A staff member stands outside a building at the Kinshasa Regional Center for Nuclear Studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where experts say security conditions are dangerously poor. Protection includes a barbwire fence and a handful of police officers (Lionel Healing/Getty Images). Congo Reactor Should Be Dismantled, Report Says A recent report says the nuclear reactor in the Democratic Republic of Congo contains uranium that could be used in weapons but is left under inadequate security, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, March 14). Uranium bars from the United States stored at the Kinshasa Regional Center for Nuclear Studies “are at an enrichment level sufficient to potentially be … transformed into a nuclear weapon … or be used as a ‘dirty bomb,’” according to the report from Belgian lawmaker Alain Destexhe...Full Story

University Delays Reporting Bioresearch Accident Texas A&M University waited one year to report that a researcher had been infected with a potential biological weapons agent, the Texas Eagle reported today (see GSN, April 28, 2004)...Full Story

Nerve Agent Waste Burning Set to Begin This Week A private contractor in Texas is expected this week to begin incinerating wastewater produced by nerve agent disposal in Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 13)...Full Story

	Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Malaysia Wary of Proliferation Security Initiative Potential legal issues have created concerns in Malaysia about joining the U.S.-led effort to interdict unconventional weapons and WMD materials on the high seas, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 17, 2005). “We are still studying it.  There are some items in the Proliferation Security Initiative which the legal side are not so comfortable with,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a maritime security event.  He did not elaborate. More than 70 nations have joined the effort or taken observer status since its inception.  It is intended to prevent terrorists or rogue nations from acquiring biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. “Malaysia is certainly concerned over proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its components and supports the ideals of PSI,” Najib said.  “Malaysia, however, has some reservations with regards to certain aspects of the initiative which we feel do not conform to accepted international norms.” Malaysia in the last two years has been an observer to PSI drills (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 17). Back to top

Congo Reactor Should Be Dismantled, Report Says A recent report says the nuclear reactor in the Democratic Republic of Congo contains uranium that could be used in weapons but is left under inadequate security, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, March 14). Uranium bars from the United States stored at the Kinshasa Regional Center for Nuclear Studies “are at an enrichment level sufficient to potentially be … transformed into a nuclear weapon … or be used as a ‘dirty bomb,’” according to the report from Belgian lawmaker Alain Destexhe. A thin barbwire fence and a limited number of police officers serve to keep intruders out of the facility and the shuttered reactor.  Destexhe said International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in 2004 reported that “only 10 percent of the protection measures and internationally recognized norms were in place.”  He called for the reactor to be dismantled. Officials in Kinshasa say the reactor provides crucial support for medical and agricultural research in the deeply troubled nation, AFP reported. “We know there are things that need to be done and we will do them, in collaboration with the IAEA,” said Leopold Makoko, acting chief of the country’s atomic energy agency. “But this reactor is our national pride.  It is an absolutely indispensable tool for medical, nuclear and radio-agronomical research,” he added, noting that the U.N. nuclear watchdog “has never asked that it (the reactor) be dismantled.” “The site is very well protected,” Makoko said.  “The reactor has been shut down for several years but is in very good condition.” The problems at the facility are not limited to security, the report states.  There is only a “plastic cap” protecting the reactor start button, while “a fishing rod” is used to insert or extract uranium bars.  The reactor control room is “totally outdated,” according to Destexhe. Radioactive waste is kept in an unsecured building, as there is no permanent deposition location (Sofia Bouderbala, Agence France-Presse/Mail & Guardian, April 18). Back to top       U.S. Doesn’t See North Korea Closing Reactor There is no intelligence yet to support reports that North Korea might have started to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, a senior U.S. official told the Financial Times yesterday (see GSN, April 17). Pyongyang in a February disarmament agreement agreed to halt operations at the facility that produces weapon-grade plutonium.  The deadline passed Saturday, while North Korea waited to recoup $25 million in frozen funds, but South Korean media reported this week that new activity at the reactor might indicate a pending shutdown. “I know of no information that would corroborate the South Korean report,” the official said (Sevastopulo/Fifield, Financial Times, April 17). Washington has received no official word on the matter from Pyongyang, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “We haven’t received any formal notification from the North Koreans that they are at this point taking steps to fulfill their obligations under the Feb. 13 agreements:  shutting down and sealing the Yongbyon plant,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. “Beyond that, I can’t comment on intelligence-related matters — what we may or may not know,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, April 17). The true sign that North Korea intends to close the reactor would be allowing international nuclear inspectors back into the nation to confirm the move, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Stephens indicated today. “I see nothing … that has either encouraged me or discouraged me,” she said, according to AFP. “What will encourage me is to see the [International Atomic Energy Agency] being in touch and getting back into the D.P.R.K. and getting on with the work,” she said in Brussels. No new deadline has been set for Pyongyang, Stephens said.  “The time for action is now,” she said.  Stephens reaffirmed the U.S. statement that the frozen funds are available for collection by North Korea (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, April 18). South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday be believes North Korea will follow through on its pledge, AFP reported. “The Feb. 13 agreement reached at the six-party talks will be implemented,” he said.  “A technical problem has unexpectedly occurred … but the problem has almost been resolved.  The agreement will not be nullified by the problem.” Officials from Seoul headed today for Pyongyang for talks on providing rice to North Korea and other economic matters.  Reports this week indicate that South Korea might withhold the yearly 400,000 tons of rice until Yongbyon is closed (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, April 18). Back to top       Egypt Charges Engineer With Nuclear Spying Egypt has filed espionage charges against an engineer who worked at the nation’s Atomic Energy Agency, accusing him of transferring information to Israel, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 25, 2006). Mohammed Sayed Saber was arrested Feb. 18 in Egypt after returning from Hong Kong, where prosecutors say he delivered “important documents” to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for $17,000, according to AP. Authorities are also seeking a Japanese national and an Irish national in connection with the case, said state security prosecutor Hisham Badawi. Saber’s family denied the charges, saying he had reported contacts with suspicious people in Hong Kong. “We leave it to God to take revenge on his behalf.  Is this what he gets for informing about them and trying to defend the security of his country?  He did nothing wrong,” said his wife from their Giza home. An Israeli official also dismissed the accusation. “These sort of charges unfortunately appear all too often in the Egyptian media and they always prove to be baseless,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev (Associated Press/New York Times, April 17). Back to top       Iran to Push for 50,000 Centrifuges Iran vowed yesterday to press forward with its plans to build a large-scale uranium enrichment facility by installing 50,000 centrifuges within the next four years, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 11). Last week Iranian officials announced that the nation had established an industrial-scale enrichment program at its underground site at Natanz, but issued conflicting messages on exactly how many centrifuges were operating there (see GSN, April 9). “We are employing the maximum effort to realize our projects in Natanz,” Iranian Atomic Energy Organization chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said yesterday.  “Today in Natanz there is a continuous movement to install the centrifuges.” He did not provide details on the number of centrifuges in place and urged observers not to focus on that question. “There is nothing unusual in announcing no figures,” he said.  Iran “would continue with the installation until it has 50,000 centrifuges,” which could take two to four years, he added (Stuart Williams, Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 17). Back to top

University Delays Reporting Bioresearch Accident Texas A&M University waited one year to report that a researcher had been infected with a potential biological weapons agent, the Texas Eagle reported today (see GSN, April 28, 2004). The scientist was working with brucella bacteria which most likely entered her body through her eyes when she was cleaning equipment used to expose mice to the material.  The bacteria cause an infectious disease normally found in animals. The researcher was ill for several weeks before being properly diagnosed in April 2006 and has since recovered, the Eagle reported. U.S. law requires researchers to report such accidents to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within seven days, but university officials waited until this month to do so, according to the Eagle. CDC officials arrived on campus this week to investigate the situation, said provost David Prior. “We have since strengthened our safety, training and reporting procedures following the human error involved in not reporting this incident,” Prior said.  “We will be fully cooperative, and our goal is to comply with all current biosafety standards.” Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project, a biological research watchdog group, uncovered the reporting lapse.  Hammond was reviewing safety records of facilities competing to be selected to house a new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (see GSN, Aug. 10, 2006). Hammond charged university officials with purposefully trying to conceal the incident. “They looked the law in the face and they ignored it," he said yesterday.  “It's not a lack of training, it's not a lack of knowledge, it wasn't ignorance. It's apparent it was a very deliberate decision” (Holly Huffman, The Eagle, April 18). Back to top       Bioshield Yields Limited Results The United States has made only about 10 drug orders under Project Bioshield, the $5.6 billion program initiated in 2004 to spur development of countermeasures against weapons of mass destruction, the Financial Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 22). For large pharmaceutical companies, the contracts offered under the program were simply too small to pique their interest.  However, a number of smaller biotechnology firms sought to produce drugs against potential terrorism threats such as anthrax, plague and smallpox. “From a financial point of view, it was clearly attractive, like a glorified grant,” said Gordon Cameron, departing chief executive at British vaccine maker Acambis. The pace of procurement has not met hopes, undermining investor interest in biodefense. “The government did not put out procurements fast enough.  And they have mostly been in smallpox or anthrax.  They haven’t spent all the money,” said biotechnology attorney Frank Rapoport, who helped prepare the program. The federal government has failed to meet its pledge to fund development of promising drugs, rather than only buying countermeasures known to be safe and available for production, some companies say. Some of these firms spent tens of millions of dollars on drugs that never received Bioshield contracts, and in the meantime missed the chance to work on other products, according to the Times. California firm VaxGen Inc. nearly collapsed after the Health and Human Services Department canceled an order for 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine.  The cancellation occurred after the agency changed the contract and demanded additional tests of the drug, production of which was far behind schedule (see GSN, April 6). “You can’t subject drug development to arbitrary timelines.  By its very nature, it is fraught with delays and uncertainties because human biology is a very uncertain process,” said VaxGen Vice President of Corporate Affairs Lance Ignon.  “We assumed the risk would be related to drug development, not the government’s behavior.” Washington also rejected a radiation treatment developed by drug maker Hollis-Eden (see GSN, March 19), and chose a competitor’s smallpox vaccine over one produced by Acambis (see GSN, April 17). One former government lawyer directed the blame toward poor management of biotechnology firms rather than the government.  “They wouldn’t survive in any other marketplace,’ the lawyer said (Salamander Davoudi, Financial Times, April 17). The head of Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Inc. and other biotechnology executives are scheduled to testify on Bioshield today before a House panel, according to the McClatchy Newspapers.  Testimony is also expected from top HHS officials and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. According to prepared testimony, Hollis-Eden chief executive Richard Hollis plans to tell lawmakers that the company “will never again seek to work with the government.” Legislation that revamped Bioshield, allowing for companies to receive funding during the drug development process and creating the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Agency (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2006), “will only make things worse” by increasing the tax burden on the U.S. people “with no guarantee of the results,” Hollis is expected to say (Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers, April 17). Back to top

Nerve Agent Waste Burning Set to Begin This Week A private contractor in Texas is expected this week to begin incinerating wastewater produced by nerve agent disposal in Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 13). The U.S. Army’s $49 million contract with Veolia Environmental Services for elimination of 2 million gallons of hydrolysate became public last week.  The plan to transport the waste from the Newport Chemical Depot faced quick opposition, similar to that seen against now-abandoned waste disposal efforts at facilities in Ohio and New Jersey. The Army, however, has already begun to the waste.  Four tractor-trailer trucks carrying 4,000 tons of wastewater arrived at the Port Arthur plant shortly after midnight Tuesday.  A total of 10,000 gallons is expected to be incinerated before the end of this week, said Daniel Duncan, Veolia environmental health and safety manager. Two activist groups said in a letter yesterday that the waste might contain more than double the level of VX than acknowledged by the Army, AP reported. “Multiple confidential sources” — including one who claimed to be a Newport disposal employee — said some waste samples showed concentrations of 48 parts of VX per billion.  The Army says the concentration level is no higher than 20 parts per billion. That might mean that the deadly nerve agent is reforming after undergoing chemical neutralization, according to Craig Williams, head of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. “Something is happening.  We don’t know what it is and frankly the critical issue isn’t what’s causing it.  The critical issue is whether that’s accurate,” he said. Army Newport manager Jeff Brubaker said he had not seen the claim made by the reported depot employee and could not comment on the letter.  The Army says hydrolysate is as safe as other hazardous wastes that are regularly moved around the country. Disposal of 250,000 gallons of VX stored at Newport was nearly halfway finished Tuesday.  The facility is now storing 760,000 gallons of wastewater (Rick Callahan, Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, April 17). Back to top       U.S. Reverses Claim that Iraqi Attacker Sought to Use Nitric Acid in Truck Bombing Attempt U.S. military officials have recanted a report yesterday that an Iraqi bomber tried to use nitric acid in a truck bombing attack, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 17). The explosive-laden truck overturned before it reached its target, officials said.  Containers found in the truck held gasoline, not nitric acid as originally reported, according to AP. Nitric acid remains a concern as U.S. forces last week discovered a 3,000-gallon cache of the material in a Baghdad warehouse, officials announced today (Associated Press/OregonLive.com, April 17). Back to top       Environmental Review Ordered of Umatilla CW Disposal The Oregon Environmental Quality Department must review the safety of plans to incinerate 2,300 tons of mustard gas at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, a state judge ruled yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 9, 2004). The ruling from Circuit Judge Michael Marcus does not require the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility to stop its current program to destroy nerve agent weapons, The Oregonian reported.  However, the state agency must examine design and operations changes made at the site before mustard gas processing can begin. The decision is the result of a decade-long legal effort to halt weapons incineration at Umatilla.  Opponents want the weapons to be chemically neutralized, which they way would reduce the potential danger posed by mercury that has been found in mustard agent. “I don’t think under this ruling they could start the mustard processing,” said attorney Mick Harrison.  “It’s a substantial victory.” The agency following its review could still determine that incineration of mustard agent and chemical protection suits is a reasonable course of action, the Oregonian reported.  The review is not expected to be completed until next year, which could delay the anticipated late-2008 startup of mustard agent disposal, said Rich Duvall, administrator for the DEQ Chemical Demilitarization Program (Andy Dworkin, The Oregonian, April 18). Back to top

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