U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said on Saturday that he hopes for the complete denuclearization of North Korea before the end of the Bush administration. Disablement efforts began today (Jung Yeon-je/Getty Images). North Korea Nuclear Disablement Begins U.S. officials today began overseeing the disablement of key facilities at North Korea’s plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear complex, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 2). The team of experts has “in fact arrived at Yongbyon and they are beginning their activities there in terms of starting with the first aspect of disablement of the facility,” said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “Yes, the process has started,” he said.  “Obviously it is going to be a process that is going to take some time” (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 5). The beginning of work would follow years of negotiations with Pyongyang, which conducted a nuclear test blast in October 2006.  In exchange for giving up its nuclear efforts, North Korea would receive energy aid and diplomatic and security benefits...Full Story

Iran Rejects Proposed Gulf Nuclear Compromise Iran said Saturday it would not accept a compromise plan aimed at defusing the nuclear standoff with the West if it meant giving up its uranium enrichment activities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 2)...Full Story

Analyst Confirms U.S. “Regional” Nuclear Strike Plans Developed After Sept. 11 The United States developed new nuclear attack options to strike regional powers seeking weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a Federation of American Scientists analysis of a recently declassified U.S. Strategic Command document (See GSN, Nov. 1)...Full Story

	Monday, November 5, 2007

Proposed Chemical Rules Eased in Final List The U.S. Homeland Security Department cut nearly 50 chemicals from its final list of substances required to be tracked to ensure they do not fall into terrorists’ hands, the Washington Post reported Saturday (see GSN, Nov. 2). The draft list issued in April contained 344 chemicals that at certain storage levels would have to be reported through an online system to Homeland Security.  Industry made its displeasure known, and the final version released Friday encompassed roughly 300 chemicals. The reporting threshold also increased for a number of chemicals that could be used by terrorists.  Industrial users must now report storing 2,500 pounds of chlorine rather than 1,875 pounds and 10,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate rather than 7,500 pounds. “There are 10 widely recognized ultrahazarous chemicals. … To a chemical, their thresholds increased,” said Rick Hind, legislative director for Greenpeace Toxics Campaign.  “When push comes to shove, Homeland Security here folded like a sheet to industry pressure. … It’s clear for whom these laws and loopholes were written.” Homeland Security acknowledged that most of the 4,400 comments made on the list came down against the original proposal.  It said, though, that it sought to bring its reporting requirements more in line with those of the Environmental Protection Agency. “We’ve tried to craft this regulation to capture … both where we think the (greatest) consequence is, and to reflect what is practiced in the industry and how it works,” said Christina McDonald, an official at Homeland Security’s General Counsel Office.  “We tried to create a balance.” Some congressional Democrats indicated they would seek boosted regulations in 2008, the Post reported.  Legislation on chemical security is set to expire the following year (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, Nov. 3). Back to top

North Korea Nuclear Disablement Begins U.S. officials today began overseeing the disablement of key facilities at North Korea’s plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear complex, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 2). The team of experts has “in fact arrived at Yongbyon and they are beginning their activities there in terms of starting with the first aspect of disablement of the facility,” said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “Yes, the process has started,” he said.  “Obviously it is going to be a process that is going to take some time” (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 5). The beginning of work would follow years of negotiations with Pyongyang, which conducted a nuclear test blast in October 2006.  In exchange for giving up its nuclear efforts, North Korea would receive energy aid and diplomatic and security benefits. “I’d like to see us get through [denuclearization] in the current U.S. administration,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington’s top envoy to the six-party talks.  “We started this process, and I’d like to see us finish it.” Disablement is meant to prevent North Korea from resuming operations at its aging nuclear reactor and two related plants for at least a year, the Associated Press reported.  It is intended to pave to way for complete denuclearization covering both Pyongyang’s plutonium program and its suspected uranium enrichment effort. “By the end of the year … we hope to have arrived at an important milestone, where there is complete disablement of the Yongbyon facilities, a full list of additional facilities for disablement, and that uranium enrichment is also resolved to mutual satisfaction,” Hill said (Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 5). The 11 disablement measures anticipated at the Yongbyon facilities are expected to include removing roughly 8,000 spent fuel rods from North Korea’s sole operating nuclear reactor, diplomatic sources told the Yonhap News Agency. The process is expected to last no less than six weeks, Agence France-Presse reported.  The rods are expected to be placed in a cooling pond pending final disposal (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 5). Back to top       Iran Rejects Proposed Gulf Nuclear Compromise Iran said Saturday it would not accept a compromise plan aimed at defusing the nuclear standoff with the West if it meant giving up its uranium enrichment activities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 2). The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council last week proposed establishing a uranium enrichment plant in a neutral nation outside the region to produce nuclear fuel for energy-production plants in the Middle East. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is aimed only at power production, but Western nations suspect it is seeking to produce nuclear weapon material. “While we are cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the nature of our nuclear work, we will continue the uranium enrichment activities on our soil,” Iranian state media quoted Iranian deputy supreme national security council head Javad Vaidi as saying. “Creation of a consortium to provide enriched uranium is fine as far as it does not require Iran to halt enrichment on its soil,” he added. “If it requires a halt to enrichment in Iran, then it is not acceptable.  A plan like this was offered to Iran by Russia previously but it was rejected,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Nov. 3). Germany and the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations agreed Friday to move toward a new round of sanctions against Iran unless IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana report progress in talks with Tehran, Reuters reported. A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said that political directors from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States plan to meet Nov. 19 to review the progress reports by the nuclear negotiators. “Political directors agreed to finalize a text for a third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution with the intention of bringing it to a vote in the U.N. Security Council unless the November reports of Dr. Solana and Dr. ElBaradei show a positive outcome of the efforts,” the Foreign Office spokesman said. The United States last month announced a new set of unilateral sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program (see GSN, Oct. 25).  U.S. officials have not ruled out military intervention as an option for resolving the nuclear standoff.  The United Kingdom has said it would work with the United States to pass a new Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran for its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program. Diplomats for the other nations have expressed a desire to review Iran’s disclosure of information on its nuclear activities to the U.N. nuclear watchdog before they choose a course of action (Sophie Walker, Reuters, Nov. 2). “The U.S. believes very strongly there is a need to accelerate the diplomacy, to strengthen the sanctions,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said after meeting with his counterparts in London, the Associated Press reported. “We want a diplomatic solution, we do not want to give up on diplomacy, but we need the help of the P-5 (permanent Security Council members) countries to do that, particularly the support of Russia and China,” he said. The Security Council has yet to find consensus on punitive measures that would be included in a new sanctions resolution, according to one Security Council diplomat at the U.N. headquarters in New York. A high-level State Department official said the Russian and Chinese representatives were “unprepared” at last week’s meeting to finalize a new draft sanctions resolution, suggesting that their governments had not yet approved what basic moves to take against Iran. “We are disappointed by the lack of cooperation by China on a third Security Council resolution,” Burns said.  “We don't think that China is moving with us.” “[Russia and China] do not seem to have quite the sense of urgency that we and the other members do about moving forward,” said State Department spokesman Tom Casey (David Stringer, Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 2). U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates today in Beijing called on China to push for new economic sanctions against Iran, AFP reported. Gates raised the issue during discussions with Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan. “We agreed that it is important to pursue efforts to persuade the Iranian government to change their behavior and their policy peacefully through diplomatic means,” Gates said following the meeting. "I would say I added the importance of continuing an increased economic pressure as a way of persuading the Iranian government to make different choices," he said. Cao did not comment on the discussion (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 5). Meanwhile, independent and government analysts continue to question assertions by the Bush administration that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the McClatchy-Tribune news service reported. “I don't think that anyone right today thinks they're working on a bomb,” one U.S. official said. Experts outside the government said that while Iran might have pursued nuclear weapons development in the past and could direct its uranium enrichment capacity at developing such weapons in the future, there is little concrete proof of its suspected nuclear weapons ambition. “There is no smoking-gun proof of work on a nuclear weapon, but there is enough evidence that points in that direction,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Factors that suggest Iran could be pursuing nuclear weapons include its large oil reserves that could serve as a dependable energy source, its history of hiding nuclear enrichment activities from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, and its acquisition of material from the nuclear smuggling ring once led by former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, McClatchy-Tribune said (Jonathan Landay, McClatchy-Tribune/Houston Chronicle, Nov. 3). Back to top       Analyst Confirms U.S. “Regional” Nuclear Strike Plans Developed After Sept. 11 The United States developed new nuclear attack options to strike regional powers seeking weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a Federation of American Scientists analysis of a recently declassified U.S. Strategic Command document (See GSN, Nov. 1). The 26-page document, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, is heavily redacted and just a fraction of a 123-page presentation of the U.S. strategic war plan that went into effect in March 2003. Released earlier this month, the document describes strike options on states whose names were redacted, but illustrations identify North Korea and Libya along with Scud missile-equipped countries that seem to include Iran, Iraq and Syria, according to FAS analyst Hans Kristensen. The planning against “regional states” is “scenario driven,” according to the document.  The inclusion of regional nuclear counterproliferation options into the U.S. national strategic war plan was a new development, Kristensen said, describing such plans as traditionally codified below the national strategic level. National strategic war plans have traditionally been focused on countering massive nuclear-armed powers such as Russia and China.  The types of targets slated for possible strikes in the regional states was originally outlined in the document but in its declassification all details have been excised (Hans Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists, Nov. 5). Back to top       U.S. Nuclear Material Consolidation Plan Behind Schedule, Government Accountability Office Says The U.S. Energy Department is not likely to meet its 2008 goal for consolidation of nuclear weapon fuel and other potentially dangerous materials, the Government Accountability Office said in a report to be issued today (see GSN, Sept. 7). The delay in planning the effort means that hundreds of millions of dollars must be spent on security of sites that continue to store “special nuclear material,” the New York Times reported. The Energy Department indicated in October 2005 that it would need no more than two years to finalize plans for consolidating materials including plutonium and highly enriched uranium.  A senior agency official noted “the urgency to make that closer to a year.” The agency to date “has completed only two of the eight implementation plans for consolidating and disposing of special nuclear material,” according to the GAO report.  The two completed plans also have problems, it said. Poor coordination between DOE offices is part of the problem, auditors found.  The nuclear materials facilities could become targets of terrorists looking to steal material for a weapon or to detonate a weapon at the site, it said. “We’re just trying to get to the point where the DOE has a plan,” Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas), who requested the report, said in a statement.  “Two years have passed by since we asked about a plan, and still no plan.” The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration plans to relocate plutonium and highly enriched uranium from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, surplus plutonium from the Hanford site in Washington state, and plutonium 238 from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.  Also targeted is highly enriched uranium at the Sandia National Laboratories and uranium 233 from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, both in New Mexico. Material would be moved to sites in Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Nevada and Idaho. Some material has already been moved, said NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes.  Such shipments require the agency to certify storage and shipping containers, put security and safety measures in place, and deal with legal and environmental issues, he said. “Whenever special nuclear materials are moved, a lot of unforeseen challenges arise,” Wilkes said by e-mail.  “When planning an operation of this size and sensitivity, key issues of security, safety, environmental responsibility and public input take precedence over schedules” (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Nov. 5). Back to top       Worker Caught Entering Nuclear Plant With Pipe Bomb Security officers at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona found a pipe bomb inside the truck of a contract worker as he attempted to enter the facility Friday, USA Today reported (see GSN, Oct. 29). The site about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix is the largest nuclear power plant in the United States. “The sheriff's department has classified it as a pipe bomb,” said Palo Verde spokesman Jim McDonald.  “How big and how powerful — I don't know.” A utility company later said in a statement that the object was a “small, capped pipe.” Arizona Public Service Co., which owns the plant, said in a statement that security guards “detected a small, suspicious device in the bed of a contract employee’s truck this morning as part of the normal security screening of all vehicles entering the site.  The contractor was attempting to enter the site through the security checkpoint at the beginning of the normal day shift.” “Although initial checks did not detect any explosive material on the small capped pipe, the contractor was denied access to the site and detained for further investigation, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was contacted.  MCSO bomb squad tests later determined that the capped pipe was a credible explosive device,” the statement said Sheriff’s deputies defused the bomb and interviewed the worker, according to Capt. Paul Chagolla. Chagolla did not disclose the contract worker’s name, but described him as a middle-aged man from South Carolina.  “At this point I don't have any information that would indicate that you have domestic terrorism at hand,” he said. The Homeland Security Department said the FBI was conducting an investigation with local authorities but that the incident was not thought to be linked to terrorism (USA Today, Nov. 2). Back to top       No Evidence of North Korean-Syrian Nuclear Cooperation, South Korean President Says South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in comments published Saturday questioned reports that North Korea was helping build a Syrian nuclear facility, the Yonhap News Agency reported (see GSN, Oct. 30). “I have never seen or heard about North Korean transfer of nuclear technologies to Syria, as reported in the U.S.  It is crucial to the settlement of the six-party talks (on the denuclearization of North Korea (see related GSN story, today).  Uncertain issues and insignificant obstacles should not be allowed to ruin the talks,” Roh told the Asahi Shimbun. Israel in September conducted an air strike against a Syrian facility.  The structure of the plant, in satellite imagery taken before the attack, showed similarities to features of a North Korean nuclear complex with the capacity to produce material for one nuclear weapon each year, observers said (Yonhap News Agency, Nov. 4). Back to top       Nuclear Unit’s Reputation at Stake, Commander Says The new commander of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota last week called on the base’s strategic bomber wing to rebuild its reputation following the mishandling of six nuclear warheads, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 24). “We've got to prove first of all that we are capable, and I believe we are,” Col. Joel Westa said.  “Once we do that then I want to get back to business as usual as much as possible.” Westa assumed command of the base and its 5th Bomb Wing last week.  He previously served at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and replaced Col. Bruce Emig, who lost his command following the incident. “This wing has always been the premier wing, especially the bomb wing, in the Air Force,” he said.  “I think it still is, and my goal is to get that attitude back and that reputation.” According to the military, about 65 Minot airmen were reprimanded and lost their certifications to handle nuclear weapons following an August incident in which six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were loaded onto a strategic bomber and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Westa said the unit’s primary aim is to get “as many of the folks that were decertified by the investigation, recertified, so that we can accomplish our mission.  I’m still waiting to see how this is all going to fall out, but that is the ultimate goal” (Associated Press/Bismarck Tribune, Nov. 2). Back to top

Investigators Cite Blue Grass Depot Violations The Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky could face a criminal investigation after being cited for four operations violations related to the storage of dangerous chemical agents, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Saturday (see GSN, Nov. 3). The state Waste Management Division said last week that the facility had failed to properly label waste, cracked a rocket shipping and firing tube by storing it improperly, failed to offer adequate training to employees on prevention of chemical releases, and did not provide sufficient refresher training. The agency listed 40 reported instances of improper practices, some of which were of a “potentially criminal nature.”  It said, though, that many of the allegations were unfounded, impossible to confirm or beyond the department’s jurisdiction. Criminal allegations included depot personnel covering up an incident in which an employee was significantly exposed to a dangerous chemical agent, demoting an employee for not approving standard operating guidelines and inconsistencies in monitoring log signatures. The report has been passed to the Inspector General’s Office at Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protections Cabinet and the criminal investigative unit of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Army said it would issue a formal response to the report within 30 days. “The folks at the depot are doing everything they can to not harm the community,” said spokesman Dave Easter. Jeff Ruch, executive director of the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the report did not address all of the alleged violations.  He also expressed concern about the reported lack of proper training for depot employees. “They have to make split-second decisions about events that occur that may put the staff at Blue Grass at risk, as well as the surrounding communities,” he said (Ashlee Clark, Lexington Herald-Leader, Nov. 3). Back to top

Russian Radar Said Not up for Missile Defense Job A senior U.S. military officer said that a Russian early warning radar in Azerbaijan could not replace the Bush administration’s plans to install a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 1). Russia has frequently objected to U.S. missile defense plans as a threat to its strategic security.  President Vladimir Putin in June offered the Gabala radar in as an alternative for the planned Czech installation. A six-person team led by Maj. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, deputy chief of the Missile Defense Agency, inspected the radar in September.  O’Reilly noted the large size of the radar systems — which incorporated two buildings of 17 and eight stories — and its strong early warning capabilities, but said it could not perform the duties envisioned for the European missile defense plan. The Defense Department wants a radar able to track a single missile and then ensure its destruction by guiding one of 10 missile interceptors that would be housed in Poland.  The Russian radar does not have the precision necessary as it was intended to monitor wider areas, O’Reilly said. The Bush administration now anticipates finalizing agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic in 2008.  U.S. lawmakers might reduce the requested fiscal 2008 funding for the European missile defense project by $85 million, the Times reported (Thom Shanker, New York Times, Nov. 5). Back to top

Litvinenko Poisoning Case Illustrated Optimum “Dirty Bomb” Response, Report Says A new report in the British Medical Journal says the response by authorities in the United Kingdom to the radiation poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko stands as an example for the official response to any radiological “dirty bomb” attack, Agence France-Presse reported Friday (see GSN, May 22). Authorities in the United Kingdom averted possible public panic by quickly and clearly explaining the circumstances of Litvinenko’s death and the dangers of the polonium 210 that was slipped into his tea to poison him, the report says. Among the more than 1,000 London residents interviewed by a research team at the King’s College Institute of Psychiatry, only 11.7 percent believed that they had been endangered by the incident.  The respondents included 86 people who could have been exposed to the polonium. Sixty-two percent of the respondents said that authorities kept them well informed on the attack. By quickly informing London residents about the areas known to be contaminated with polonium 210, public health agencies relieved concerns among roughly three-quarters of those surveyed that their health was at risk because they had not been in any of the affected places. “Few participants reported that the incident had any major impact on their life," the study reports.  “Although some mentioned heightened anxiety, this was temporary for most.  Only one person reported stigmatization as a result of the incident.” However, a public health professor quoted in the British Medical Journal warned that an incident understood as a terrorist attack rather than a murder of an individual could inspire greater public panic. “In a large-scale terrorist attack involving radioactive materials — a ‘dirty bomb,’ for example — levels of public concern could be dramatically higher," said Steven Becker of the University of Alabama. Becker added that the intent behind such a public health incident does not reduce the importance of providing the public with “detailed, comprehensive and relevant” information. “Indeed, in a terrorist incident involving radioactive materials, effective risk communication may be the most important way to reduce morbidity and mortality, tackle people's concerns, avoid the impact on behavior, and maintain public trust and confidence,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Nov. 2). Back to top       Radioactive Gauge Stolen in Toronto A car stolen in Toronto last week held a portable densometer, a measuring device that contains radioactive material, the National Post reported Saturday (see GSN, Jul 9). The construction device was inside a purple, four-door Nissan Altima stolen between 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, police said.  The gauge could leak radioactive material if it is damaged. “The risk is very, very low in terms of there being a potential for anyone to be harmed if they come across the gauge,” said Stephen Browne, corporate radiation safety officer for Troxler Electronic Laboratories, which produced the device.  Browne said the device has a hardened outer housing to protect it on construction sites and that its radiation source is encased twice in stainless steel. No less than 76 devices containing radioactive material have disappeared over the last five years in Canada, the Post reported.  Some have yet to turn up again. Material contained in the devices theoretically could power a radiological “dirty bomb” (Will Tremain, National Post, Nov. 3). Back to top

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