The apparent resolution on liability for U.S.-funded nuclear security projects in Russia will boost efforts to build facilities in both countries to convert weapon-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide nuclear fuel, two U.S. senators said yesterday (see GSN, July 20).
“This will allow the MOX program at the Savannah River Site to get back on track,” said U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “I look forward to a formal agreement being reached in the coming weeks.” France, Germany and the United States are collaborating to help Russia construct a MOX facility, Graham said, according to the Associated Press. Russia and the United States have each pledged to convert 34 tons of plutonium into the MOX fuel. “As we see the world become more and more dangerous, it is critical that we make progress on reprocessing weapons-grade plutonium into MOX,” said Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) in a prepared statement. “Black marketers and terrorists would love to get their hands on this plutonium.” Concerns over Russian funding and safeguarding of its plant still need to be addressed, said Tom Clements of Greenpeace International. “I do think both Senator Domenici and Senator Graham are trying to play politics and influence the House-Senate conference committee funding on the MOX plant. That much is clear to me,” Clements said. The Senate recently approved a $339 million White House funding request for the facility. The planned facility only received $35 million from the House of Representatives, AP reported. A report by a House Appropriations subcommittee said the White House request combined with a MOX program balance of more than $650 million brings the budget to more than $1 billion for fiscal 2006. However, this budget has not led to nonproliferation benefits because of continued delays in the project. “Faced with severe budget constraints, the committee cannot support the continued inefficient use of these nonproliferation funds,” according to the House report, which also called for a Government Accountability Office investigation into the program. With the liability issue out of the way, plant construction would begin next year and create up to 1,500 jobs, said National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes (Jacob Jordan, Associated Press/Myrtle Beach Online, July 20).
By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate yesterday raised potential funding for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization by $5 million to $19.4 million, which if approved by Congress would partially reverse a nearly $8 million budget cut by the Bush administration for fiscal 2006 (see GSN, June 27). Administration officials have attributed the budget cut to a broader White House budget reduction effort, and not to any change in support for the organization. The added CTBTO funding is a tiny component of the $32 billion fiscal 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill that passed the Senate last night with a 98-1 vote. It also is small relative to the Vienna-based organization’s $105 million 2005 budget, which mainly funds ongoing expansion of an international network of stations for monitoring restricted nuclear weapons tests. Its potential impact on the organization, however, could be substantial because a significant reduction in dues from the United States — the organization’s largest contributor — could significantly disrupt the CTBTO activities and perhaps prompt other countries to reduce contributions, some observers have said. “The additional funds will make it much more likely that the United States will find the money to pay its full assessment for IMS [the International Monitoring System] and will help keep the world from becoming a much more dangerous place,” Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who co-authored the amendment to boost funding with Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), said yesterday in a statement. Lugar is the chairman and Biden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Adding the money is important for “ensuring the organization does not have to make radical changes in its operations,” said Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association. It will also help in “reducing the growing gap in U.S. contributions to the organization,” he said, noting the administration in 2001 began withholding annual contributions specifically for the on-site inspections mission and treaty promotion activities of the organization. He described those withholdings as “accumulated nonpayments.” The $19 million payment still would leave the total U.S. contribution this year short of the $22 million the United States had committed to pay. If the increase survives a conference over differences with the House bill, which includes only the $14.4 million budgeted by the administration, the money would be taken from the State Department Economic Support Fund, which is intended to promote economic and political stability in strategically important regions. Biden cited help from the staff of Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee in redirecting the money. In a move linked to the increase, however, Majority Leader Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) also amended the appropriations bill to allow a key State Department official to redirect money assigned to the Test Ban Treaty Organization or the larger State Department Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Programs budget, for use on “certain nonproliferation efforts and counterproliferation” projects, such as the administration’s Proliferation Security Initiative. While the Bush administration opposes ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, since taking office it had funded about 22 percent of the organization’s annual budget to help build the monitoring network, which is said to be valued for its growing capability to detect nuclear testing across the globe. CTBTO member states in 2004 approved a budget increase for the organization for this year, from $95 million to $105 million. That effectively raised the U.S. contribution from around $19 million to $22 million. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a letter this year that the budgeted reduction did not signal a change in U.S. support for organization activities and that funding to make up the shortfall might be found in next year’s fiscal 2007 budget. “That’s no way to run a railroad,” Biden said in his statement this week. “It would be far better to find some of that extra money now and not put the United States so far in arrears,” he said.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday expressed support for a Bush administration plan to potentially lift nuclear sanctions on India, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 20). “Making advanced civil nuclear technology available to all countries will contribute to the enhancement of nuclear safety and security,” ElBaradei said. While India has not agreed to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it has said it would allow snap IAEA inspections of nuclear energy installations, Reuters reported. “I have always advocated concrete and practical steps towards the universal application of IAEA safeguards,” ElBaradei said. The deal does not, however, provide for inspection of military nuclear sites. “Inspections of civilian facilities mean very little as long as India’s military facilities are pumping out plutonium for nuclear weapons,” said Joseph Cirincione, nonproliferation director for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Nuclear Suppliers Group, 44 of the world’s top nuclear exporting nations, would have to approve the agreement, experts said. The organization does not allow sales to countries without international safeguards on both civilian and military nuclear facilities. ElBaradei’s endorsement of the deal could, however, push international opinion to favor it as well, Cirincione said. “ElBaradei is very well respected and his endorsement of the deal will influence other countries’ opinions of it,” he said (Francois Murphy, Reuters, July 20). Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee criticized New Delhi’s promise to separate India’s civilian and military nuclear facilities and to allow inspections, the Associated Press reported. “We believe that separating the civilian from the military would be very difficult, if not impossible. The costs involved will also be prohibitive. It will also deny us any flexibility in determining the size of our nuclear deterrent,” Vajpayee said in a statement released yesterday. “It is difficult to resist the feeling that while India has made long-term and specific commitments, the U.S. has merely made promises, which it may not be able to see through either (in) the U.S. Congress or its friends in the exclusive nuclear club,” he said (Associated Press/Khaleej Times, July 21). The U.S. deal will, however, is likely to provide India with access to nuclear fuel and technology from other nations, said former Indian nuclear scientist R.R. Subramanium. “This will ease American objections,” said Subramanium. “And once America leads change, other countries will fall behind” (Denyer/Watts, Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 21).
China yesterday refuted a U.S. Defense Department report warning of Beijing’s military modernization efforts and its potential threat to the region, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 20). “The report groundlessly attacks China’s military modernization and makes unwarranted charges about China’s normal national defense building and military deployments,” Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a statement. The Pentagon document “ignores the facts, spares no effort to spread the ‘China threat theory,’ rudely interferes in China’s internal affairs,” Yang said. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said China’s intentions are peaceful. “China not only poses no threat to anyone, we also are willing to establish friendship and all kinds of win-win cooperation with other countries to push forward cooperative development,” he said. Beijing had little response, however, to news that Washington was considering civilian nuclear cooperation with India, another power in the region (see related GSN story, today). “We hope the relevant cooperation between China and India will benefit the safeguarding of peace and stability in the Asian region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 20). The White House yesterday also played down the potential threat posed by China, Agence France-Presse reported. “We’re committed to peace and stability in the region, but that should not be viewed as us viewing China as a threat,” said spokesman Scott McClellan. “We do have concerns about the size and pace of China’s military modernization, and it’s important for us to pay close attention to it,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, July 20).
Russian and U.S. officials are expected to announce today the opening of an antinuclear trafficking center, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 20). The Russian customs service and U.S. Energy Department are collaborating on the project, intended to help keep terrorists from obtaining radioactive materials. The United States is also helping to fund radiation-detecting equipment at Russian border posts, AP reported (Associated Press/MosNews.com, July 21). Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Department inspectors have finished checking a military installation in southern Russia in accordance with the Russian-American Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, ITAR-Tass reported today. “Military specialists from the U.S. accompanied by representatives of the Russian National Center for Reduction of Nuclear Risk have inspected a large air base stationed near Engels,” said a Russian Defense Ministry official. The Pentagon experts found no violations of the treaty’s provisions, the official said. Heavy bombers that can carry nuclear weapons are deployed at the base (ITAR-Tass, July 21).
North Korea plans to demand that the United States withdraw nuclear weapons allegedly deployed in South Korea at next week’s multilateral talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program, Interfax reported yesterday (see GSN, July 20). “If the final goal of the talks is the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, then … the process should involve both sides simultaneously — North Korea and the U.S.A.,” a North Korean diplomatic source said. Pyongyang also wants written security guarantees from the United States, he said. He added that Pyongyang “cannot rely on verbal collective guarantees by other parties involved in the talks even if they are put on paper” because the United States “may, under various pretexts, subsequently renounce obligations which have not been made legal by a bilateral agreement” (Interfax/BBC Monitoring, July 20). Meanwhile, Tokyo announced today it was determined to raise the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang during the Cold War, the Associated Press reported. Both Pyongyang and Seoul have argued against including the issue in next week’s talks. “It may be Japan has been saying things North Korea is not so happy to hear, but we will bring up the kidnapping issue,” said Yu Kameoka, a spokesman for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Japanese Foreign Ministry official Akitaka Saiki departed for Beijing yesterday to seek Chinese assistance in resolving the abductions issue, Kyodo reported (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 21). While the five nations negotiating with North Korea all have a “slightly different perspective” on the talks, they agree that Pyongyang’s nuclear program is a threat, said Thomas Schieffer, U.S. ambassador to Japan. “I think at the end, the problem will not be whether the five parties are speaking with one voice. The problem would be whether or not North Korea is willing to forgo nuclear weapons,” said Schieffer. He added that the matter of the Japanese abductions was important but should be a secondary issue at the talks. “The issue of nuclear weapons is not the only issue that the United States has with North Korea. There are all sorts of issues, and the abductee issue is one of those that we have great concerns” over, Schieffer said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, July 20).
Iranian officials in London yesterday for consultations with their British, French and German counterparts presented a message regarding a nuclear proposal the European Union plans to present to Tehran in the coming weeks, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported today (see GSN, July 15). Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani briefed the European officials on President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s plans for Iran’s nuclear program, said nuclear delegation spokesman Hossein Mousavian. Mousavian did not offer details of the message presented to the European officials (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 21).
Radiation detectors that will scan incoming cargo for nuclear materials and bombs have been installed at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, Associated Press reported today (see GSN, June 20). U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner said yesterday the devices would not slow down the flow of cargo into the United States. “We have to save American lives, but we also have to do it in a way ... that preserves American livelihoods,” Bonner said. More than 40 percent of cargo entering the United States comes through the dual Los Angeles-Long Beach ports; the figure is 80 percent for cargo from Asian manufacturing nations, AP reported. Fourteen monitors have been installed so far, with 90 planned by year’s end. The cargo will be scanned once loaded on trucks. If a container tests positive for radiation, it would be scanned again and possibly inspected by hand-held devices to determine the type of radiation. The second inspection can take up to 10 minutes, according to AP. If the second test is inconclusive, data from the tests would be sent to federal authorities in Virginia to determine if the cargo contains highly enriched uranium or plutonium. The cargo would be isolated during this review as not to cause delays to other shipments. Approximately 540 radiation monitors are being used at ports and borders crossing points throughout the United States. Each costs $250,000 and is federally funded, AP reported (Jeremiah Marquez, Associated Press/Monterey Herald, July 21).
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday expressed concern that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal could fall into the wrong hands if Islamic militants were to overthrow the government of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 5) “If they get into the hands of the jihadi element, that could pose a serious problem,” Singh told CNN. “I hope that this does not happen. And I pray that it will not happen,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21).
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