembled the framework
for a network of 192 laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet to converge
simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser." ... "The goal
is to create unimaginable heat 180 million degrees Farenheit and intense
pressure from all directions on a BB-size hydrogen fuel pellet, compressing
it to one-thirtieth of its size." ... "The result, the scientists hope,
will be a fusing of atoms so that more energy is released than is generated
by the laser beams, something scientists call fusion ignition. It is what
happens when a hydrogen bomb explodes." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By H. Josef Hebert -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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- "N.
Korea Seeks Emergency Meeting With South." ... "North
Korea has proposed an emergency meeting with South Korea next week in an
apparent effort to enlist the nation's support in the international standoff
over its nuclear weapons program, officials in Seoul said today." ... "The
ostensible topic of the meeting is relations between the Koreas, but the
view in the South is that the North is reaching out for allies in the escalating
nuclear crisis." -By Barbara Demick-LAtimes
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- "U.S.
backs Europeans on Iran warning." ... "The United
States on Thursday backed France, Britain and Germany in their warning
to Iran that they will break off talks over Tehran's nuclear program if
it resumes uranium enrichment." ... "France, Britain and Germany warned
in a letter to Iran that they would end negotiations over Iran's nuclear
program if Tehran went ahead with uranium enrichment as it has threatened
to do."-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
- "North
Korea 'may have six bombs': UN nuclear watchdog chief
Mohammed ElBaradei has said North Korea could possess several nuclear bombs."
... "Speaking on US television, he said Pyongyang had enough plutonium
to make five or six nuclear weapons." ... "The country also has the necessary
infrastructure to convert the plutonium into weapons, Mr ElBaradei added."
... "North Korea announced in February that it had nuclear arms - but that
claim has not been verified by Mr ElBaradei's International Atomic Energy
Agency." ... "When asked by CNN if it was the IAEA's assessment that North
Korea already had as many as six bombs, Mr ElBaradei replied: "I think
that would be close to our estimation.""-BBC
/News
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-
- "Japan
considers taking North Korea nuclear issue to UN."
... "Kyoto, Japan — Japan might bring the issue of North Korea's nuclear
weapons program before the UN Security Council unless six-nation talks
on the dispute begin showing progress, Japan's Foreign Minister said Friday."
... "North Korea fiercely opposes bringing its case to the Security Council,
which would be a first step in pushing for sanctions against the reclusive
communist regime. Pyongyang has said in the past that it would consider
sanctions a “declaration of war.”" -AP
via -GlobeAndMail
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- "Iran
Rejects Efforts to Halt Its Nuclear Program (Update2)."
... "Iran rejects U.S. and European efforts to block its development of
nuclear technology, and is determined to continue a uranium enrichment
program, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said at the United Nations." ...
"France, Germany and the U.K. have been in talks to convince Iran to halt
an enrichment program, which the U.S. says is intended to produce nuclear
weapons. Iran, one of 188 nations that have ratified the treaty, agreed
in November to suspend its nuclear activities in exchange for trade and
economic concessions." -By Bill Varner
-Bloomberg
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-
- "Iran
'may restart nuclear program'." ... "Iran said Saturday
it is likely to resume uranium enrichment-related activities within a week,
a process it halted last year to build confidence in talks with European
countries and avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible
sanctions." ... "Tehran's announcement came a day after talks in London
with European negotiators yielded no results. France, Britain and Germany,
acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, are seeking guarantees
from Iran that it will not use its nuclear program to make weapons, as
Washington suspects." -AP
via -CNN
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-
- "DIA:
N. Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuke: Defense Official
Says North Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuclear Weapon." ... "The Defense
Intelligence Agency chief says North Korea is able to arm a missile with
a nuclear weapon, but hasn't said whether it has done so or if such a missile
could reach the United States." ... "Still, the assessment presented by
Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby to a Senate panel Thursday would mark a significant
step forward in the communist state's capabilities." ... "Jacoby discussed
North Korea's capabilities during questioning by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-N.Y., at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing." ... "Clinton asked
if "North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device?""
... "Jacoby answered, "My assessment is that they have the capability to
do that."" (1, 2)
-By John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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-
- "Putin
Warns Iran Against Atomic Arms: Russian President
Warns Iran Against Seeking Atomic Arms, but Defends Syria Missile Deal."
... "On the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Israel, Russia's Vladimir
Putin soothed his hosts Thursday by aiming sharp words at Iran over its
nuclear program, but he sparred with his Israeli counterpart on a Syrian
missile deal that Israelis see as a threat." ... "Making a trip meant to
cement relations after decades of Soviet-era discord, the Russian president
said his country and Israel are linked by the Holocaust and the deaths
of millions of Soviet citizens in World War II. And he noted Israel's large
population of Russian-speaking immigrants." (1, 2,
3)
-By Steve Gutterman -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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- -
"Arms
Move to Syria 'Unlikely,' Report Says." ... "The
Bush administration's senior weapons inspector said in a report released
last night that it was "unlikely" that Saddam Hussein's forces moved weapons
to Syria, though he expressed concern about nuclear-related equipment that
was apparently removed after American-led forces invaded Iraq." ... "In
a 92-page addendum to a report issued last fall, Charles Duelfer, the head
of the former Iraq Survey Group, was also highly critical of the way key
Iraqi scientists were interviewed after their capture, suggesting opportunities
to mine information from them might have been lost." -By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes
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- "Bolton
Often Blocked Information, Officials Say: Iran, IAEA
Matters Were Allegedly Kept From Rice, Powell." ... "John R. Bolton --
who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-- often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and, on one occasion,
his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S.
strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have
worked with Bolton." ... "In some cases, career officials found back channels
to Powell or his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who encouraged assistant
secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information
was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through. The officials, who
would discuss the incidents only on the condition of anonymity because
some continue to deal with Bolton on other issues, cited a dozen examples
of memos or information that Bolton refused to forward during his four
years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security."
-By Dafna Linzer-WashingtonPost
-
- Water- Nevada
- "U.S.
probes nuclear dump documents." ... "Government employees
may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
project in Nevada, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The disclosure
could jeopardize the project's ability to get a federal permit to operate
the dump." ... "The department said the questionable data involved computer
modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site, which is
90 miles northwest of Las Vegas." ... "[Nevada state Nuclear Projects director
Bob] Loux said potential water transport -- the issue that some of the
questionable work apparently involved -- is critical for the proposed waste
repository." ... "Water is "the key mechanism at Yucca Mountain both in
terms of infiltrating into the site and in terms of letting radioactivity
release into the biosphere," Loux said." -AP
via -CNN
-
-
- "IAEA
chief: N Korea bigger threat." ... "North Korea poses
more of a nuclear threat than Iran, the director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency told CNN, because the country already has the nuclear
material that would go into a weapon." ... ""We know North Korea has the
plutonium that can go into the bomb," Mohammed ElBaradei told CNN's Christiane
Amanpour on Thursday. "We have not seen any such material in Iran."" ...
"North Korea, he said, represents an "imminent threat or an imminent danger,"
while Iran is merely suspected of having a nuclear program."
-CNN
- "Q&A:
The U.N. and nuclear proliferation." ... "The following
is a transcript of an interview with Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), conducted by CNN's Chief
International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour."
-CNN
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-
-
- "Iran
admits it considered purchasing weapons technology."
... "As the International Atomic Energy Agency prepared to open a meeting
in Vienna on Monday to review Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian officials
reluctantly turned over new evidence that strongly suggests it discussed
acquiring technologies central to making nuclear weapons and hid that fact
for 18 years, U.S. and European officials say." ... "The officials said
the documents, which are dated 1987, were handed over after investigators
for the agency confronted Iranian officials with evidence gathered in interviews
with members of the network run by Pakistan's top nuclear expert, A.Q.
Khan. The documents, according to officials who have seen them, include
an offer by Khan's representatives to provide a package of technologies
- for a price that ran from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of
dollars, according to a European diplomat - including the difficult-to-master
process of casting uranium metal." -By Elaine Sciolino
and David E. Sanger with contributions by William J. Broad -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
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-
-
- "Iran,
North Korea Focus of Nuclear Meeting: Iran and North
Korea Focus of Top-Level Meeting of U.N. Nuclear Monitoring Agency." ...
"Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was
reacting to revelations by diplomats that Tehran had been approached by
members of the nuclear black market network in the late 1980s with a written
offer to set up the basics of the enrichment program now causing concerns
about the Islamic Republic's nuclear aims." ... "In giving the agency the
written offer from the network of Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan, Iran
"showed us for the first time the offer they had, and that is good," ElBaradei
told reporters." ... "However, he suggested in his opening remarks to the
board meeting that Iran is providing information too late, saying that
"in view of the past undeclared nature of significant aspects of Iran's
nuclear program, a confidence deficit has been created."" (1, 2,
3)-AP
via -ABCNEWS
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-
-
- "Iran,
Russia postpone nuclear fuel deal citing black market info."
... "Last-minute disputes Saturday forced Iran and Russia to postpone the
signing of an agreement to supply Iran with fuel for its first nuclear
reactor, a deal strongly opposed by the United States." ... "Under the
agreement, Russia will provide Iran with fuel and take back the spent fuel,
a safeguard meant to banish fears Iran would misuse it to build nuclear
weapons. U.N. nuclear experts also would monitor the facility."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Official
admits Iran may hide nuclear program in tunnels."
... "Iran may be hiding its nuclear technology inside special tunnels because
of threats of attack by the United States, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator
said in an interview published Friday." ... "Hassan Rowhani, who has been
negotiating with Germany, Britain and France over Iran's uranium enrichment
program, was asked by an interviewer for the daily Le Monde: "Is it accurate
that Iran has built tunnels meant to serve Iran's nuclear activities?""
... "Rowhani responded that reports Iran was building tunnels to hide its
nuclear technology "could be true," he said." ... ""From the moment the
Americans threaten to attack our nuclear sites, what are we to do? We have
to put them somewhere," Rowhani said." -AP
via -IHT.com
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-
-
- "Iran
Was Offered Nuclear Parts: Secret Meeting in 1987
May Have Begun Program." ... "International investigators have uncovered
evidence of a secret meeting 18 years ago between Iranian officials and
associates of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan that resulted in a
written offer to supply Tehran with the makings of a nuclear weapons program,
foreign diplomats and U.S. officials familiar with the new findings said."
... "The meeting, believed to have taken place in a dusty Dubai office
in 1987, kick-started Tehran's nuclear efforts and Khan's black market.
Iran, which was at war with Iraq then, bought centrifuge designs and a
starter kit for uranium enrichment. But Tehran recently told the International
Atomic Energy Agency that it turned down the chance to buy the more sensitive
equipment required for building the core of a bomb." ... "There is evidence,
however, that Iran used the offer as a buyer's guide, acquiring some of
the pricier items elsewhere, officials said."
-By Dafna Linzer
-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Bush
Seeks More NATO Support on Iraq." ... "President
Bush is pressing his agenda for a refurbished trans-Atlantic alliance at
back-to-back summits with NATO and the European Union. He's looking for
a commitment on more training aid for postwar Iraq and is expected to argue
his case for increasing pressure on Iran to end its nuclear ambitions."
... "NATO's 26 members are expected to announce they all will participate
in a modest program to train Iraq's military." -By
Tom Raum -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
- "Goss:
North Korea's nuclear capability grown: CIA director
also cites chemical, biological weapons programs." ... "North Korea's nuclear
weapons arsenal has grown since the country was labeled part of an "axis
of evil" by President Bush three years ago, CIA Director Porter Goss testified
Wednesday before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee." ... ""Our assessment
is they have a greater capability than that assessment," Goss said, referring
to a January 2002 CIA assessment of North Korea's nuclear program, which
stated the communist state had produced enough plutonium for one or two
nuclear weapons." -CNN
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- "Poor
Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush
administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures
against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement
reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday."
... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian
activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a
potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work
harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent
decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the
development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans
last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda
-AP via -Newsday.com
-
-
- "Fear
of Nuclear Iran Could Influence U.S. Diplomacy."
... "The intense antagonism that has existed since militant students held
52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the 1979 Iranian revolution "could
become a collision course," former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski
said this week." ... ""But perhaps there are the makings of somewhat ameliorating
the relationship between the two sides," he said." ... "[However] Many
experts believe even if Tehran's hard-line leaders are replaced, it may
have no impact on the quest for a nuclear bomb because a broad spectrum
of Iranians endorse that goal." (1, 2)
-By Carol Giacomo-Reuters
-
-
-
- "Israeli
Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu to Go Free." ... "Israeli
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu goes free on Wednesday after 18
years in jail for spilling secrets that publicly placed the Jewish state
among the world's top atomic powers." ... "But the former nuclear technician
-- whose revelations to a British newspaper led analysts to conclude Israel
had an arsenal of more than 100 nuclear warheads -- will still be subject
to a list of stringent security measures to keep him silent." ... "Vanunu
was jailed in 1986 for treason after disclosing information to Britain's
Sunday Times." (1, 2)
-By Megan Goldin -Reuters
-
-
- "Alarm
Raised Over Quality of Uranium Found in Iran." ...
"United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly
enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb,
European and American diplomats said Wednesday." ... "Among traces that
inspectors detected last year are some refined to 90 percent of the rare
235 isotope, the diplomats said. While the International Atomic Energy
Agency has previously reported finding "weapons grade" traces, it has not
revealed that some reached such a high degree of enrichment." ... "The
presence of such traces raises the stakes in the international debate over
Iran's nuclear program and increases the urgency of determining the uranium's
origin. If the enrichment took place in Iran, it means the country is much
further along the road to becoming a nuclear weapons power than even the
most aggressive intelligence estimates anticipated." -By
Craig S. Smith with contributions by David E. Sanger -NYTimes
-
-
- "U.S.
Confident IAEA to Put Iran on Sanctions Notice."
... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday he was confident
the U.N. atomic watchdog, which is assessing Iran's nuclear programs, would
warn Tehran it could face sanctions within months." ... "The resolution
being discussed in Vienna will stop short of declaring Iran in breach of
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reporting it to the U.N. Security
Council for possible sanctions but will signal that could be close, he
said." -Reuters
-
-
-
- "U.N.
Inspectors Report Evidence That Iran Itself Made Fuel That Could Be Used
for A-Bombs." ... "Despite Iranian disavowals, International
Atomic Energy Agency experts in Iran have found evidence of indigenous
production of a concentrated fuel that, if pure enough, can be used to
make nuclear weapons. They said in an inspection report that equipment
made there showed many traces of the fuel, highly enriched uranium." ...
"Iran has consistently argued that any traces of concentrated fuel must
have come from equipment contaminated before it was imported, presumably
from Pakistan. But the report, distributed yesterday to the agency's board,
found the fuel on parts Iranians had made, and "only negligible traces"
on imported parts." (1, 2)
-By William J. Broad and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "U.N.
Finds Uranium Enrichment Tools in Iran: Discovery
Renews Doubts On Nation's Nuclear Goals." ... "U.N. inspectors investigating
Iran's nuclear program have uncovered sophisticated uranium enrichment
equipment, renewing doubts about the Iranian government's pledge that its
intentions are peaceful and transparent, diplomatic officials said yesterday."
... "The discovery of several completed gas centrifuges, coupled with last
week's find of blueprints for a previously unknown Iranian enrichment project,
will be part of a critical International Atomic Energy Agency report expected
to detail Iran's recent nuclear shortcomings, according to diplomats and
government experts." -By Peter Slevin and Joby Warrick
-WashingtonPost
- "Pakistan
Opposition Charges Atomic Cover-Up." ... "Opposition
parties accused the military-dominated government of hiding the army's
role in the proliferation scheme; humiliating the scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan; appeasing the United States; and bypassing the elected legislators."
-By Salman Masood and David Rohde -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "U.N.
Nuclear Official to Visit Libya." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei,
the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will visit
next Monday and Tuesday, "to review progress in our work," said IAEA spokesman
Mark Gwozdecky." -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- 
-
- "Pakistan's
Nuclear Ali Baba." ... ""Nobody could touch him,"
says Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Pakistan's foreign minister. The regret in
his voice is palpable. "Imagine an American government doing this to Charles
Lindbergh, or Albert Einstein, at the height of his popularity. Dr. A.Q.
Khan is that kind of national hero in Pakistan."" ... "Abdul Qadeer Khan,
an accomplished scientist, is also by his own account a thief of Ali Baba
proportions. He became a national hero by stealing the designs of a European
nuclear centrifuge system that enabled Pakistan to explode several nuclear
devices in 1998. Khan's original nuclear larceny, as Kasuri says, "gave
us strategic balance."" -By Jim Hoagland
-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
-
-
- "Musharraf
issues pardon to nuclear scientist." ... "A Pakistani
nuclear scientist whose involvement in international WMD proliferation
was described by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog as "the tip of an
iceberg" was today pardoned for his part in the trade." ... "Pakistan's
president, Pervez Musharraf, said that he had accepted a written apology
from Abdul Qadeer Khan - known as the father of the country's nuclear bomb
- for selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- "Pakistani
nuclear scientist confesses to sharing secrets: Abdul
Qadeer Khan confessed Sunday to trading nuclear technology to Iran, Libya,
and North Korea." ... "Pakistan's chief nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan, has confessed to sharing nuclear technology with Iran, Libya, and
North Korea in a 12-page document presented to President Pervez Musharraf,
according to a briefing given by government officials in Islamabad." ...
"News of the confession followed a decision to dismiss Mr. Khan from his
government post on Saturday by the nuclear command authority, a grouping
of top military and political officials supervising the probe." -By
Owais Tohid -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Libya
Nuclear Components Arrive in U.S.: Plane Carrying
Components of Libya's Nuclear Weapons Program Arrives in U.S., White House
Says." ... "Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, following up a promise to end
his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, has shipped some 55,000 pounds
of nuclear and missile components to the United States in a bid to break
out of diplomatic isolation." ... "Bush administration officials indicated
Gadhafi could expect some easing of economic pressure in return if he continued
on a cooperative track. But one official told The Associated Press that
Libya had not proved it no longer supported terrorism."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "U.S.
says guards cheated in nuke plant terrorism drill."
... "Security guards who repelled four simulated terrorist attacks at a
Tennessee nuclear weapons plant had been tipped in advance, undermining
the encouraging results, the Energy Department's watchdog office said Monday."
... "The surprising successes by guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant
last summer in Oak Ridge, Tenn., spurred an internal investigation. It
determined that at least two guards defending the mock attacks had been
allowed to look at computer simulations one day before the attacks. The
plant processes parts for nuclear weapons and maintains vast supplies of
bomb-grade uranium." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -AJC
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
Chief Says It Appears Scientists Sold Nuclear Data."
... "Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, acknowledged Friday that
scientists from his country appeared to have sold nuclear designs to other
nations probably "for personal financial gain." He denied that the Pakistan
government knew of any sales at the time but vowed that suspects would
be dealt with "as antistate elements."" ... "General Musharraf's statement
at a global economic forum here came after weeks of delicate efforts to
force Pakistan to deal with the scientists, according to diplomats and
American officials. Technical documents recently obtained from Libya on
its nuclear program, as well as documents relating to Iran's nuclear activities,
undercut years of Pakistani denials and appeared to force General Musharraf's
hand, diplomats and American officials said." (1, 2)
-By Mark Landler and David E. Sanger-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Libya
Gives U.N. Inspectors Nuke Drawings." ... "Libya
gave U.N. inspectors drawings of a nuclear weapon, the International Atomic
Energy Agency said Friday, the clearest sign yet that Libya was at some
point serious about building such arms." ... ""We have put those drawings
under our seal, and they are secure," Mark Gwozdecky, chief spokesman for
the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said without elaborating." -By
George Jahn -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
Expands Nuclear Investigation." ... "Pakistan has
expanded an investigation of its premier nuclear weapons laboratory, detaining
as many as seven scientists and administrators amid allegations sensitive
technology may have spread to countries such as Iran, North Korea and Libya,
officials said Sunday." ... "Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said
over the past few days between five and seven personnel at the Khan Research
Laboratories were taken in for questioning. But he said the detained men
were not "necessarily involved in something or have allegations against
them."" -By Matthew Pennington
-AP via -Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Libya's
black market deals shock nuclear inspectors." ...
"Colonel Muammar Gadafy of Libya has been buying complete sets of uranium
enrichment centrifuges on the international black market as the central
element in his secret nuclear bomb programme, according to United Nations
nuclear inspectors." ... "The ease with which the complex bomb-making equipment
was acquired has stunned experienced international inspectors. The scale
and the sophistication of the networks supplying so-called rogue states
seeking nuclear weapons are considerably more extensive than previously
believed." -By Ian Traynor
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Libya
Ratifies the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty." ... "Libya
has ratified the nuclear test ban treaty, a United Nations agency said
Wednesday, less than three weeks after Libya publicly renounced its plans
to develop outlawed weapons." ... "Libya's nuclear program was nowhere
near producing a weapon. Still, the announcement appeared to be a further
sign of commitment by its leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, to give up the
program." -AP
via -NYTimes
-
-
- "U.S.
to Send India Nuclear, Space Technology: New Delhi
Pledges to Pursue Peaceful Purposes and Help Block Spread of Weapons."
... "President Bush pledged yesterday to help India with its nuclear energy
and space technology in return for India's promise to use the assistance
for peaceful purposes and to help block the spread of dangerous weapons."
... "U.S. officials asserted that India will receive no substantial technology
until the New Delhi government enacts tougher export controls to prevent
the spread of sophisticated science. The Bush administration said the principal
goal is nonproliferation at a time when the administration is stepping
up its efforts to deny weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups
and pariah governments." -By Peter Slevin
-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
may have supplied nuclear info." ... "Libya pledged
to name its suppliers when it announced last month it was giving up its
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs." ... "Officials say
many of the names probably will be Pakistani. They say evidence points
to Pakistani nuclear experts as the source of at least some technology
Libya used in its nuclear weapons program. Similar reports have arisen
about probable Pakistani assistance to Iran and North Korea, countries
President Bush said comprised an ``axis of evil'' with Saddam Hussein's
Iraq." -By Matt Kelley
-AP via -Salon/news/wire
-
-
-
-
- "In first
visit by outsiders in a year, U.S. experts tour Korea nuclear site."
... "North Korea declared Saturday that it had shown what it called a "nuclear
deterrent" to the unofficial delegation, but officials familiar with their
visit to the North's main nuclear site said they had seen the facilities
to produce bomb fuel rather than an actual weapon." ... "The members of
the delegation declined to give a description of the facilities they inspected
until they had a chance to brief the Bush administration. But officials
who have received sketchy reports say the tour was clearly intended to
signal to the United States that President George W. Bush's efforts to
dissuade North Korea from moving forward with its nuclear program had failed,
and that officials in Washington should accept that North Korea is an undeclared
nuclear power, much as it accepts that Pakistan and Israel are nuclear-weapons
nations." -AP,
-Reuters, & -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "S
Korea welcomes North's nuclear offer." ... "South
Korea's foreign minister on Wednesday welcomed North Korea's offer to freeze
its nuclear programme in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions,
saying it would help the US and other countries resume six-way talks on
the nuclear crisis." ... "North Korea specified that it was willing to
"refrain from test and production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating
the nuclear power industry for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures
of the package solution". In exchange, North Korea demanded that the US
lift political, economic and other sanctions." -By
Song Jung-a in Seoul and Guy Dinmore -FT.com
-
- "India,
Pakistan hope to improve relations further." ...
"The leaders of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan will try to build on recent
moves to improve ties after meeting on Monday, India's foreign minister
said, but there was no word on whether they had made concrete progress."
... "India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf held their first meeting in over two years on Monday on
the sidelines of a regional summit in Islamabad, boosting hopes for peace."-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org
-
- "Further
thaw for India, Pakistan: The prime ministers of
the two nuclear powers met Sunday, a first since the nations averted war
in 2001." ... "As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) opened its summit in the Pakistani capital Islamabad under a dense
umbrella of security, the leaders of India and Pakistan made their first
cautious moves in more than two years to shake hands and brush off piles
of accumulated mistrust." ... "Hopes have risen after Indian Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Jamali,
met Sunday for the first time. In an unexpected breakthrough, diplomatic
sources have said that Mr. Vajpayee is scheduled to meet with Pakistani
leader Pervez Musharraf Monday." -By Owais Tohid
-CSMonitor
-
- "U.S. group
plans visit to Korean nuclear site: But White House
denies involvement in delegation's trip." ... "North Korea has agreed to
let an American delegation visit its Yongbyon nuclear plant, which is at
the heart of a 14-month-old international standoff, South Korean officials
said Friday." ... "The trip would represent the first time that a foreign
delegation was authorized to visit the plant since North Korea expelled
United Nations nuclear insp