This nuclear power site at Seversk is one of three reactors Russia plans to shut down to curb its production of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium (DOD Photo). Russia Begins Work to Replace Plutonium Reactor Russian and U.S. officials held a ceremony yesterday in Sosnovoborsk to mark the start of construction of a coal-fired power plant intended to replace the electrical output of the city’s plutonium-producing nuclear reactor (see GSN, July 7)...Full Story

Indian Scientists Object to U.S. Nuclear Deal A group of former top Indian nuclear scientists released a statement yesterday objecting to new restriction on New Delhi contained in U.S. legislation to implement a bilateral civilian nuclear technology sharing deal, the Press Trust of India reported today (see GSN, Aug. 14)...Full Story

Lebanese Fighting Shows Need to Keep Iran Free of Nuclear Weapons, Bush Says U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday expressed concern that hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon could have become more severe if Iran possessed a nuclear arsenal, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 14)...Full Story

	Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Indian National Day Passes Peacefully Indians celebrated Independence Day today without major incident as security forces took unprecedented measures among fears of a terrorist attack (see GSN, Aug. 14). Last week’s arrest of suspected airline bomb plotters in the United Kingdom, combined with wariness following last month’s train bombings in Mumbai (see GSN, July 12), spurred India to take stringent security precautions for today’s celebration (India eNews.com, Aug. 15). In addition to securing airports and rail stations, other vital installations and key political figures, Indian forces placed the nation’s nuclear facilities under special guard. Commandos from the elite National Security Guard have secured the Bhabha Atomic Research Center at Mumbai and other nuclear sites, Reuters reported today. Naval and air defenses have also been strengthened around the nuclear facilities (Reuters, Aug. 15). Back to top       DHS Official Calls For Better Communications By Michael Martinez, Technology Daily NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The development of communications systems capable of functioning across jurisdictions is a critical component of emergency preparedness, a senior Homeland Security Department official told a group of state lawmakers here yesterday. But the deployment of such interoperable communications systems will require funding and coordination among state and local emergency responders, Tracy Henke, the department’s assistant secretary for grants and training, said at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. “Interoperability is a mission-critical capability,” she told the conference’s task force on homeland security and emergency preparedness. Homeland Security is negotiating the transfer of $1 billion from the Commerce Department to fund the development of interoperable communications systems, according to Henke. She said the cash, which has been generated through spectrum sales, will help boost interoperability projects throughout the country. But Henke said it also is vital that some emergency responders take the first step of deploying adequate communications networks before they focus on making them work across jurisdictions. “We have areas that don’t have basic operability still,” she said. Henke also told the task force that the department is re-evaluating its criteria for allocating grants but that she only expects minor changes before next year. She stressed that the department distributes the grants within the limitations imposed upon them by congressional budgets. The department earlier this year announced a 40 percent cut in antiterrorism grant funding for the New York and Washington metropolitan areas for fiscal 2006, a decision that has been widely criticized by federal, state and local lawmakers. Henke said the department is working to make the process more transparent by giving state and local officials opportunities to see what items are being considered before grants are authorized. New York state Sen. Michael Balboni said it would be helpful to have more access and input in the process, but he said it is difficult for many at the state level to make time to conduct proper reviews because of their staffing levels. Balboni also expressed concern about the criteria used to complete the department’s database of national assets. He said he would have preferred that both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building be counted as national icons and as critical infrastructure. Henke said that congressional appropriators set timelines for the evaluation of grant applications and that the department must work within such timeframes. Back to top

Russia Begins Work to Replace Plutonium Reactor Russian and U.S. officials held a ceremony yesterday in Sosnovoborsk to mark the start of construction of a coal-fired power plant intended to replace the electrical output of the city’s plutonium-producing nuclear reactor (see GSN, July 7). The reactor is one of three still operating that Russia has pledged to shut down, but has balked over cost and other details. The new power plant in the Krasnoyarsk region, scheduled to be completed in four years, is supported by 10 billion rubles from the United States, said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Igor Kritsky, ITAR-Tass, Aug. 15). Plans call for replacing power from the other two reactors with energy generated by expanding an existing coal-burning power plant at Severskaya, according to agency officials. One nonproliferation praised yesterday’s events as important progress in a long-running effort to end Russia’s production of nuclear weapon-usable materials. “There have been a lot of problems and delays with the Krasnoyarsk project because of funding issues, so this is a great event that fits in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership,” said Carnegie Moscow Center head Rose Gottemoeller, referring to the U.S. plan to expand the use of nuclear power while limiting access to weapon-usable materials (see GSN, July 17). “Now it will be important for the Russians to demonstrate that they will take responsibility for such projects, including financial responsibility,” she added (Yuri Humber, Moscow Times, Aug. 15). Back to top       Indian Scientists Object to U.S. Nuclear Deal A group of former top Indian nuclear scientists released a statement yesterday objecting to new restriction on New Delhi contained in U.S. legislation to implement a bilateral civilian nuclear technology sharing deal, the Press Trust of India reported today (see GSN, Aug. 14). “We find that the Indo-U.S. deal, in the form approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, infringes on our independence for carrying out indigenous research and development in nuclear science and technology. Our [research and development] should not be hampered by external supervision or control, or by the need to satisfy any international body,” the scientists said. The statement was signed by three former chairmen of India’s Atomic Energy Commission as well as five other former heads of Indian nuclear centers. “The lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have modified, both in letter and spirit, the implementation of such an agreement,” the statement says. “India should continue to be able to hold on to her nuclear option as a strategic requirement in the real world that we live in, and in the ever-changing complexity of the international political system,” it says (Press Trust of India, Aug. 15). Several top scientists are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today to discuss the deal ahead of a debate in parliament, ANI reported (ANI/Yahoo!News, Aug. 15). Back to top       Lebanese Fighting Shows Need to Keep Iran Free of Nuclear Weapons, Bush Says U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday expressed concern that hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon could have become more severe if Iran possessed a nuclear arsenal, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 14). “Iran has made clear that it seeks the destruction of Israel. We can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks,” Bush said. “Responsibility for the suffering of the Lebanese people also lies with Hezbollah’s state sponsors, Iran and Syria. The regime in Iran provides Hezbollah with financial support, weapons and training,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 14). Meanwhile, a top Iranian cleric warned that Iran would retaliate against any attack against it with missile launches at Tel Aviv, Reuters reported. “If they (U.S. and Israel) militarily attack Iran ... they should be afraid of the day when our missiles with 2,000 km range will hit Tel Aviv,” said Ahmad Khatami (Reuters II, Aug. 15). Back to top       U.S. Develops Intermediate-Range, Conventionally Armed Missile for Submarine Deployment A U.S. defense contractor this month tested a component to an intermediate-range missile that the Defense Department plans to deploy on some U.S. Trident submarines (see GSN, July 24). The conventionally armed missile, dubbed the Submarine-Launched Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile, would be able to reach targets 15 minutes after launch, according to Space and Missile Defense Report. The recent successful test involved a static firing of a second-stage booster motor. The final missile is designed to have two solid-fuel stages, and tests on the first stage were completed last month, according to a release from prime contractor Lockheed Martin (Space and Missile Defense Report, Aug. 15). Back to top       Congo Official Calls for Uranium Probe A top Congolese official is seeking more information about reports that authorities seized a large shipment of uranium originating in Congo and bound for Iran in October 2005, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 7). “I demand that an official inquiry commission come to investigate this affair of Congolese uranium,” the governor of the southeastern Katanga province, Urbain Ngoy Kisula, said in a statement. The Shinkolobwe mines in Katanga province were closed in the 1960s, but illegal excavation and sales of uranium reportedly continue, according to AFP. “These (dealers) pay modest sums to young people who indulge in illegal exploitation of minerals ... including uranium, intended for export,” a source close to the Katanga authorities told AFP. Kisula also said “many indications” implicated police and army officers in the alleged export scheme. The army declined to comment on the accusations, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/IranMania.com, Aug. 14). Back to top

New Anthrax Vaccine Clears First Human Trials U.S. researchers have found that a developmental anthrax vaccine produced the sought-after immune response in its first study using 100 human volunteers, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, May 11). “We need a better vaccine to help protect people from anthrax infection, whether the vaccine is given before or soon after exposure to anthrax spores,” said lead research Geoffrey Gorse of Saint Louis University. The new vaccine is produced by drugmaker VaxGen, which has contracted to supply anthrax vaccines to the federal government. “We were able to demonstrate … the investigational anthrax vaccine produced an immune response that justifies further testing in larger studies,” Gorse said. “We’ll be using this data to help design strategies for testing of this vaccine in the future” (UPI, Aug. 14) Back to top

Experts Warn of Terrorism Threat to Milk Supply Experts have warned that the U.S. milk supply remains vulnerable to terrorist attacks, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today (see GSN, June. 29, 2005). Philadelphia area law enforcement, public-health, emergency management and business representatives gathered on Sunday to discuss ways to address the threat. “There’s no way to eliminate all the vulnerabilities” on a farm, said Paul DeVito, a psychology professor at St. Joseph’s University who helped design the program. “It’s just too wide open.” Most dairy farms have little security. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that easy access to bulk storage tanks on farms, minimal employee background checks and absence of seals and locks on tanker trucks exacerbate the risk, according to the Inquirer. The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2002 helped boost defenses against attacks on agriculture and food by expanding the agency’s authority over food manufacturing and imports, tightening controls over biological agents and requiring food producers to provide better records. However, the openness of farming makes it difficult to secure facilities quickly, according to the Inquirer. “You can’t expect a dairy farmer to wall up his farm,” said Tom Kennedy, director of the M.B.A. program at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Penn. (Harold Brubaker, Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 15). Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.