Group of Eight leaders pose Sunday at their summit in St. Petersburg, where the United States and Russia announced a nuclear counterterrorism initiative (Peter MacDiarmid/Getty Images). Details Sought on Nuclear Counterterrorism Plan By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Experts and reporters yesterday questioned the details and significance of a new international initiative led by the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear terrorism (see GSN, July 17)...Full Story

Senate Vote on India Deal Not Expected Before Recess By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Despite encouragement by the White House, the U.S. Senate is not likely to vote before its summer recess on a key step that would enable controversial U.S. nuclear trade with India, a senior U.S. senator said yesterday (see GSN, July 11)...Full Story

U.N. Security Council Begins Work on Iran Resolution The U.N. Security Council is considering a resolution to demand quick implementation of a moratorium on Iran’s sensitive nuclear work and threaten sanctions if it does not comply, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 18)...Full Story

	Wednesday, July 19, 2006

U.S. Sanctions Two Iranian Firms The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday ordered U.S. banks to freeze assets belonging to two more firms suspected of aiding Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons drive, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 14). Sanam Industrial Group and Ya Mahdi Industries Group reportedly act as agents of the Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran, a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ministry. Washington in June 2005 designated the organization as a WMD proliferator, according to AP.  The two companies are accused of purchasing missile-related technology and goods for the organization, according to Treasury. The Bush administration has sanctioned 11 other firms for aiding Iranian WMD efforts, AP reported. “As long as Iran’s nuclear ambitions continue to threaten the international community, the United States will use its authorities to target Iran’s efforts to sell and acquire items used to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles capable of carrying them,” Stuart Levey, treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement (Agence France-Presse/USA Today, July 12). Back to top

Details Sought on Nuclear Counterterrorism Plan By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Experts and reporters yesterday questioned the details and significance of a new international initiative led by the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear terrorism (see GSN, July 17). U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph fielded the comments, following his presentation on the “Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism” at an event here sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation. The initiative, as described July 15 in a joint statement by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, would include efforts by participating countries to better control and protect nuclear materials, prevent their proliferation and respond to attacks. It also would “ensure cooperation” in spreading technical means for stopping proliferation, “ensure that law enforcement takes all possible measures to deny safe haven to terrorists seeking to acquire or use nuclear materials,” and “strengthen our respective national legal frameworks to ensure the effective prosecution of, and the certainty of punishment for, terrorists and those who facilitate such acts.” “I think this is a very positive step by the administration. What needs to be done now is putting the meat on the bones. It’s unclear to me by reading the joint statement as well as the fact sheet what exactly will occur,” Jofi Joseph, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer who was in attendance, said in an interview today. “It was an interesting announcement because it said all the right things that a lot of nonproliferation experts have been advocating for several years but it leaves you scratching your head about what is going to happen,” he said. At yesterday’s event, Undersecretary Joseph suggested that Washington and Moscow were still hammering out the details of the initiative, and are aiming to conclude “an agreement on the basic principles and the program of action in the fall.” Marvin Klemow, a consultant to the Israeli Aircraft Industries International, asked about the focus of the initiative. “You’ve laid out a comprehensive kind of approach but I think that we’d all agree we need to start with the primary threats. My question to you is do we and the Russians have an understanding as we proceed down this path about what the primary threats are and how we might focus initial attention on these threats? “The primary risks of course deal with the availability of materials to terrorist groups. There is a clear consensus not just with Russia and the United States but well beyond that, that the first line of defense has to be protection,” Joseph responded. “We are implementing a number of protective measures. We have been doing so for a number of years with the Nunn-Lugar programs as well as with many of the [Department of Energy] programs,” he said. “We are clearly agreed on the first step, but we are also agreed that that step is not going to give us sufficient protection against the threat and that terrorists could acquire these types of materials. We are therefore determined to work for greater detection capabilities and interdiction capabilities,” he said (see GSN, July 17). Joseph added, “If we are not successful, if there is a use of a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb, we are also agreed to work together in order to mitigate the consequences and deal directly with the effects of that attack to contain and minimize the losses.” Jofi Joseph said today some of what was proposed appears to resemble efforts already undertaken by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency has “had some programs under way for the last two to three years that address a lot of these issues.” “A lot of what you’ve described overlaps with existing programs that are already in place, like the G-8 Global Partnership and Global Threat Reduction Initiative,” Dan Horner, a reporter from McGraw Hill Nuclear Publications, said at the presentation. Through the 2002 Global Partnership initiative, G-8 countries agreed to provide $20 billion in funding over 10 years for securing and destroying weapons of mass destruction in Russia and beyond (see GSN, July 17). Through the Global Threat Reduction Initiative announced May 2004, the United States with Russian and IAEA cooperation aims to secure and remove highly enriched uranium from research reactors worldwide (see related GSN story, today). Undersecretary Joseph said the initiative was intended in part to encourage countries to do what they already should be doing. “What we want to do is effect a change in the posture of our partners, so that they do take action, so that they do meet all of their requirements under [U.N. Security Council Resolution] 1540, so that they do work together so that we can build our capacity to detect the movement of material and our capacity to more effectively interdict that movement.” “Quite frankly, if there is a little duplication, that’s probably reassuring more than disturbing, given the consequence of failing to address all aspects of the nuclear terrorism threat,” Joseph added. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a senior military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, asked why the administration waited five years following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, to start such an initiative. He noted a negative review of the Bush administration’s antiterrorism efforts by the presidential Sept. 11 commission. “What took us so long to get something like this global initiative going? The president said we were in a race with the terrorists. It seemed we were walking leisurely along. I’m much encouraged by what you said, but wouldn’t it have been nice if it had started about five years ago?” he said. Undersecretary Joseph responded, “This administration has taken a number of very important steps in order to improve our defense posture against nuclear terrorism,” citing the creation of national counterterrorism and nonproliferation centers, which he said were recommended by the commission. “We have been working with our friends and allies as well,” he said, noting the administration’s Megaports initiative and successful passage of Resolution 1540, which calls on countries to take steps to prevent WMD proliferation. “We think that we have taken a great number of steps and made significant progress. We need to do more and this new initiative is an expression of our intent and determination to do more and to work with Russia, which I think is really important as an aspect of this initiative.” Back to top       Senate Vote on India Deal Not Expected Before Recess By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Despite encouragement by the White House, the U.S. Senate is not likely to vote before its summer recess on a key step that would enable controversial U.S. nuclear trade with India, a senior U.S. senator said yesterday (see GSN, July 11). “No. I hope after that,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) told reporters following a speech to an Indian lobby group, according to the Press Trust of India. Spokesman Andy Fisher today confirmed that Lugar does not believe the legislation, which the senator co-sponsored with Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), would be voted on before the Senate goes into recess during the first week of August. “Given appropriation bills scheduled for activity, it is apparent that the bill will not come up in the next two weeks,” he wrote in an e-mail message. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said during a press briefing Monday, “We look forward to seeing votes in the House and the Senate, maybe this month.  I think the House will be acting, perhaps in the next week, and we hope the Senate will as well.” The scheduled congressional legislative period after the recess, beginning Sept. 5, is expected to be abbreviated to free members to campaign for the November elections. That places congressional approval of the legislation this year in jeopardy. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) recently said he planned to end the Senate’s session before October, which would be unusually early. The proposed legislation, approved by House and Senate committees last month, would waive for India decades-old nuclear export control restrictions. Congress approved the controls, which bar nuclear exports to countries that have unsafeguarded nuclear facilities or that test nuclear weapons, in 1979 in response to India’s first nuclear test in 1974. That device used plutonium device produced by a Canadian reactor and allegedly U.S. heavy water. India conducted five more tests in 1998. Any specific trade arrangement would require further approval by Congress, according to the proposed legislation. The Bush administration is said to be negotiating such a deal. The proposed legislation, Lugar said at the event, “presents a set of issues which are difficult for many in the Parliament in India to debate and they certainly have been very difficult for members of our Senate and House of Representatives to resolve.” He attributed the difficulty in part to efforts to address concerns by “very, very vigorous persons who I respect in the nonproliferation community.” Though prized by administration officials and the Indian-American community, the proposed legislation is “simply another hazardous issue for the leadership in the House and the Senate to try to determine how debate time will be found, how majorities sufficient to override filibusters or other parliamentary objections can be found,” Lugar said. U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford reportedly said this week that Indian leaders were unhappy about some changes the House and Senate foreign affairs committees made to the waiver legislation proposed by the administration. He did not elaborate.  Indian politicians and commentators have reportedly criticized inclusion of a nonbinding policy objective in the House bill of “India’s full and active participation with the U.S. to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.”  Many U.S. analysts believe India has a cooperative military relationship with Iran. Lugar told the Indian American Friendship Council gathering in the room of the Senate Hart Building that the U.S. Congress needed to amend the original deal as proposed by the Bush administration, to address nuclear nonproliferation concerns. Otherwise, “Congress would have left it.” “There was a feeling that the whole idea of nuclear proliferation in this world is taking a very bad turn,” he said, citing North Korea and Iran, but also “Japanese statesmen” and “South Koreans” who have suggested their countries might build nuclear weapons. There are a number of elements of the legislation that the administration might seek to change, such as a requirement for monitoring U.S. nuclear transfers and restrictions on exports of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing technology, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “If the administration attempts to water down the bills coming out of these two committees which in our view are already too weak, they will risk losing support from key members who worked extremely hard to cobble together the compromise that each bill represents,” Kimball said. At a dinner banquet hosted by the Indian organization last night, Representative Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said he was optimistic the House would approve the legislation as soon as next week. “We are on the verge of a tremendous policy breakthrough,” he said. “Keep the wind in our sails for the vote next week, and we’ll see.” GSN reporter Jon Fox contributed to this report. Back to top       U.N. Security Council Begins Work on Iran Resolution The U.N. Security Council is considering a resolution to demand quick implementation of a moratorium on Iran’s sensitive nuclear work and threaten sanctions if it does not comply, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 18). The text demands that Iran verifiably freeze uranium enrichment, as well as work on a heavy-water reactor, within a short period, said one council diplomat. The diplomat suggested that Iran would be given about 30 days to comply. If Tehran did not comply, the council would then vote on sanctions under Article 41 of Chapter 7 in the U.N. Charter, according to AP (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Easy Bourse, July 18). U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said an informal session on the proposed draft among the permanent members of the council yesterday “fizzled,” Reuters reported. Bolton complained that Chinese and Russian delegates were not “prepared to discuss the substance” of the text. Other meeting participants told Reuters that envoys from Beijing and Moscow said they had yet to receive instructions from their capitals. Further talks are planned for today, Reuters reported. Bolton said he hoped the council would adopt the resolution this week. “We don’t see that there should be major objections to that,” he said (Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, July 18). An Iranian lawmaker said yesterday that the country’s parliament could suspend its membership in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if the council passes a resolution demanding a moratorium on nuclear work, Agence France-Presse reported. “If the Security Council wants to pass a resolution obliging a halt of uranium enrichment, parliament will undoubtedly bring up the issue of suspending Iran’s NPT membership,” said Alaeddin Borujerdi. “We hope that the Security Council does not make an unreasonable decision that changes Iran’s current attitude” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 18). Back to top       U.S. Repatriates Nuclear Fuel From Argentina The United States has safely repatriated from Argentina more than 3 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium contained in 24 research reactor fuel assemblies, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced today (see GSN, Nov. 21). All U.S.-origin HEU items in Argentina are to be removed or eliminated under the agency’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative. The two countries now plan to convert Argentina’s RA-6 research reactor to use low-enriched uranium and to return all spent HEU fuel from the facility to the United States (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, July 19). Back to top       U.S. Could Boost Pressure on North Korea to Resume Nuclear Talks, South Korean Official Says A South Korean official said yesterday that the United States could take additional measures to compel North Korea to attend six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program, the Yonhap News Agency reported (see GSN, July 18). “The U.S. is still focused on resolving the current impasse through dialogue,” the official said. “But I got the impression that the U.S. was looking at means to apply pressure on North Korea in case Pyongyang refuses to come back to the negotiation table.” “There is certainly a possibility that the U.S. will take additional steps,” he said. The official added that China has yet to agree to restart the talks without Pyongyang. If Beijing does so, an initial meeting could take place next week in Kuala Lumpur at the regional forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he said (Yonhap News Agency, July 19). South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said today he hopes to discuss the nuclear standoff with his North Korean counterpart during the ASEAN meeting, Agence France-Presse reported. “We are in the middle of reaffirming North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Nam Sun’s participation. He had planned to take part but nothing concrete has since been reaffirmed,” Ban said. “We are expecting to have a chance to exchange opinions on inter-Korean ties, missile and other issues, and deliver our position through a bilateral contact there.” “If North Korea’s foreign minister comes, the foreign ministers of all of the countries participating in six-way talks would gather at one place,” he said (Agence France-Presse, July 19). Ban also said that, if Pyongyang continues its boycott of the negotiations, “there is need to make efforts for the advancement of the (September) statement through five-way talks” without a North Korea delegation, the Associated Press reported (Bo-Mi Lim, Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, July 19). Back to top       Russia Maintains Nuclear Test Site Readiness Russia keeps its main nuclear test site at Novaya Zemlya ready for future work, even though Moscow only conducts nonexplosive nuclear weapons experiments, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 13). “We proceed from existing reality and keep the test range in constant preparedness, while adhering to all our commitments,” Interfax quoted Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying. Ivanov said that while Moscow has ratified the still-not-in-force Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, “this does not mean we have stopped work in the nuclear sphere” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 19). Back to top       Correction In a story yesterday on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Global Security Newswire incorrectly cited the date the current management contract expires and when officials are scheduled to announce a new management contractor. According to a release from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the new laboratory manager should be selected by spring 2007. The current contract expires September 2007. Back to top

U.K. to Help Russia Build CW Destruction Facility The British Defense Ministry plans to support construction of another chemical weapons destruction facility in Russia, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 14, 2005). The United Kingdom is presently supporting development of a facility in Shchuchye, where Russia plans to eliminate nearly 2 million weapons by 2012, according to a ministry press release. In 2007, as the Shchuchye site nears completion, the Defense Ministry plans to turn its focus to work on the disposal facility at Kizner. The British contribution to the facility, which is also expected to destroy 2 million munitions, would include equipment procurement and “provision of electricity supply infrastructure,” the release states. “We expect that Canada will provide most of the funding for the destruction equipment. The U.K. expects to contribute several million pounds for these projects, in addition to the approximately 25 million [pounds] that we expect to spend at Shchuchye.” “I am delighted to announce that the MOD will take a leading international role in assisting Russia with chemical weapon destruction at this new site,” Ingram said in the release. “I have seen for myself the projects that MOD is successfully delivering at Shchuchye and I look forward to building on the success we have already achieved, in close partnership with Canada” (British Defense Ministry release, July 18). Back to top       U.S. Senate Panels OK $360 Million for CW Disposal U.S. Senate subcommittees yesterday approved bills that would supply $360 million in fiscal 2007 to build two U.S. chemical weapons disposal sites, Senator Mitch McConnell’s office announced yesterday (see GSN, July 5). The amount is $10 million more than requested by the Bush administration for the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. The House of Representatives cut the funding request by $40 million, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported today.  If the House cuts are sustained, disposal of nerve and blister agents could be delayed by a year, said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. That could cost taxpayers $220 million, due to the need to extend storage and protection of the weapons while full funding for the program is obtained, he said. The Senate Appropriations Committee this week is expected to approve both funding bills, which would then proceed to the full Senate. “This additional funding will help hasten the day when Kentucky citizens no longer have to live with deadly chemical weapons being stored in their midst,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement (Peter Mathews, Lexington Herald-Leader, July 19). The $360 million would support Army design, construction and equipment testing activities, among other work, at the two sites, the Chemical Weapons Working Group said. Legislative provisions inserted by McConnell would also prevent the funding for Colorado and Kentucky from being diverted to other chemical depots, according to a CWWG release. “This restriction was necessary because in previous years, funds appropriated for [Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives] sites have been used to cover skyrocketing costs at other locations,” the group said (Chemical Weapons Working Group release, July 18). Back to top       Second Mortar Shell Found at Former Base Another 4.2-inch mortar shell filled with an unknown liquid has been found Thursday at a former Alabama military base, The Gadsden Times reported Saturday (see GSN, June 29). Contractors with Parsons Corp. found the shell Thursday on farmland that once was the site of Camp Sibert, a World War II chemical weapon training facility. The round was found about 100 feet from the location of a liquid-filled shell found June 27. Contract workers conducted a preliminary identification procedure, as they did with the munition found last month. They determined that the shell could be a full round. A technical team then determined using X-ray equipment that the weapon contained a liquid. “The plan calls for final determination of the contents to be made at a later date in the remediation process,” said Patrick Robbins, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers. Workers sealed and moved the shell to the secure interim holding facility on the base, where it will stay pending a final analysis. That might not occur, however, until cleanup is completed in about two years, said Army Corp spokeswoman Marilyn Phipps. “They’re double sealed in a double-sealed storage area, so it’s like quadruple sealed,” she said. She added the mortars are guarded at all times (Kim Craft, The Gadsden Times, July 15). Back to top

Seoul Urges Measured Response to Missile Tests South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun today encouraged countries not to overreact to missile tests conducted by North Korea earlier this month, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 18). “There is a movement in some part of the world that creates unnecessary tensions and confrontation by overreacting to the situation. It will not be helpful to the solution of the issue,” he said. Roh’s top security adviser, Song Min-soon, quoted Roh as calling the launches “wrong behavior” and warning that they could lead to a regional arms race. “At today’s meeting, Cabinet ministers shared the view that this is not the time to escalate tensions but to make utmost efforts in order to seek a peaceful solution to the issue through dialogue,” Song added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 19). Meanwhile, South Korean lawmakers were in Washington for an annual meeting with members of Congress, the Yonhap News Agency reported today. “I got the impression that [the United States] will, based on the U.N. Security Council resolution … take stern steps against North Korea,” said opposition lawmaker Park Jin. “I also had the impression that they will react firmly should North Korea launch more missiles.” U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-Calif.) expressed concern about North Korea’s missile development. “If North Korea continues to improve its missile capabilities, there is a chance that it will one day ... send a nuclear warhead virtually anywhere in the U.S.,” he said (Yonhap News Agency, July 19). Back to top

U.S. Nuclear Waste Dump to Open in 2017 The U.S. Energy Department plans to open its Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada on March 31, 2017, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, April 3). The date — made public by congressional offices yesterday ahead of an expected DOE announcement today — is the first official date for operations produced in some time, AP reported. The new timeline calls for the department to apply for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license on June 30, 2008, receive construction authorization on Sept. 30, 2011, and complete construction on March 30, 2016. The dump would then be able to accept nuclear waste on March 31, 2017. “Our work will continue to based on sound science … The program now has reachable, definable target dates that will allow us to open Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent nuclear fuel,” Energy Department spokesman Craig Stevens said in a statement. “This is an ambitious schedule, but it’s nice to actually see a schedule. This is the most detailed schedule on Yucca Mountain that I have seen in recent memory,” said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). More than 50,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste from power plants in 31 states is awaiting permanent storage, AP reported. The government is presently unable to meet its contractual obligation to take and store the waste. Nevada lawmakers have joined in opposition to the Yucca plan. “This timetable is a rosy scenario painted to please those desperate to see Yucca Mountain open for business,” said Representative Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.). “The proposed nuclear garbage dump at Yucca Mountain still faces serious obstacles before it can be licensed, including additional legal challenges from the state of Nevada” (Erica Werner, Associated Press/The Guardian, July 19).   Back to top

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