A U.S. submarine tests a Trident D-5 missile in 1990. Such missiles would be among the first weapons to receive a new nuclear warhead (Pentagon photo). Ex-Air Force Chief Touts Warhead By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. plan to create a nuclear warhead easier to produce and maintain could lead to a five-fold reduction in U.S. nuclear stockpiles, a former head of the Air Force said today (see GSN, May 10).  Gen. Larry Welch, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke strongly in favor of the Reliable Replacement Warhead during a breakfast meeting of the National Defense University Foundation...Full Story

Nuclear Inspectors Arrive in Iran International inspectors arrived in Iran today to examine the nation’s nuclear fuel facilities, the semi-official Fars news agency reported (see GSN, May 18)...Full Story

U.S. Destroys All Sarin Munitions at Pine Bluff Site The United States achieved a milestone Saturday by completing the destruction of all sarin-filled munitions at its chemical weapons depot in Pine Bluff, Ark., the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 21, 2006)...Full Story

	Tuesday, May 22, 2007

U.S. Researchers Upset by New Security Rules U.S. academic research laboratories have expressed concern over proposed Homeland Security Department regulations for tracking potentially dangerous chemicals, Chemical & Engineering News reported yesterday. In draft rules released last month, the department listed a set of “chemicals of interest” that colleges and universities would be required to report if they had the minimum quantities set by the new rules. More than 100 of the chemicals would trigger reporting if laboratories had “any amount,” the News reported. These requirements would prove onerous and expensive, said one university official. “The rule was intended for chemical facilities, not laboratories that maintain small quantities of chemicals at levels that can't cause catastrophic events,” said Erik Talley, Weill Cornell Medical College's health and safety head. Other regulations, such as those issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, are sufficient, according to a university safety association. A DHS official, disagreed, however. “Existing fire and building codes and safety protocols are aimed at safety,” said Lawrence Stanton, acting director of chemical security compliance.  “None are aimed at security.” Stanton said the department would release a revised list of chemicals “in early to mid-June" (Lois Ember, Chemical & Engineering News, May 21). Back to top

Ex-Air Force Chief Touts Warhead By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. plan to create a nuclear warhead easier to produce and maintain could lead to a five-fold reduction in U.S. nuclear stockpiles, a former head of the Air Force said today (see GSN, May 10).  Gen. Larry Welch, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke strongly in favor of the Reliable Replacement Warhead during a breakfast meeting of the National Defense University Foundation. The RRW program, which is aimed at designing a new nuclear warhead to initially replace the payloads on some of the U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missiles, has drawn criticism within the arms control community and skepticism in Congress (see GSN, May 3). Administration officials have argued that the new warheads would be easier to maintain and produce, eventually reducing the need for costly maintenance programs for the existing weapons. Legislators, however, have called for the program to progress incrementally and have expressed concerns that a new warhead would require nuclear testing before it could enter the U.S. arsenal (see GSN, March 30). The new warhead would permit the United States to significantly draw down its reserve of nondeployed nuclear warheads by as much as a factor of five, Welch said. “The problem is right now, there’s lots of focus on reducing the deployed stockpile without talking about the real issue,” he said.  “The real issue is the nondeployed stockpile.  That’s where the large numbers are.” The ratio of deployed to nondeployed warheads remains classified but Welch noted that the relationship is “quite large.” According to the most recent figures published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientist the United States maintains just more than 5,500 deployed nuclear warheads plus more than 4,200 in nondeployed reserves. The large reserve stockpile is a result of “diverse types of weapons in the deployed stockpile that are of various lines in which we have various levels of confidence in the long term,” Welch said. By mixing in the Reliable Replacement Warhead — if carried out to the extent planned, the program could result in as many as three new warheads for various weapons systems — the large stockpile maintained in part as a hedge against any system failing could be drawn down, Welch argued.  “We maintain a quite large nondeployed stockpile to compensate for that,” he said. It is an argument Bush administration officials have made in pushing for the RRW program (see GSN, March 5). Without altering the current judgment about how many deployed warheads are needed to maintain nuclear deterrence, the United States could significantly reduce its warhead reserves, Welch said.  “Once you do that you probably ought to talk about the deployed stockpile” The deployed stockpile, however, should remain on its current path to a maximum of 2,200 warheads as provided for under the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, Welch said, adding that he has heard no logical argument to support further reductions (see GSN, March 2). “I think it’s exactly what we ought to have it. … We arrived at it very carefully,” he said. Welch was a member of the Joint Chiefs when the number of deployed U.S. warheads was reduced from 10,200 to 6,500 and part of the study to recommend a further reduction from 6,500 to 3,500. Those changes were supported by a changing global threat environment, he said.  Any further reductions would have to be preceded by careful consideration of security needs, including taking stock of Russian weapons, said Welch.  “I want to hear the logic for 1,000.” No Nuclear Disarmament Regarding nuclear weapons in general, Welch described a nuclear weapon-free world as a quaint fantasy and the provision of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty calling for eventual disarmament as baffling. Complete U.S. disarmament simply cannot happen, he said. “Imagine we are at zero and other people aren’t,” he said.  On the treaty obligation for complete nuclear disarmament, Welch said: “You just can’t.  Don’t ask me how that got written into a serious article that people have agreed to.” As long as the capacity exists in the world to destroy the United States with a devastating nuclear attack and that power is not in the hands of a confirmed U.S. ally, the United States will need to maintain its land- and sea-based nuclear deterrent, Welch said. “It’s not a disease that will be eradicated.  It’s a fact of life,” he said, arguing that nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented.   “We will not be able to expunge the knowledge from the minds of human kind on the planet.” Back to top       Nuclear Inspectors Arrive in Iran International inspectors arrived in Iran today to examine the nation’s nuclear fuel facilities, the semi-official Fars news agency reported (see GSN, May 18). The two International Atomic Energy Agency officials would visit Iran’s uranium conversion facility at Isfahan and the uranium enrichment site at Natanz, one source said. Their arrival comes one day before agency head Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to deliver his latest report on Iran’s nuclear activities to the agency board and the U.N. Security Council, Agence France-Presse reported.  His report would coincide with a U.N. Security Council demand that Iran suspend its nuclear fuel production activities by May 23 (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, May 22). Back to top       No U.S.-Indian Deal This Month, Official Says Bush administration officials are losing optimism that a detailed U.S.-Indian nuclear trade agreement can be completed before next month’s summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations, Reuters reported today (see GSN, May 17). Earlier this month, a State Department release said the two sides deal would “reach a final agreement” this month, but Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has postponed a visit to New Delhi, according to Reuters.  Instead, U.S. and Indian technical experts met in London yesterday to try to iron out serious disagreements in the deal which calls for the United States sell nuclear equipment and material to India in exchange for the South Asian nuclear power placing its civilian nuclear sector under international monitoring. President George W. Bush signed a law late last year exempting India from most U.S. nuclear nonproliferation laws, a move required for the deal to advance because the United States bars nuclear trade with nations that are not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not place all their nuclear sites under international supervision. Still, Indian officials have objected to some of the remaining provisions, including a measure that would enable Washington to demand the return of its technology if India tests another nuclear weapon. U.S. officials had hoped that U.S. President George W. Bush could trumpet the deal’s success at the June G-8 summit in Germany, but that now seems improbable, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told Reuters. “We found there were some differences on these issues that we thought we had really gone a long way to solve,” he said (Carol Giacomo, Reuters/Yahoo!News, May 21). Meanwhile, Russia has irritated some U.S. officials by delivering a batch of fresh fuel last month to two Indian nuclear reactors (see GSN, March 20, 2006). The reactors at Tarapur have received the fuel but have not loaded it, Reuters reported. Nonproliferation advocates argued that the sale violates export guidelines set by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group designed to curb nuclear proliferation by banning the transfer of nuclear technology to non-NPT nations. NSG rules, however, permit the sale to such countries if a safety hazard can be averted by refueling a reactor, according to Reuters. U.S. officials had asked Russia to delay the fuel supplies to give the group time to modify its rules to allow the supply of U.S. materials to India, but Moscow opted not to wait, Reuters reported.  “This kind of activity should not take place, in our view, until the NSG has acted,” said one U.S. official.  “It's not good precedent.” “There is no immediate safety concern [at Tarapur]... but you could make a case in the next year or two that there could be safety problem”, the official added. Private nonproliferation experts have argued that the reactors should be shut down, not refueled, if they are potentially dangerous, Reuters reported. “Russia has clearly violated NSG rules," said Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association.  “This is a further step towards the erosion of the NSG guidelines and the United States must speak out more strongly against Russia and India pursuing this” (Reuters, Hindustan Times, April 26). Back to top       Ukraine Installs Radiation Detectors at Border Posts U.S. and Ukrainian officials celebrated the installation of radiation detectors at a Ukrainian border post yesterday (see GSN, April 25, 2005). The ceremony at Kurchugan marked the installation of detection equipment at five Ukrainian sites along the Moldovan border.  Another 25 sites are also scheduled to receive U.S.-funded detectors, according to a release from the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. “Ukraine and the United States are working closely together to stop nuclear smuggling. This partnership plays a critical role in the global fight against illicit trafficking and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” said NNSA nuclear nonproliferation head William Tobey.  “We will continue to strengthen our cooperation as we work together to complete installation of NNSA’s radiation detection equipment at the remaining sites in Ukraine.” The U.S. Second Line of Defense program provides technical workshops, training and equipment, according to the release (NNSA release, May 21). Back to top       Nuclear Terror Prevention Effort Has 37 Participants Two more nations have joined a U.S.-Russian effort to prevent nuclear terrorism, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced earlier this month (see GSN, May 17). Turkmenistan and Madagascar informed Washington and Moscow that they planned to participate in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, according to a release (Turkmenistan.ru, May 7). Currently 36 nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to participate in the program to secure nuclear materials and prevent their smuggling (U.S. State Department release, May 21). Back to top

U.S. Destroys All Sarin Munitions at Pine Bluff Site The United States achieved a milestone Saturday by completing the destruction of all sarin-filled munitions at its chemical weapons depot in Pine Bluff, Ark., the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 21, 2006). In total, technicians incinerated 3,850 tons of the deadly nerve agent. “This is a great day in the history of this project,” said Lt. Col. Casey Scott, commander of the Pine Bluff Chemical Activity.  “Our community, our world is a much safer place now that this significant storage risk is gone with the elimination of these weapons.” The destroyed munitions included more than 90,000 rockets and two 1-ton containers, AP reported. After spending a few months retooling and maintaining the incinerator, operators plan to begin destroying VX-filled weapons next (Associated Press, May 22). Back to top

U.K. Files Charges in Radiation Murder Case British officials today announced murder charges against a Russian citizen for the London death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian KGB agent who died last year from radiation poisoning (see GSN, Jan. 12). The Crown Prosecution Service said it would ask Moscow to extradite Andrei Lugovoi who met with Litvinenko shortly before his death. “It is alleged that in London on or about Nov. 1, 2006, Mr. Lugovoi poisoned Mr. Litvinenko by administering a lethal dose of polonium 210, a radioactive material,” says a CPS release (CPS release/Financial Times, May 22). Russian prosecutors said they would not extradite Lugovoi, who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Times reported (Burns/Belton, Financial Times, May 22). Back to top

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