Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks today at Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz (Atta Kenare/Getty Images). Iran Declares Major Milestone in Uranium Program Iran can enrich uranium at an industrial level, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared today at the nation’s enrichment facility at Natanz.  The announcement appeared to show Iran’s resolve not to bend to U.N. powers in the continuing nuclear crisis, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 6)...Full Story

Danish Labs Open to Biological Theft, Study Finds Danish biological research laboratories are woefully vulnerable to theft of dangerous materials by terrorists, a government study found recently (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2006)...Full Story

Nuclear Inspections to Follow Cash, North Korea Says International nuclear inspectors would be allowed back into North Korea as soon as the government receives $25 million in frozen funds, a senior official in Pyongyang said today (see GSN, April 6)...Full Story

	Monday, April 9, 2007

Pentagon Certifies D.C. WMD Response Team The U.S. Defense Department has certified that the District of Columbia’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is fully prepared for service, the Pentagon announced Friday (see GSN, March 15). The new unit is the 49th to be certified out of 55 teams that the Congress has authorized.  Team members have “the requisite skills, training and equipment to be proficient in all mission requirements,” the Pentagon said in a press release.  The units would support civil authorities in responding to a WMD incident (U.S. Defense Department release, April 6). Back to top

Iran Declares Major Milestone in Uranium Program Iran can enrich uranium at an industrial level, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared today at the nation’s enrichment facility at Natanz.  The announcement appeared to show Iran’s resolve not to bend to U.N. powers in the continuing nuclear crisis, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 6). “With great honor, I declare that as of today our dear country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale,” Ahmadinejad said. One year ago, Iran announced that it had finished installing its first “cascade” of 164 centrifuges at the underground site.  Officials later set a goal of installing 3,000 centrifuges by May (see GSN, April 12).  That would be enough to produce material for one weapon each year, though Iran says its intentions are peaceful. A nuclear official yesterday confirmed that uranium gas had been introduced into the existing cascades, AP reported (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, April 9). “Now we are entering the mass production of centrifuges and starting to launch industrial scale enrichment, another step toward the flourishing of Islamic Iran,” said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press II/myfoxtampabay.com, April 9). A third Iranian official urged the U.N. Security Council to back away from pressuring Iran.  The council since December has twice imposed economic sanctions and has threatened to ramp up measures if Tehran refuses to freeze its enrichment program. “If they continue to pressure Iran over its peaceful nuclear activities, we have no other choice but to follow parliament’s order and review our membership of the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty],” said lead Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters, April 9). Back to top       Nuclear Inspections to Follow Cash, North Korea Says International nuclear inspectors would be allowed back into North Korea as soon as the government receives $25 million in frozen funds, a senior official in Pyongyang said today (see GSN, April 6). Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan told visitors from the United States “that the North Korean government would invite … the inspectors back the moment the funds are released to the North Korean government,” said Anthony Principi, former veterans affairs secretary in the Bush administration. Principi was in Pyongyang with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat who is seeking his party’s nomination for president, the Associated Press reported. North Korea agreed in February to within 60 days shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and to readmit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.  In return, it would receive 50,000 tons of fuel oil and equivalent aid from other nations in the six-party talks. However, Pyongyang has said it must first receive funds — linked by Washington to counterfeiting and other illicit financial activities — held by Banco Delta Asia in Macau.  Shifting that money has proven to be more difficult than expected, but U.S. officials indicated Friday that the impasse appeared to be solved. It is unlikely that the reactor can be completely closed by the deadline Saturday, Kim told the U.S. delegation. “They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult,” Principi said. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington’s lead nuclear negotiator, today acknowledged the difficulty in having Pyongyang meet the deadline.  “The next day or two” are crucial, he said during a trip to Japan. “Clearly, we’re aiming for the complete implementation of the February agreement by day 60 … but that timeline is becoming difficult,” he said. “We’ll have to see how we do in the next day or two on this financial issue.  We feel this should never have held up the nuclear process, but unfortunately it has,” Hill added. The breakthrough followed a secret meeting in New York last week between Hill and North Korean diplomat Kim Myong Gil, the Yonhap News Agency reported. “Frankly, the North Koreans would find the international financial system much more hospitable if they weren’t manufacturing weapons of mass destruction,” Hill said (Foster Klug, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 9). Richardson said he believes North Korea is prepared to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported. “I believe for the first time they do want to enter into an agreement with the six-party countries and they want a better relationship with the United States,” he told NBC Nightly News.  “They know that the key is dismantling their nuclear weapons” (Reuters I/Washington Post, April 9). A South Korean presidential candidate said today that the drawn-out negotiations are allowing Pyongyang to become a greater danger in the region, Reuters reported. “Time only serves to turn North Korea’s weapons development into a fait accompli,” said Park Geun-hye, daughter of assassinated South Korean ruler Gen. Park Chung-hee. “It is quite worrying for many Koreans that the Feb. 13 agreement does not explicitly mention the North’s existing nuclear weapons and nuclear material,” she said, also citing biological and chemical weapons as components of North Korea’s arsenal (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters II/Yahoo!News, April 9). Back to top       Russian Lawmaker Proposes New Nuclear Agency A senior Russian lawmaker has called for creating a new federal agency to manage the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, Interfax reported March 30 (see GSN, March 15, 2004). The move would put Russia’s nuclear energy and nuclear weapons sectors on equal footing, said Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Council’s defense and security committee. “A specialized state body such as a federal agency or another department with full authority is needed in Russia to manage its nuclear weapons complex as a system reliably and resolve the issue of how to ensure reliable nuclear and radiation safety,” he said (Interfax, March 30). Back to top

Danish Labs Open to Biological Theft, Study Finds Danish biological research laboratories are woefully vulnerable to theft of dangerous materials by terrorists, a government study found recently (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2006). The review examined 35 laboratories and discovered that 33 permitted open access to freezers holding lethal viruses and bacteria, such as anthrax, according to a report on the study by the engineering trade journal Ingenioren. Furthermore, 90 percent of the laboratories failed to conduct regular inventory checks or to perform background checks on all workers at the sites, the Copenhagen Post reported. Study leader Kristian Bork called for better security measures but expressed uncertainty over the terrorist risk to the sites. “It depends on whether there are terrorists at this moment sitting and planning a biological terror with materials obtained from Danish labs,” Bork said.  “We can’t know for certain, but we can establish that they would have had easy access to the substances if they are.” Bork added that the laboratories were seeking government help to improve security. “The people we spoke to have asked for some clear guidelines on how to make the research labs more secure,” Bork said.  “But currently there are no official guidelines on the issue and there is no authority responsible” (Copenhagen Post, April 6). Back to top       Boy Improves After Vaccine-Related Infection The condition of a 2-year-old Indiana boy is improving after he contracted an infection from his father’s smallpox vaccination, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 19). The child’s condition is expected to be moved from critical to serious, said John Easton, spokesman for the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. “Everyone has been a little bit astonished that he has recovered as well as he has,” Easton said. Doctors used skin grafts, an experimental drug and other measures to save the boy, who suffered a rash that covered 80 percent of his body.  The rash appeared after the boy came into contact with his father, a U.S. Army soldier who received the vaccination prior to an anticipated deployment. The boy has a history of eczema, a skin condition linked to eczema vaccinatum, which can be spurred by the smallpox vaccine (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 8). Back to top

Maryland Officials Blast Train Rerouting Plans Maryland lawmakers and officials are opposing new proposals to shift trains carrying hazardous materials away from the heart of Washington, D.C. and into their state, the Washington Examiner reported Friday (see GSN, March 8). Fears have persisted in recent years that these freight trains could become terrorist targets as they pass by famous national landmarks and tens of thousands of workers in the nation’s capital. The National Capital Planning Commission last week offered three proposals to reduce the likelihood of terrorist attacks on freight trains, boost development near the Anacostia River and strengthen passenger rail travel in the region. A $5.3 billion plan would create an eight-mile tunnel beginning in Alexandria, Va., through the District of Columbia and to the Maryland border.  The other plans, each costing roughly $4.5 billion, call for new rail alignments through Prince George’s and Charles counties in Maryland. Plans to shift dangerous freight traffic away from Washington, D.C. would raise the risk to residents in Maryland, officials there said. “Rerouting freight trains carrying hazardous materials through low-income and minority areas makes this an environmental justice issue,” said U.S. Representative Albert Wynn (D). “Prince George’s County will not be a dumping ground,” said Michael Herman, chief of staff for County Executive Jack Johnson. The final decision on using any of the proposed routes would come from the federal government, which funded the $1 million study, NCPC planning chief William Dowd told the Examiner. The organization plans to conduct a three-year environmental study and consider funding options for a new train route.  It would take about five years to build the new railway (Scott McCabe, Washington Examiner, April 6). Back to top       Japan to Build Mobile CW Disposal Facility for China Japan plans to build a mobile facility to speed the pace of disposal of chemical weapons its army abandoned in China at the end of World War II, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported today (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2006). Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to approve the plan during a meeting this week. Roughly 38,000 of an estimated 400,000 Japanese chemical munitions have been recovered to date in China.  Disposal operations have yet to begin. The two countries originally planned only to build a fixed facility in Haerbaling in the Jilin province, which contains the majority of the decades-old chemical weapons.  There were no plans for eliminating weapons found in other regions of the country, and officials worried that weapons might detonate or leak during long-distance relocation. The new plan calls for a $787.8 million Japanese-built mobile facility to be based in Haerbaling and to be moved to other locations as needed for weapons disposal, Asahi reported Weapons would be disabled where they are found.  Explosive components and other sensitive parts would be removed and shipped to a standing site in Haerbaling (Asahi Shimbun, April 9). Back to top

India to Test Nuclear-Capable Missile India on Wednesday plans to launch its nuclear-capable Agni 3 missile in order to test its flight range, the CNN-IBN news channel reported (see GSN, Feb. 15). The missile is estimated to have a range of 3,000 kilometers.  It has yet to be tested successfully. The first test of the system in July 2006 failed when the missile fell into the Bay of Bengal and missed its target (see GSN, July 10, 2006).  A malfunctioning heat shield is believed to have caused the failure (Vishai Thapar, CNN-IBN, April 8). Back to top

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