Nucle Policy News - March 29, 2010

FISSILE MATERIAL

Questions Abound as "New START" Agreement is Completed
GSN by Elaine M. Grossman

Pakistan nuclear ambitions give US leverage
AFP Google by Shaun Tandon

Nuclear Labs Raise Doubts Over Viability of Arsenals
NY Times by William J. Broad

Foreign secretary urges more nuclear weapons cuts
BBC News

Agencies Suspect Iran Is Planning Atomic Sites
NY Times by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad

EAST ASIA
South Korea rules out navy ship sunk by North Korea
Reuters by Jo Yonghak
South Korea on Saturday all but ruled out the chance that North Korea was involved in the sinking of one of its navy vessels near their disputed border.

NKorea vows 'nuclear strikes' in latest threat
AP Google by Kwang-tae Kim
North Korea's military warned South Korea and the United States on Friday of "unprecedented nuclear strikes" as it expressed anger over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country, a scenario it dismissed as a "pipe dream."

China Weighs Engaging With U.S. on Nuclear Posture
GSN
China is struggling with its nuclear stance amid growing international calls for nuclear disarmament and the role the economic power wishes to play in global affairs, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 18).

Head of Indian steelmaker visits Pyongyang: KCNA
Yonhap News
A delegation from an Indian steelmaker arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Monday, the North's official media reported.

DPRK to build nuclear power plant -- state media
Xinhua
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will build a nuclear power plant with its own nuclear raw material, the official news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

MIDDLE EAST
Agencies Suspect Iran Is Planning Atomic Sites
NY Times by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad
Six months after the revelation of a secret nuclear enrichment site in Iran, international inspectors and Western intelligence agencies say they suspect that Tehran is preparing to build more sites in defiance of United Nations demands.

Iran sanctions top concern at G-8 meeting
WP by Rob Gillies (AP)
Iran's nuclear program is of "critical concern" and will top the agenda when foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations meet Monday to discuss global security, Canada's foreign minister said.

Medvedev: Iran Sanctions May Be Needed
NY Times by AP
Imposing more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program is not the best option, but it cannot be excluded, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.

NATO chief calls for new missile defenses to counter Iran
Haaretz
NATO states should agree at a summit this year to make missile defense systems against states including Iran an alliance mission and look at every opportunity to cooperate on this with Russia, the head of NATO says.

IAEA recommends end of Iraqi restrictions
UPI
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency recommended Friday to the Security Council that restrictions on Iraqi nuclear research be lifted.

Jordan faces tough nuclear test
The National by Chris Stanton
In a region blessed with oil and gas, Jordan was dealt an unlucky hand. The country is among the most import dependent in the world, meeting 95 per cent of its energy supply needs from neighbouring states.

SOUTH ASIA
India tests nuclear-capable Agni I missile
Khaleej Times
India on Sunday afternoon successfully tested its nuclear capable surface-to-surface Agni I missile from a test range in Orissa, an official said.

Pakistan nuclear ambitions give US leverage
AFP Google by Shaun Tandon
Pakistan's hopes for civil nuclear cooperation have been a non-starter in Washington, but experts say the United States can use it as a dangling carrot as it seeks influence in Islamabad.

Pakistani court keeps curbs on nuclear scientist
Reuters by Mubasher Bukhari
A Pakistani court on Monday rejected a petition by disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan challenging restrictions on his movements, a government lawyer said.

Pakistan "Quite Satisfied" by Nuclear Discussions With U.S.
GSN
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi pronounced himself "quite satisfied" yesterday with talks in Washington on a nuclear trade pact with the United States, though a high-level U.S. official said there were no plans for official negotiations on a deal, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 25).

US, India reach nuclear reprocessing deal
Times of India by Chidanand Rajghatta
India and the United States have concluded a nuclear fuel reprocessing agreement to advance their bilateral civilian nuclear deal, the Obama administration announced on Monday.

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE
As Obama Hails Arms Pact, Applause in Kremlin Is Faint
NY Times by Ellen Barry
On a Friday that began in Washington with a triumphant presidential news conference about the conclusion of arms talks with Russia, Moscow seemed to have its mind on other things.

Questions Abound as "New START" Agreement is Completed
GSN by Elaine M. Grossman
With the United States and Russia announcing that they have reached agreement on a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, experts and pundits are eagerly awaiting details and raising questions about what comes next (see GSN, March 25).

Russia, IAEA to set up n-fuel reserve in Siberia
Russia Today
Russia and the UN nuclear watchdog are due to set up the first-ever nuclear fuel reserve in Siberia. The fuel bank in the Siberian town of Angarsk will provide low-grade uranium for reactors worldwide.

Nato experts group say US nukes should stay in Europe
The Guardian by Julian Borger
Nato's group of experts, the small band of seasoned sages chaired by Madeleine Albright, who have been asked to guide the alliance on its future course, will advise it to hold on to America's controversial tactical nukes in Europe.

MULTILATERAL ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION
Foreign secretary urges more nuclear weapons cuts
BBC News
An agreement between the US and Russia for large cuts in nuclear weapons must lead to further reductions, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said.

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY AND POLICY
Nuclear Labs Raise Doubts Over Viability of Arsenals
NY Times by William J. Broad
In a challenge to the White House, the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories have warned Congress that federal programs to extend the life of the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal are insufficient to guarantee the viability of the weapons for decades to come.

Panel Calls on U.S. to Improve WMD Countermeasures Development
GSN
A national advisory panel has called for an improved U.S. program to produce medical treatments that could be used to counter the effects of WMD agents, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported Friday (see GSN, Feb. 5).

OPINIONS
Arms Control’s New Era
NY Times Editorial
The negotiations took a lot longer and were more grueling than anyone expected, but the United States and Russia have finally agreed on a nuclear weapons agreement to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Although the deal makes only modest cuts in both countries’ arsenals, President Obama deserves credit for reviving an arms control process that his predecessor disparaged as a cold-war relic. He is now leading the way on reducing the nuclear threat.

A worthy U.S.-Russia arms control treaty
WP Editorial
The new U.S.-Russian arms control treaty was described Friday by the Obama administration as a step toward the achievement of a host of ambitious goals: a "strong partnership" with the regime of Vladimir Putin; multilateral action to stop or reverse the nuclearization of Iran and North Korea; and not least, as President Obama put it, "a world without nuclear weapons." But it's not necessary to share the president's long-term vision, or his expansive estimation of the new treaty's influence, in order to celebrate what appears to be a solid diplomatic achievement.

Analysis: New pact may be end of 'just say nyet'
WP Analysis by Douglas Birch (AP)
For the Kremlin and the White House, the signing of the new strategic nuclear arms treaty next month resets, at least for now, a relationship gone badly astray.

Senate approval of START presents challenges
Reuters by Susan Cornwall
Getting an agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia has not been easy for the Obama administration. Getting it through the U.S. Senate may be just as hard.

New Iran sanctions: A question of when, not if
Reuters Analysis by Louis Charbonneau
China is slowly and reluctantly falling in line with Russia and four Western powers by backing the idea of new U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, but Beijing wants any new steps to be weak.

Imagining an Israeli Strike on Iran
NY Times by David E. Sanger
In 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak, declaring it could not live with the chance the country would get a nuclear weapons capability. In 2007, it wiped out a North Korean-built reactor in Syria. And the next year, the Israelis secretly asked the Bush administration for the equipment and overflight rights they might need some day to strike Iran’s much better-hidden, better-defended nuclear sites.