Bruce Goodwin, a senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is leading an effort to design a new generation of nuclear warhead that would disable itself if stolen (Lawrence Livermore photo). U.S. Scientists Seek to Design Terrorist-Proof Nuclear Bomb U.S. nuclear weapon designers are trying to develop technology to safely self-destruct nuclear warheads if such weapons were acquired by terrorists or any unauthorized user, the Los Angeles Times reported today. The safety system would be incorporated into a new design of warhead that could be selected by the Energy Department as soon as this week (see GSN, Sept. 26).  The department has ordered two nuclear weapon laboratories to design the Reliable Replacement Warhead, intended to replace existing U.S. warheads as they age...Full Story

Russia to Secure German Research Reactor Fuel Germany has approved plans to transfer to Russia highly enriched uranium from a research reactor at Rossendorf near Dresden, ITAR-Tass reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 26)...Full Story

Bowling for Diplomacy By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire GENEVA — Five years after the United States brought an early end to a review of an international treaty banning biological weapons, conference delegates have resurrected a casualty of that diplomatic breakdown (see GSN, Nov. 20)...Full Story

	Tuesday, December 5, 2006

U.S. Scientists Seek to Design Terrorist-Proof Nuclear Bomb U.S. nuclear weapon designers are trying to develop technology to safely self-destruct nuclear warheads if such weapons were acquired by terrorists or any unauthorized user, the Los Angeles Times reported today. The safety system would be incorporated into a new design of warhead that could be selected by the Energy Department as soon as this week (see GSN, Sept. 26).  The department has ordered two nuclear weapon laboratories to design the Reliable Replacement Warhead, intended to replace existing U.S. warheads as they age. Officials said last week that they would continue to pursue the new warhead even as they released a report indicating that the plutonium cores of U.S. nuclear weapons are expected to last up to 100 years (see GSN, Nov. 30). The search for self-destruction technology was ordered by President George W. Bush three years ago in National Security Presidential Directive 28, the Times reported. The goal is to prevent terrorists from using a weapon in case they can successfully steal one.  The technology would destroy every component in the weapon, including any plutonium or uranium, if anyone tried to tamper with the weapon, according to the Times. While the methods under consideration remain secret, one possible technique could involve using acids or other chemicals to contaminate the nuclear materials in a weapon, the Times reported.  The process would disable the weapon without any explosion or radiation release. “It is essential that we make sure our weapons are impossible for terrorists to use,” said Bruce Goodwin, chief of nuclear weapons design at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  The current U.S. stockpile was not designed with the terrorist threat in mind, he said. “There was no motivation for the Red Army to send in a suicide squad to steal an American weapon,” Goodwin said.  “They had plenty of their own.  There is a tremendous incentive to certain people who don’t have nuclear weapons to terrorize this nation by stealing one.” Some critics, however, argued that the Energy Department is misplacing its priorities and should focus on protecting U.S. nuclear materials that are not now weaponized. “The real threat is the uranium and plutonium materials that are spread across the country in totally inappropriate places and inadequate facilities,” said Danielle Brian, head of the Project on Government Oversight.  “So, rather than fixing the problem they have, they are trying to fix a problem they don’t have.” Another critic questioned whether the department’s goal was realistic. “They make it sound like you could leave a nuclear weapon on the streets of Baghdad and nobody would know what to do with it,” said Philip Coyle, a former deputy director of Livermore laboratory.  “I don’t think that is quite the case.  People can reverse-engineer many things.” The U.S. military might also have concerns about additional layers of safety controls, said one expert. “The argument against doing more and more of the use controls is that you lose confidence in the weapon,” said RAND Corp. nuclear expert David Mosher.  That lost confidence could lead to resumed nuclear testing to ensure that all systems worked properly, he said (Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5). Back to top       Russia to Secure German Research Reactor Fuel Germany has approved plans to transfer to Russia highly enriched uranium from a research reactor at Rossendorf near Dresden, ITAR-Tass reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 26). Two hundred kilograms of highly enriched uranium and 100 kilograms of low-enriched uranium would be relocated under the plan to reduce the risk of terrorist theft of weapon-usable materials, according to ITAR-Tass. “Such operations have been carried out many times over the past two years under the Russian-U.S. agreement on the removal of highly enriched uranium from research reactors of U.S. and Soviet design built in third countries,” said a statement from the Russian atomic energy agency. The material would be transported in special containers to Dresden, where it would then be flown to Russia, ITAR-Tass reported.  The uranium would then be processed and stored at Russia’s Podolsk facility. “The date of the forthcoming operation is kept secret for security reasons,” the statement said (ITAR-Tass, Dec. 4). Back to top       U.S. Resumes Tritium Production The United States has resumed producing tritium, a key ingredient to boosting the power of nuclear weapons, for the first time in 18 years, the Energy Department announced yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 12, 2005). The $506 million Tritium Extraction Facility, housed at the department’s Savannah River Site, can collect the hydrogen isotope from commercial nuclear fuel rods.  Tritium decays radioactively more quickly than other materials in U.S. weapons, requiring the department to replenish the tritium to maintain the weapons’ explosive yield. “We now have the capability to produce tritium and continue to meet our future stockpile needs,” said Thomas D’Agostino, head of defense programs at the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.  “NNSA will be able to satisfy the nation’s tritium needs indefinitely” (NNSA release, Dec. 4). Back to top       U.S. Urges Russia, China to Back Down in Disagreement Over Iranian Nuclear Sanctions A senior U.S. official today pressed Russia and China to ease their resistance to imposing U.N. sanctions against Iran, Reuters reported.  The call for cooperation came before a scheduled meeting today in Paris among Germany and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (see GSN, Dec. 4). The six have wrangled for several weeks over the terms of possible council resolution to punish Iran for refusing to heed a council demand for Tehran to freeze its uranium enrichment program and other nuclear activities.  Russia and China have balked at Western efforts to introduce more stringent penalties. “We’ve waited long enough,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters in Brussels.  “We’ve had hours and hours of discussions and we really do need the Russian and Chinese governments to shift into third or fourth gear … and to work more quickly to agree with us on the basis of a resolution.” Russia, however, appeared unlikely to retreat from its position that the Western-backed measures go too far. “We believe it is irresponsible to impose these kind of sanctions,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the same Brussels meeting (Francois Murphy, Reuters, Dec. 5). Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed that Iran would continue its nuclear activities and warned world powers not to interfere with Iran. “I’m telling you in plain language that as of now, if you try, whether in your propaganda or at international organizations, to take steps against the rights of the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation will consider it an act of hostility,” he said in a speech in northern Iran. “If you insist on pursuing this path,” he added, Iran “will reconsider its relations with you” (Angela Charlton, Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, Dec. 5). Back to top       Congress to Consider Indian Nuclear Deal This Week U.S. lawmakers plan to meet this week to resolve differences in the House and Senate bills enabling the U.S.-Indian nuclear trade deal, Environment and Energy Daily reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 1). Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has placed the deal on a list of items to be addressed in the lame duck session of Congress. Legislators in the two houses passed their versions of the legislation by wide majorities, but created some amendments that the Bush administration has criticized.  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sent a letter to congressional leaders last week urging them to remove some provisions which she said could undermine the deal. Under the agreement reached last year, the United States would sell nuclear reactors and materials to India in exchange for New Delhi opening its civilian nuclear facilities to international monitoring.  The deal would require exempting India from longstanding U.S. and international nonproliferation rules. Rice particularly criticized congressional efforts to require the executive branch to report frequently on India’s nuclear nonproliferation policies. Such “unduly burdensome” reporting, her letter says, “will create annual tensions with India because, whether or not intended, it signals to India a lack of permanence in the deal and could add commercial complications for U.S. industry” (Mary O’Driscoll, Environment and Energy Daily, Dec. 4). Meanwhile, a large delegation of U.S. business leaders visited India last week in anticipation of the nuclear trade breakthrough, the Associated Press reported. A 240-member delegation featured executives from nuclear industry powerhouses General Electric, Westinghouse and Thorium Power Inc. “We hope to be the initial suppliers for the new plants,” said William Cummins, vice president of Westinghouse Electric Co.  Cummins said his firm might have an edge in India over competitor General Electric because Westinghouse has already received U.S. regulatory approval for third-generation power reactors (Rajesh Mahapatra, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 1). Back to top       Japan Pressed to Remain Non-Nuclear Armed by U.S. Ambassador, IAEA Chief The U.S. ambassador to Japan urged Tokyo last week to remain committed to its non-nuclear-weapon policies, saying that a nuclear-armed Japan would not contribute to regional or global security.  Ambassador Thomas Schieffer’s speech in Osaka followed several of weeks of calls among senior Japanese officials to begin a discussion of Japan’s nuclear options (see GSN, Nov. 30). Schieffer recalled historical examples when other nations questioned whether the U.S. nuclear umbrella was reliable for the long term. “During the height of the Cold War, [French President] Charles de Gaulle made the same argument with regard to France that some would make in Japan today, namely that America cannot be counted on to risk its cities in defense of Tokyo or Paris,” he said.  “All I can say is de Gaulle was proven wrong.  We faced down the Soviets in Europe and Asia because they knew that a launch [of nuclear weapons] against European or Asian capitals would be met with a devastating and catastrophic response from the United States.” Schieffer vowed that the United States would continue to protect Japan from all nuclear threats, including North Korea. “I’d also add that France’s nuclear weapons added little, if anything to the deterrence equation with the Soviet Union,” Schieffer said.  “It was the full force and the fact of an American response that kept the Soviets at bay” (Daily Yomiuri, Dec. 2). Visiting U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei also called on Japan to remain nuclear-weapon-free. “I think it would be a terrible mistake for any country now to move to nuclear arms because there is a domino effect,” the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday in a seminar at Kyoto University.  “If Japan were to go for nuclear weapons, we would have to look at South Korea, Taiwan and eventually everybody in the region.” “I always look at Japan as a torch holder for nuclear disarmament,” ElBaradei added (Agence France-Presse I/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 3). Top Japanese officials assured ElBaradei during his visit, that Japan would not pursue nuclear weapons despite the recent calls for discussion of the issue. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, a spokesman and adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, met with ElBaradei Friday. “Japan has been working to strengthen our nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, and there is no change in our three-point non-nuclear policy,” Shiozaki told ElBaradei, according to a Foreign Ministry statement (Agence France-Presse II/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 1). Back to top       ElBaradei Urges Balanced Strategy for Steering North Korea From Nuclear Weapons The top U.N. nuclear official urged world powers today to avoid using sanctions alone in their efforts to persuade North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons activities (see GSN, Dec. 4). “The solution will have to address the security, economic and other concerns of the D.P.R.K.,” Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told students in a speech at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.  “Quite often these nuclear crises underline a sense of insecurity that clearly needs to be addressed, and a sense of imbalance, economic discrimination also needs to be addressed.” ElBaradei’s visit followed meetings last week in Beijing among Chinese, North Korean and U.S. officials, who tried to agree on terms to resume six-nation talks to defuse the crisis. “You can work through sanctions, but sanctions alone will not resolve the issue,” ElBaradei added.  “You need to couple pressure with a package of incentives.  This applies in the case of North Korea and it applies in the case of Iran” (Alexa Olesen, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Dec. 5). ElBaradei said the North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, culminating in an Oct. 9 test (see GSN, Oct. 10), demonstrated the need for international control over producing nuclear materials. “The recent nuclear test by the D.P.R.K. brought the need to control the spread of enrichment and processing capabilities sharply into focus,” he said (see GSN, Sept. 19).  “We have to multinationalize the reprocessing and enrichment, because if a country does not have highly enriched uranium or plutonium, they cannot develop nuclear weapons” (Reuters, New York Times, Dec. 5). Back to top

Bowling for Diplomacy By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire GENEVA — Five years after the United States brought an early end to a review of an international treaty banning biological weapons, conference delegates have resurrected a casualty of that diplomatic breakdown (see GSN, Nov. 20). It is not, however, a resumption of discussion of treaty verification measures, the issue that brought the 2001 meeting to jarring halt before a final declaration on the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention had been completed.  That issue has been largely laid to rest. Last week, Swiss, Dutch and Malaysian officials brought back the tradition of diplomatic bowling, a quirk apparently unique to this treaty’s meetings and stretching back at least to 1998, and perhaps to 1996 depending on whom you ask. As the three-week review conference cruised past the halfway point last week, the delegates retired to a bowling alley to focus on another BWC — the “Bowling World Cup.” The unofficial event was abandoned in 2001 after U.S. officials called for the dissolution of a side committee drafting enforcement rules for the treaty.  On the final day of the conference U.S. delegates, including then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton, called for the end of discussions to create an inspection system they said would be unworkable and would expose U.S. industrial secrets. Now, in the midst of a calm and smoothly moving review conference, bowling is back. “I think in order to have a successful review conference we had to take up the tradition again” said Reto Wollenmann, a member of the Swiss delegation and a bowler in the tournament. A year ago, Wollenmann ran into someone from the U.N. disarmament office who prodded him to resuscitate the event.  “He said, ‘You, the Swiss, and the Dutch have to start this tradition again,’” Wollenmann recalled. On Thursday, about 40 diplomats gathered at a local bowling alley to roll a few.  A German representative took the trophy for highest total female score, and a Malaysian delegate won the top men’s prize. As for Wollenmann, “Me personally I found it was not my talent,” he said.  “It was my first bowling.” Given the pressure of hours of long negotiations to burnish diplomatic language, a change of setting can be beneficial.  “There are very few informal settings where people can let their hair down,” said Richard Guthrie a conference observer from the Bioweapons Prevention Project. His low score aside, Wollenmann said the outing was valuable. “We could build several bridges with delegations who normally would not talk much on the floor,” he said, diplomatically declining to name names. The conference is scheduled to end Friday. Back to top

Russia Tests Missile Interceptor Russia successfully tested a missile interceptor today, launching it from the Sary Shagan test facility in Kazakhstan, the Russian Space Forces announced (see GSN, Nov. 29, 2004). “The launch came as part of a program aimed at prolonging the service life of interceptor missiles,” said spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov. The test was the first conducted since November 2004, he said (Interfax, Dec. 5). Today’s test did not attempt to intercept a target, he added (RIA Novosti, Dec. 5). Back to top

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