Iran is testing about 1,300 centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, according to IAEA inspectors (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images). Iran Testing 1,300 Centrifuges, U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Says International nuclear inspectors have confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium at its Natanz facility, where about 1,300 centrifuges are now operational, Reuters reported today (see GSN, April 18)...Full Story

New U.S. WMD Countermeasure Plan Unveiled The U.S. Health and Human Services Department yesterday released its new strategy for developing medical countermeasures against weapons of mass destruction, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 18)...Full Story

U.S. Urges India to Move on Nuclear Deal U.S. officials are growing frustrated over talks with India on a planned bilateral nuclear trade agreement, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, April 12).  Some fear that the deal is in jeopardy, while others say it is just a matter of time before India capitulates to U.S. demands...Full Story

	Thursday, April 19, 2007

New U.S. WMD Countermeasure Plan Unveiled The U.S. Health and Human Services Department yesterday released its new strategy for developing medical countermeasures against weapons of mass destruction, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 18). The plan comes amidst persistent questions about the efficacy of Project Bioshield, the $5.6 billion program to spur development of vaccines and other drugs that would provide protection against biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological threats (see related GSN story, today). The program has led to only a handful procurement contracts, and the department in December canceled the flagship contract for production of 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine. “Bioshield is a new program.  That said, new doesn’t necessarily equate with a license to make mistakes,” said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).  “Yet, mistakes have been made with regard to the development and implementation of the program.” The “Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise” lays out medical acquisition plans through 2013. The federal government is expected to pay more than $100 million for acquisition of anthrax and smallpox vaccines, AP reported.  It is likely to cost even more to produce medicine for acute radiation poisoning The priority would be to produce drugs that would be used following exposure to biological agents.  At the top of the list are antibiotics for the rodent-carried diseases plague and tularemia. Vaccines or other preventive countermeasures would be sought only for threats of “catastrophic consequence,” according to the department (Kevin Freking, Associated Press/RedOrbit, April 18). National Institutes of Health funding for basic and clinical research and development of WMD medical countermeasures was 30 times greater in fiscal 2006 than in fiscal 2001, Health and Human Services said yesterday. “Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, our mission has been to protect Americans by securing medical countermeasures for a range of threats,” HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt said in a release.  “We have made significant progress to increase our preparedness in this area, but there is much more we must do” (U.S. Health and Human Services Department release, April 18). Meanwhile, Maryland biopharmaceutical firm Emergent BioSolutions said yesterday that the Health and Human Services and Defense departments had announced their intention to order up to 22.75 million doses of its BioThrax anthrax vaccine. Both agencies issued notices of intent to procure the drug.  The HHS order calls for 10.4 million doses with options for another 8.35 million, while the Pentagon plans to order at least 4 million doses. The company since 1998 has provided 19 million doses of the vaccine to the two departments (Emergent BioSolutions release, April 18). Back to top

Iran Testing 1,300 Centrifuges, U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Says International nuclear inspectors have confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium at its Natanz facility, where about 1,300 centrifuges are now operational, Reuters reported today (see GSN, April 18). Last week Iranian officials declared that the site had achieved “industrial-scale” capabilities, but diplomats described the current status as low-level, testing-scale operations, Reuters reported. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the site Sunday and Monday.  They were shown eight 164-centrifuge “cascades” operating with a feedstock gas, uranium hexafluoride, according to a letter to Iranian officials from Ollie Heinonen, head of the agency’s safeguards division. The letter asks Iran to permit the agency to install monitoring equipment that it has requested for some time.  Earlier this year, agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that the agency would need to install cameras watching the centrifuges once 500 of the machines were working (see GSN, March 20). “I trust that these arrangements will be implemented,” Heinonen said in his letter. In trumpeting the nation’s enrichment capabilities last week, Iranian officials dodged disclosing the number of working centrifuges, perhaps to avoid comparisons to their oft-stated goal of installing 3,000 machines by the end of May, Reuters reported. The lower numbers working today represent only a test capability and not the power to produce useful amounts of enriched uranium, according to diplomats “The current feeding is at a very, very low level, only to condition the new centrifuges.  No enriched product is being made now,”' said a diplomat close to the agency. “It's not productive activity,” said another diplomat accredited to the agency.  “We understand that they are just doing stress tests on the cascades to see if they will run smoothly” (Reuters/New York Times, April 19). Despite the comments playing down the Iranian capability, the number of centrifuges is a significant increase from earlier this year, the Washington Post reported. Only four centrifuge cascades were counted during agency inspections in February (see GSN, Feb. 22; Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, April 19). Back to top       U.S. Urges India to Move on Nuclear Deal U.S. officials are growing frustrated over talks with India on a planned bilateral nuclear trade agreement, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, April 12).  Some fear that the deal is in jeopardy, while others say it is just a matter of time before India capitulates to U.S. demands. “We are disappointed with the pace and seriousness of the civil nuclear negotiations with India,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns.  “It is time to accelerate our efforts to achieve a final deal.” Efforts to finalize an agreement specifying the technology and materials to be included in the deal have slowed as India has opposed two key U.S. conditions, according to the Times. New Delhi objects to the U.S. intention to cancel the deal if India tests a nuclear weapon, and India is also seeking the right mine plutonium from U.S.-supplied reactor fuel. U.S. officials have been surprised by the Indian negotiating positions and disappointed at New Delhi’s slow pursuit of other deal requirements, such as completing a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the Times. Still, most officials said they expect India would accede to the U.S. conditions if the only other option is to walk away from the deal, the Times reported. “We have ultimate optimism that India will understand the importance and benefits that this deal would bring to the Indian energy sector and to India more generally,” Burns said (Luce/Johnson, Financial Times, April 19). Back to top       Korean Talks Stall Over Reactor Shutdown An economic meeting today between officials from North and South Korea appeared to fail, as Seoul called on its neighbor to close its nuclear reactor and Pyongyang instead demanded its annual rice aid, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 18). The meeting in Pyongyang was first delayed by nearly eight hours after North Korea “asked to see a keynote speech, a draft joint press statement and a draft agreement on … (rice aid),” according to a pool press report quoted by the Yonhap News Agency. Envoys from Seoul found the request to be “rude behavior” and rejected the request. The closed meeting began several hours later.  South Korean Vice Finance Minister Chin Dong-soo was expected to call on North Korea to meet its obligations under a February disarmament agreement to shutter the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and readmit international inspectors. The deadline to take begin taking those steps passed Saturday.  South Korea reportedly had planned to resume shipments of rice that were halted following the North’s missile tests last year, but was reconsidering following the missed deadline. “The quick implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement is a short cut to draw firm international support for inter-Korean economic cooperation,” Chin was expected to say during the meeting, according to an advance text of his presentation. The meeting lasted for only about 30 minutes before the lead North Korean envoy left the room in anger, Reuters reported. “We have to be engaged in further discussion, but the situation is not that good,” Chin told Yonhap (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters/Yahoo!News, April 19). Meanwhile, North Korea is reportedly in the process of transferring some funds from Banco Delta Asia to an unidentified Southeast Asian bank, according to the Associated Press. Pyongyang had refused to begin denuclearization until it had free access to the frozen $25 million.  U.S. officials announced last week that the money was available. It was expected to take more than a month for all 52 accounts to be transferred, the Yomiuri newspaper reported (Associated Press, April 19). Back to top       Austria Hosts Nuclear Emergency Training Program About 180 emergency response personnel have gathered in Austria this week for a training session on handling nuclear and radiological incidents, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 20). Yesterday the group worked on methods to detect, measure and identify radiation that could be dispersed by terrorist actions or nuclear accidents. The Austrian Research Centers organized the weeklong event with assistance from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. Aside from teaching response techniques, the session was intended to enable participants from around the world to work together, as cooperation might be necessary during an actual radiological incident. “International networking is very important,” said organizer Gen. Norbert Fuerstenhofer of the Austrian military. “Our intent is to learn how to work together in an emergency situation,” added Canadian participant Kathleen Heppell-Masys (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, April 18). Back to top       Russia Starts Work on Floating Nuclear Power Plant Russia has started building its first floating nuclear power plant, and plans to build another six, to the deep dismay of anti-nuclear activists, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 27, 2004). “This is the most dangerous project that has been launched by the atomic sector in the whole world over the past decade,” said Greenpeace Russia campaign director Ivan Blokov.  “It is scary as this is basically going to be a floating atomic bomb.” Officials in Moscow counter that the plants would be safe and could be sold to provide much-needed energy supplies in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  The facilities would not promote the spread of nuclear expertise, Russian officials say. “Many countries are beginning to ask us ‘when can we buy these plants,” said First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. “It will be like an order for an aircraft — want a nuclear power station?  Then order one,” said top Russian physicist Yevgeny Velikhov. The first plant is expected to cost $352 million and carry two nuclear reactors that would not be fueled with weapon-usable uranium.  It is being built at a secret site on the White Sea and is scheduled for completion in 2010, Reuters reported. The reactors could survive earthquakes, Russian nuclear officials say.  They note that the reactor on the nuclear submarine Kursk withstood the blast that caused the vessel to sink in 2000 (Reuters/New York Times, April 19). Back to top

U.S. Lawmakers Mull Stalled Progress on Bioshield By Otto Kreisher CongressDaily WASHINGTON — A U.S. House Homeland Security panel yesterday voiced bipartisan concern that legislation intended to accelerate the production of defenses against chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attacks has done little to make the nation safer, six years after anthrax-laced letters killed five people and paralyzed the U.S. Capitol (see GSN, April 18). Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin ( D-R.I.) and ranking member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) cited the recent cancellation of programs to develop protections against anthrax and radiation that were initiated under the 2004 Project Bioshield law as indications of problems with the $5.6 billion program. “This critical program is far too important to fail,” Langevin said. “Unfortunately, since its creation, Bioshield has enjoyed varying levels of success, and in recent months, there have been some fairly significant setbacks this committee is particularly concerned with.” McCaul observed that the 2001 anthrax incidents have never been solved (see GSN, April 12) and said Bioshield “has had a rough start” because the Health and Human Services Department, which helps the Homeland Security Department implement the program, “has made what I consider missteps.” Full committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said “mistakes have been made” in developing and implementing the program, pointing out that Bioshield has awarded contracts for vaccines or treatments only for three threats while the Centers for Disease Control has listed more than 30 agents of concern. “We need to get this program to a state where it is procuring enough medicine and vaccines to protect the American people,” Thompson said. Implementation of the program was criticized sharply by Richard Hollis, chief executive officer of Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals. The firm’s proposed treatment for acute radiation sickness was rejected after it invested two and a half years and $85 million to develop and test the product and, he said, had met all the requirements set out in the law. Unless Congress forces major changes, “the Bioshield program will remain fundamentally broken,” Hollis said. But a more positive view of the program was presented by James Davis, senior vice president of Human Genome Sciences, which won a contract to produce 100,000 doses of a new treatment for anthrax (see related GSN story, today). Officials from Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration conceded that there were some weaknesses in the Bioshield legislation, particularly in the ability to encourage firms to invest in the frequently long and expensive development of new vaccines and medicines. “What is still missing is a commitment by private industry to invest,” said Jeffrey Runge, Homeland Security’s chief medical officer. Gerald Parker, principal deputy assistant HHS secretary for preparedness and response, insisted that progress has been made in protecting the nation from bio-terrorism, citing eight programs initiated under Bioshield to improve protection against smallpox, anthrax, botulism and radiation. Parker acknowledged the failure of Hollis’ antiradiation effort and the cancellation of a contract with VaxGen, Inc. to produce a “second-generation” anthrax vaccine (see GSN, April 6). But he said the department has developed a new strategy for developing a better anthrax vaccine and is working to attract industry to produce other needed bioterrorism defenses. The administration officials and lawmakers all said legislation passed last year to create the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority should help encourage firms to invest in bioterrorism defenses by providing some government funding for advanced development and testing of promising new products (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2006). Back to top       Feds Visit Possible Biodefense Sites in Kansas Officials from several federal agencies this week are inspecting two sites in Kansas that could become home to the new $451 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, The Kansas City Star reported (see GSN, Aug. 10, 2006). Homeland Security officials and others were scheduled to inspect a Leavenworth County location yesterday and a site in Manhattan today.  An inspection is expected in May of a third site in Columbia. The laboratory would replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York, housing hundreds of scientists dedicated to researching potential disease and food supply threats, some of which could be produced by acts of terrorism.  They would prepare detection strategies and vaccines and other disease countermeasures. “What is important to us are those things that will cause catastrophic harm,” Joanne Jones-Meehan of the DHS National Laboratories Office said last week. Other states seeking to bring home the 520,000-square-foot laboratory include Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas (see GSN, April 18).  The economic benefit of the facility could reach $3.5 billion over two decades, according to one analysis. The chosen location would be expected to have a significant research community that already conducts research similar to what would be performed at the laboratory.  Visiting officials are also expected to look favorably on experience in managing large animals under secure laboratory situations, the Star reported. All proposed sites are due to be inspected by June, at which time federal officials will winnow the list of candidates.  Those locations would undergo environmental assessments and a winner would be announced in October.  Construction would begin in 2010 and the laboratory would open in 2014 (Jason Gertzen, The Kansas City Star, April 18). Back to top

Russia Faces Iranian Missile Threat, U.S. Says Russia faces “the missile threat from Iran” and would benefit from U.S. missile defenses deployed in Europe, a senior U.S. official said yesterday (see GSN, March 19). “We believe Russia has an interest in cooperating with us and NATO because the missile threat from Iran comes to Russia first,” Defense Undersecretary for Policy Eric Edelman said in Warsaw, according to Agence France-Presse. “Russia comes within range first, the flight paths of these missiles traverse Russia first, before they fly over central Europe,” Edelman added. Citing threats to its strategic security, Moscow has strongly and repeatedly objected to U.S. plans to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.  Washington counters that a handful of interceptors would pose no threat to Russia’s large ballistic missile arsenal. Edelman and Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, met yesterday with Polish officials to discuss the missile shield plan.  They then traveled to Brussels for talks today with Russian and NATO officials (Karin Zeitvogel, Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 18). NATO officials hope to “clear the air” on the matter at today’s talks, the Associated Press reported. “We want to cooperate with Russia,” Edelman said while in Washington. The possibility exists for “sharing of technology and the development of compatible systems” between Russia and the United States,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland said. “Possible areas of partnership with Russia could include research and development of missile defense systems, sharing of early warning data and exercises between our forces,” she said. Comments this week from Moscow made it clear that deep suspicions persist.  Questions have also arisen about the necessity and effectiveness of the missile shield, and whether it would fail to protect Greece, Italy and other nations in southern Europe, AP reported (Paul Ames, Associated Press, April 18). Back to top

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