Report Calls for Cooperation to Stop Bioterrorism

A report released today said cooperation between the world’s top scientists is needed to prevent large-scale acts of bioterrorism, the Canadian Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 22).

The report by the University of Toronto Joint Center for Bioethics recommends the Group of Eight nations form a network of scientists to block misuse of biotechnology while promoting positive uses.

The report said biosecurity concerns must not limit beneficial biotechnology advances and calls for a group to create standards for the technology’s use.

“Part of our message to the G-8 is, ‘Look, you folks are doing both biodevelopment and biosecurity (research) already anyway, make sure they don’t undermine each other, and think about how these two agendas can reinforce each other,,” said Peter Singer, an author of the study (Mike Oliveira, Canadian Press/Cnews.com, Feb. 26).

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U.S. Army to Test Mobile WMD Detector

The U.S. Army has scheduled tests in April of a mobile system designed to detect chemical, biological and radiological weapons, the Deseret Morning News reported Friday (see GSN, Feb. 9).

The tests, set to take place at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, are designed to determine how well the device can detect weapons of mass destruction delivered by missiles, artillery or improvised explosive devices. The Army plans to use tens of thousands of liters of chemical and biological agents designed to simulate actual chemical and germ weapons.

Dugway officials have announced that a legally required environmental assessment of the tests has been performed, and that the Army determined that they would have “no significant impact” on people or the environment. The Army will accept public comments on those conclusions until March 20, the Morning News reported.

Dugway documents say the exercises will be conducted “under intense, realistic threat conditions.” 

A 1969 nerve gas accident at Dugway killed 6,000 sheep in nearby Skull Valley, causing the Army to ban using chemical or biological weapons in open-air tests.   Instead, about 16 pounds of the biological agent Bacillus subtilis, which is not considered a danger to healthy adults, are expected to be spread by a crop duster or ground-based agricultural sprayer. Chemical arms simulants are to include methyl salicylate, triethyl phosphate, acetic acid, polymethyl methacrylate and diethyl malonate, according to the Morning News.

One advocacy group has expressed concern about the experiments.

“We are always concerned if you stick soldiers and sailors in tests that might adversely affect their health and welfare, now or in the future. We would have to do some further review before we consider it benign,” said Steve Erickson, director of the Citizens Education Project (Lee Davidson, Deseret Morning News, Feb. 24).

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U.K. Fails to Adequately Fund WMD Terrorism Response Measures, Scotland Yard Warns

British police have complained that the United Kingdom is not adequately funding WMD attack countermeasures, the London Guardian reported today (see GSN, Feb. 22).

The London Metropolitan police authority’s “ability to keep ahead of terrorist activity and provide an appropriate response will be found wanting” without increased funding, said senior officers on the force. While current capability is “probably the best in the U.K. and Europe, if not the world,” according to the officers, they added that “no funding has been set aside for future needs.”

In a detailed report, the authority said it has appealed to the government to “replace used parts of the CR1 suit,” protective clothing worn by the police and some military personnel. Respirators attached to the suit must at times be replaced. The government rejected requests for new respirators, according to the Guardian.

Scotland Yard also hopes to purchase new detection and identification equipment and is studying a project to develop a protective “escape hood” for officers, the Guardian reported (Hugh Muir, The Guardian, Feb. 27).

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Iran Announces Breakthrough in Nuclear Talks With Russia

Iran and Russia have agreed in principle to set up a joint uranium enrichment venture, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“Regarding this joint venture, we have reached a basic agreement,” Iranian nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said yesterday. “Talks to complete this package will continue in coming days in Russia.”

An agreement on the nuclear compromise — under which Russia would enrich uranium on behalf of Iran — could stymie Western calls for U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran following an International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting on March 6, according to the Post.

Aghazadeh said, however, that there was still no formal agreement on the Moscow proposal.

“There are different parts that need to be discussed,” he said. “These are not just related to forming a company — there are other elements. There are political issues, and the proposal should be seen as a package.”

Russian analysts said Iran wants guarantees that it will not be attacked by the United States.

U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley reacted cautiously to the announcement.

“In any of these arrangements, the devil is in the details,” he told CNN’s “Late Edition.” “We’ll just have to see what emerges.”

Talks between Aghazadeh and Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia’s nuclear agency, are expected to resume this week in Moscow.  Among the issues still being discussed is potential continuation of Iran’s limited uranium enrichment efforts, the Post reported.

“I think there remain no organizational, technical or financial problems on the joint venture establishment,” Kiriyenko said. “The international community must have guarantees of security and preservation of the nonproliferation regime” (Peter Finn, Washington Post, Feb. 27).

Kiriyenko, however, played down progress on achieving a deal before the IAEA meeting next week, Agence France-Presse reported today.

“This is a complex issue and the negotiations are difficult,” Kiriyenko told ITAR-Tass.

“There is little time left for further agreements,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27).

Meanwhile, IAEA safeguards director Olli Heinonen is in Tehran for talks ahead of the release of the agency report on Iran, AFP reported. Iran has offered to present the U.N. nuclear watchdog with information on its “Green Salt” uranium processing project.

One diplomat called Tehran’s late offer an attempt “to neutralize the adverse report the IAEA director is expected to submit.”

Nonproliferation analyst Mark Fitzpatrick said Iran seemed to be hurrying to make progress on its nuclear capability.

“Iran is moving faster than some observers had expected. It appears to be determined to establish news facts on the ground, a functioning enrichment capability, before it is faced with Security Council action,” Fitzpatrick said.

“Meanwhile it is pursuing its own carrot-and-stick approach: providing more information to the inspectors as it continues to defy international demands to suspend the enrichment work,” he said (Agence France-Presse II/IranMania.com, Feb. 24).

Tehran yesterday issued a warning ahead of next week’s IAEA meeting, AFP reported.

“We expect the next session not to be politicized,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

“If the session is harsh and the atmosphere tense, it will not be to the benefit of the IAEA or countries who are following such policies. The Islamic Republic of Iran is more resistant when under more pressure,” he said (Agence France-Presse III/Yahoo!News, Feb. 26).

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Hosseini-Tash said today that there is no reason for the country to back down over its nuclear program, AFP reported.

“Iran has predicted and studied the consequences of any possible Security Council decision. There is no reason for Iran to retreat,” he said.

“Any possible Security Council resolution against Iran's peaceful nuclear activities will not have any legal or rational foundations. It is not the last loop in the chain of decisions, especially when the U.S. and the West are not sure of an agreement among Security Council members,” he said (Agence France-Presse IV/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27).

Launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, under construction in Iran with assistance from Russia, has been further delayed, AFP reported.

“The start-up will be delayed a bit,” the head of Iran’s nuclear power station development program, Assadollah Sabouri, told AFP yesterday.

Kiriyenko, during a visit to the plant, did not say when the plant would begin its work. He said the delays were “not political but technical.”

However, an Iranian nuclear official disputed that assertion.

“The delay is only political: if it was just a technical question it could be solved in a matter of months,” he said. “We hope the reactor can start before the end of 2006, we hope there will not be further delay” (Agence France-Presse V/Yahoo!News, Feb. 26).

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was to begin talks today with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Tokyo, Reuters reported.

Aso said he would press Mottaki for details of the agreement with Russia.

“Iran has been carrying on secretly defying the IAEA and losing international credibility. We need to have thorough talks,” Aso said (George Nishiyama, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27).

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U.S., India Differ on Nuclear Agreement

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns left India this weekend without reaching an agreement on how to implement the planned U.S.-Indian nuclear technology sharing pact, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“There are differences remaining,” said U.S. Embassy spokesman David Kennedy. “But the U.S. hopes they can close them before President [George W.] Bush visits India” later this week.

The Indian Foreign Ministry in a statement said the talks are moving forward. 

“The two sides had detailed and productive discussions. There was greater clarity on the issues under discussion. Progress has been made in the talks,” the Foreign Ministry said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 25).

However, U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley said that the deal might not be finalized before the president arrives Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“It's taking time to work through. And, again, we're trying to see if we can use the visit as a forcing function. If we can, great.  If not, we'll continue to work on it after the visit’s over,” he said.

Hadley said lack of finality on the deal would not detract from the president’s trip.

Bush, in an interview with Indian television, said the deal was a “tough issue” for both countries.

“I understood the politics was going to be difficult, and there’s still work to be done. We’ve just got to continue to come up with an agreement that both of us can live with,” he said (Holland/Zakaria, Reuters, Feb. 25).

Indian Prime Minister Singh is expected to clarify his policy on the deal in a speech today before the Indian parliament, Agence France-Presse reported.

Indian officials said Singh is likely to deny that New Delhi will offer to curb its nuclear program.

“Singh is likely to state categorically that the deal has nothing to do with India’s strategic program, and that India would reserve the right to build more military (nuclear) plants,” an official said.

The prime minister’s message will be, “No cap, rollback,” the official added (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27).

U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who has introduced legislation to stop the deal, said the agreement undermines nonproliferation efforts, Knight Ridder reported yesterday.

“America cannot credibly preach nuclear temperance from a bar stool,” Markey said. “We can't tell Iran, a country that has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, that they can't have enrichment technologies while simultaneously carving out a special exemption from nuclear proliferation laws for India, a nation that has refused to sign the treaty” (Ron Hutcheson, Knight Ridder/Monterey County Herald, Feb. 26).

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Faults Seen in Y-12 Uranium Storage Facility

Federal inspectors have discovered that a $350 million facility for storage of weapon-grade uranium has not been properly outfitted with reinforcing steel, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2005).

The discovery led officials on Feb. 3 to halt construction of the building at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Tennessee, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

“Since that time they have evaluated a number of those things,” Bill Wilburn, spokesman for Energy Department managing contractor BWXT, said Friday. “We have resumed some limited scope work, and we are looking to make a further decision in the next few days.”

The Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility is scheduled for completion next year, and to begin operation by 2008. It would contain the largest U.S. store of weapon-grade uranium, AP reported (Duncan Mansfield, Associated Press/Washington Post, Feb. 24).

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Chinese Envoy Fails to Jump-Start North Korea Talks

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei failed to persuade North Korea to resume multilateral nuclear disarmament talks during a trip earlier this month to Pyongyang, Agence France-Presse reported Friday (see GSN, Feb. 24).

Wu met with North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan and other officials, Japanese and South Korean reports said.

“I do not see the (next round of) six-party talks being resumed in the near future,” a Japanese diplomatic source in Beijing was quoted as saying.

Pyongyang has refused to resume nuclear negotiations until the United States lifts sanctions on North Korean entities suspected of financial misconduct. After returning from Pyongyang, Wu was quoted as saying that the U.S. position on the issue was “too rigid,” according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, Feb. 24).

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Lawrence Livermore Faulted for Nuclear Accidents

Federal investigators determined that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was largely at fault for 2004 accidents in which workers inhaled plutonium, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (see GSN, Feb. 17).

The incidents displayed “the need for significant improvement in (the laboratory’s) nuclear safety culture,” according to an Energy Department report.

Officials at the laboratory apologized for their part in the mishaps.

“Quite honestly,” said spokeswoman Susan Houghton, “we should take responsibility for anything that happens on our site. At the time we did not — and we are now.”

Workers were exposed to plutonium between April to August 2004 in a mobile plutonium packaging and shipment facility operated by contractor Washington TRU Solutions. The contractor was to package and ship radioactive waste to New Mexico for disposal.

Three of the contractor’s employees inhaled plutonium and might need medical attention for the rest of their lives. Two laboratory workers were also exposed.

Houghton said all five are healthy as exposure was “well below the acceptable worker dose limits,” according to the Chronicle.

“The lesson we have learned from this is: Safety is a process — it's not an end result. ... Quite honestly, we had not done a good job of that,” she added. After the incidents, “we ‘get it’ and we’re moving forward strongly” to make necessary improvements.

The Energy Department has already fined Washington TRU for failing to prevent the incidents.

In a Feb. 23 letter to laboratory chief Michael Anastasio, National Nuclear Security Administration head Linton Brooks said the accidents illustrate “the need for significant improvement in [the laboratory’s] nuclear safety culture.”

Brooks said that “without improvement, NNSA cannot have confidence that all critical elements of [the laboratory’s] safety programs are being effectively implemented.” The multiple incidents create “significant doubt on the laboratory's ability to effectively analyze and correct performance problems,” the letter says.

The facility had “workplace controls (that) were not adequate” and showed “a lack of an appropriate response to the more hazardous workplace conditions” when the accidents occurred.

The report found that the laboratory “failed to establish effective physical and administrative controls to ensure that workers were not exposed to airborne radiation while performing work at the [mobile facility] without respirators.”

Investigators said in the report that the laboratory under normal circumstances would receive a fine of $588,500. However, because the facility is run by the nonprofit University of California, the fine is being waived, Houghton said (Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 25).

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EPA Drops Opposition to VX Waste Disposal Plan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency no longer objects to a plan to ship and treat wastewater from VX nerve agent processing at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 25, 2005).

Changes in DuPont Co.’s plan alleviated the agency’s concerns, according to AP.

“EPA believes that all of our previously identified ecological concerns have been resolved,” Walter Mugdan, director of the agency’s Environmental Planning and Protection division in New York, stated in a letter.

Analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now examining potential risks to humans presented by the plan to process the waste at a DuPont facility in New Jersey and discharge the treated material into the Delaware River. A final report is expected in April.

Despite dropping opposition to the plan, the agency recommended studies of fish and aquatic life in the river. This research would be a collaborative effort between the agency, DuPont, New Jersey and the Delaware River Basin Commission.

John Hughes, secretary of Delaware's Natural Resources and Environmental Control Department, said he was not surprised by the decision. He said he wants to review the data the agency used in making its determination.

“We did say early on that it’s going to take new technology to make the VX treatment acceptable. The treatment level of the original plan was much too low,” he said (Associated Press/Indianapolis Star, Feb. 25).

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Work at Pueblo Estimated at $70 Million in 2006

Construction and related work at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado is expected to cost as much as $70 million this year, the Pueblo Chieftain reported (see GSN, Jan. 31).

Funding for the work will come from money budgeted for the current fiscal 2006, along with funds anticipated for fiscal 2007, which begins in October, said Gary Anderson, local manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative program.

The Defense Department has not approved long-term plans for construction of chemical weapons neutralization plants at Pueblo and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. Work on those projects was stopped following Pentagon complaints that projected costs had far exceeded earlier estimates.

Officials said work at Pueblo would cost $1 billion more than anticipated and stopped operations in 2004.   This followed an order issued after Sept. 11, 2001, to speed work because of terrorism fears.

The Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative program and contractor Bechtel have has been preparing a redesigned facility that is expected to be approved this year. Until then, work is being done to ready the sites.

For example, Bechtel has hired a firm to build a new entrance to Pueblo. Contracts totaling $15 to $20 million to clear land, pave roads and work on underground utilities are expected to be issued by the end of July, Anderson said.

In September, contracts are to be issued for construction of a warehouse, controlled access point, a warehouse, a laboratory and utility buildings at Pueblo.   This work is expected to cost between $40 and $50 million, Anderson said, and will be paid for by leftover fiscal 2006 funds and money from fiscal 2007.

The Bush administration in its 2007 budget request asks for $362 million for Pueblo and Blue Grass, with $130 million set aside for construction, according to the Chieftain (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain, Feb. 24).

A $2 million laundry facility at Blue Grass is the first step toward weapons destruction there, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported last week.

“This is the first tangible thing we've seen. I'm excited about it,” said Army Lt. Col. George Shuplinkov.

The building is to be used to issue, clean and fix protective clothing worn by workers at the neutralization facility.

Shuplinkov would not say when other buildings at the planned weapons disposal site would be built, as it depends greatly on federal funding. He said work was delayed in 2005 due to the inability to cut down several trees to build a road. He said the trees have since been removed.

“We're back on track. ... This is going to happen,” he said (Steve Lannen, Lexington Herald-Leader, Feb. 24).

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U.S. Does Not Plan to Restart Missile Defense Talks With Canada, Ambassador Says

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said Friday that the United States has no plans to restart missile defense negotiations with Canada, the Canadian Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“I know of no overture or effort being made by either side to begin the discussions,” Wilkins said.

“That issue came up and Canadian officials decided,” he said.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin last year rejected involvement by his country in the U.S. missile shield. Officials in the new Conservative government have expressed their willingness to revisit the issue, but said that would require a formal request from the United States (Alexander Panetta, Canadian Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 25).

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