IAEA safeguards chief Olli Heinonen speaks to reporters yesterday in Beijing prior to entering North Korea for nuclear talks (Teh Eng Koon/Getty Images). IAEA Officials to See North Korean Plutonium-Producing Reactor International Atomic Energy Agency officials visiting North Korea are expected to have the chance to view the plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear reactor, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 26). “Tomorrow, we’re going to Yongbyon,” agency safeguards chief Olli Heinonen told the Kyodo News agency today. This would be the first agency visit to the reactor since North Korea ejected inspectors in 2002 and announced the nation’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty...Full Story

Energy Department Pushes for GNEP and RRW By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In an effort to rally support for two embattled U.S. Energy Department initiatives, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a senior department official described them yesterday as complementary nonproliferation efforts (see GSN, June 26)...Full Story

Russia Boosts Nuclear Missile Production In a thinly veiled response to U.S. plans for a missile defense system on its doorstep, Russia yesterday announced a new phase of strategic rearmament, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, June 14)...Full Story

	Wednesday, June 27, 2007

IAEA Officials to See North Korean Plutonium-Producing Reactor International Atomic Energy Agency officials visiting North Korea are expected to have the chance to view the plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear reactor, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 26). “Tomorrow, we’re going to Yongbyon,” agency safeguards chief Olli Heinonen told the Kyodo News agency today. This would be the first agency visit to the reactor since North Korea ejected inspectors in 2002 and announced the nation’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Heinonen is leading a team for talks in Pyongyang on monitoring the shutdown of the reactor, which would be the first step toward dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program under a February agreement.  In return, the isolated Stalinist state would receive aid from other nations participating in the six-party talks. “I think we had a good meeting.  It’s in the middle of talks.  It’s not appropriate to comment,” Heinonen told Kyodo. South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, preparing to travel to the United States, said he believed the reactor “will be shut down as early as possible,” AFP reported. He is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for talks on “how to structure the measures that will follow the initial actions for the denuclearization, how to schedule them, and how we should conduct consultations with countries concerned.” A senior European Union official also expressed optimism regarding Pyongyang’s willingness to follow through on the agreement, which a number of observers have questioned. “We had a real impression that they are willing immediately (to carry out) the shutdown,” said Hubert Pirker, head of a European parliament delegation that left Pyongyang on Tuesday after four days in North Korea (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, June 27). The United States also plans to independently verify closure of the Yongbyon reactor, Reuters reported today. “We will try to verify the shutdown in support of and in coordination with other agencies, including the IAEA,” said Adm. Timothy Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command.  “You bet, we’re going to pay very close attention along with other countries in the six-party talks” (Reuters/New York Times, June 27). Back to top       Energy Department Pushes for GNEP and RRW By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In an effort to rally support for two embattled U.S. Energy Department initiatives, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a senior department official described them yesterday as complementary nonproliferation efforts (see GSN, June 26). The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a Bush administration plan to spread proliferation-resistant nuclear energy plants globally, and the Reliable Replacement Warhead, the effort to develop a next-generation nuclear warhead, “are in fact built on the same strategic foundation,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell. Speaking at the Carnegie International Nonproliferation Conference, Sell said both programs represent “a firm commitment to reducing the number of weapons and weapons-capable states, while ensuring the benefits of nuclear power are spread as widely as possible.” Sell echoed administration arguments for the RRW program, suggesting it would allow the United States to draw down its large stockpile of nondeployed warheads that are maintained, in part, to offset the potential failure of any one weapons system. The new warheads would be less likely to fail than the Cold War-era weapons and would be less likely to require a return to explosive testing to confirm their viability, department officials have said in promoting the program. “The United States has the opportunity now to prudently, effectively and significantly reduce the number of our nuclear weapons by moving from our Cold War stockpile to a stockpile that is still safer, more secure and far less likely to ever require nuclear testing,” Sell said. He suggested that the nuclear material from warheads disassembled as a result of the RRW program could be funneled into the fuel supply for what is expected to be an increasing number of nuclear power plants worldwide. A number of the “security and safety techniques” that officials say will be incorporated into the new planned warhead and the infrastructure that would be required to produce it “should likewise be applicable to an expanding global civilian nuclear power enterprise,” Sell said. “No person can be serious about climate change without being serious about greatly expanding nuclear power,” he said.  The GNEP program would seek to boost nuclear power while mitigating the risk that the spread of fuel-cycle technology would allow additional states to produce nuclear weapons material. The partnership seeks to develop technologies to “recycle spent fuel in a proliferation-resistant manner” and to present “strong commercial incentives against new states building their own enrichment and reprocessing capabilities,” Sell said. Critics have questioned whether a new nuclear warhead could be deployed without explosive testing, and have said that developing a new weapon sends the wrong message on nonproliferation.  There have also been doubts on administration claims that the GNEP program would eliminate the potential proliferation dangers of fuel recycling. Back to top       Russia Boosts Nuclear Missile Production In a thinly veiled response to U.S. plans for a missile defense system on its doorstep, Russia yesterday announced a new phase of strategic rearmament, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, June 14). Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov affirmed the fresh production of Topol-M strategic missiles while visiting the plant at Votkinsk, approximately 620 miles from the Kremlin. “We are now moving on to a new and very important rearmament stage for both our nuclear strategic forces and our tactical complexes,” he said.  “These are not prototypes but mass production.” “I am talking of stationary Topol-M missile complexes,” he added, “but also of mobile ones which can be fitted with different types of warhead, as well as Iskander-M missiles.” The Topol-M is an ICBM with a range of 6,200 miles, about the distance from Moscow to Los Angeles.  The Iskander-M is a tactical ballistic missile designed for short-range engagements. Ivanov announced last year that Russia would build 40 Topol-M missiles annually (see GSN, May 30).  He also said that Russian armed forces looked forward to deploying 60 Iskander-M missiles by 2015, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, June 26). Back to top       U.S. Lawmakers Seek to Bolster Iran Sanctions A U.S. House committee yesterday approved a bill to strengthen penalties against foreign companies that conduct major energy business with Iran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 26). “By now, every single European leader fully understands, and acknowledges, that Iran is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.).  “It is time for Europe to cease investing in Iran’s energy industry, and our legislation will facilitate that result.” “Investment in Iran’s petroleum sector enables that country to pursue nuclear weapons, to arm insurgents fighting American troops and to underwrite Hezbollah and Hamas,” added Representative Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). The committee’s 37-1 approval vote for the bill reflected major bipartisan support for the legislation, said Lantos, who said that 300 of the House’s 435 members support the measure. Current law requires sanctions against companies that have large oil or gas contracts with Iran, but the law allows the president to waive the penalties.  The new bill would limit the president’s freedom to grant those waivers. Lantos said the Bush administration has been “abusing its waiver authority” by never allowing sanctions against major foreign oil firms. European and Japanese firms have profited greatly from U.S. laws prohibiting U.S. firms from participating in Iran energy projects, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, June 27). Back to top       IAEA Signs Nuclear Security Deals With China, Qatar The International Atomic Energy Agency this month signed agreements with two nations to improve their nuclear security efforts, the agency announced yesterday. The “practical cooperation arrangements” with China and Qatar were signed June 13 and June 8, respectively.  The agreements call for the agency to advise the nations on improving physical security at nuclear facilities, to provide equipment to detect and prevent nuclear theft, and to offer information on international nuclear smuggling incidents. In addition, the agency has promised to aid Chinese security efforts at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (see GSN, June 21; International Atomic Energy Agency release, June 26). Back to top       Laptop Theft Is Latest Los Alamos Security Lapse A Los Alamos National Laboratory worker violated security policies recently, drawing continued attention to a string of lapses at the nuclear weapons facility, Newsweek reported Monday (see GSN, June 18). Last month, thieves stole the staffer’s laptop computer from an Irish hotel where he was vacationing.  The machine held “government documents of a sensitive nature,” said a senior nuclear official familiar with the laboratory. The worker “did violate lab policy” by traveling with his computer without permission, said National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes, but permission would probably have been granted had it been requested. “Information contained on the computer was of sufficiently low sensitivity that, had the employee followed proper laboratory procedure, he would have been authorized to take it to Ireland,” said Los Alamos spokesman Jeff Berger. Berger reaffirmed that the laboratory was working “to strengthen our employees’ awareness of their responsibilities for protecting government equipment and the proper laboratory procedures for off-site usage.” The incident followed another in which a laboratory scientist e-mailed classified nuclear information on the open Internet, Newsweek reported. “I can confirm that an individual did in fact unintentionally transmit sensitive information through an unsecured e-mail system,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).  “While serious, the incident in question was the result of human error, not a failure of security systems.” “The department makes every effort to minimize inadvertent human errors, but we recognize that such errors may occur,” he added.  “Therefore, we have a robust system in place to report and investigate potential violations.  In my opinion, this is a circumstance where those systems worked well” (John Barry, Newsweek, June 25). Another laboratory spokesman urged overseers to be less demanding. “This recent tendency to hold this laboratory accountable for its employees to be anything less than perfect is unrealistic,” said spokesman Kevin Roark (Andy Lenderman, Santa Fe New Mexican, June 26). The laboratory and Energy Department responses were unlikely to comfort House lawmakers, who have recommended significant cuts to the Los Alamos budget in fiscal 2008, Newsweek reported (see GSN, June 21). “Boys will be boys, seems to be Bodman’s message,” said a high-level figure in the weapons community.  “I doubt that will appease John Dingell” (Barry, Newsweek). Back to top

University Failed to Report Infections, Group Says Texas A&M University for one year failed to report that three researchers had been infected with the potential biological weapons agent Q fever, a watchdog organization said yesterday (see GSN, April 18). The Sunshine Project stated that the university identified the accidental infections in April 2006, but did not notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until this year, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.   The university was required under federal law to immediately report the incident and to submit a report within a week, the group said. “A&M’s infection of its staff and students with bioweapons agents and its serial violations of (federal regulations) demand law enforcement,” said Sunshine Project director Edward Hammond. “Congress surely did not intend biology professors to consider law to prevent bioterrorism optional,” he added. Hammond’s group earlier this year reported that the university had delayed notification by one year of another 2006 incident in which a researcher became infected with brucella bacteria.  He called for the university to face penalties under the federal Bioterrorism Act. Signs of Q fever exposure turned up in the three employees undergoing a yearly health plan survey, the university said.  “In connection with the ongoing investigation by CDC, the university adopted a procedure in April 2007 that redefines occupational exposure … (and) we dutifully reported … to the CDC following the adoption of this procedure,” university interim Vice President and Provost Jerry Strawser said in a prepared statement. “We are awaiting a CDC response and will have no further comment until that time,” he added. A CDC investigation is under way, and there are indications that the university failed to obey notification guidelines, a spokesman for the federal health agency told the Star-Telegram.  The Health and Human Services inspector general would have the final say on levying fines or penalties against the university. It was not immediately known how the infections occurred.  None of the researchers became sick. Q fever is an animal disease that can be passed to humans.  It is highly contagious, but can be treated with antibiotics and leads to death in only 1 to 2 percent of patients, Hammond said (R.A. Dyer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 27). Back to top

African Nations Discuss Joining Chemical Treaty Diplomats from four African nations met last week to discuss joining the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to a release (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2006). Working toward the goal of “universal adherence” to the treaty on the continent, the talks were co-sponsored by the government of Algeria, the European Union and the treaty’s oversight institution, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  OPCW head Rogelio Pfirter met privately with representatives from the four candidate nations, Angola, Congo, Egypt and Guinea-Bissau, to accelerate their applications.  Today, 48 African countries adhere to the treaty banning development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. In addition to the aspiring signatories, the chemical weapons workshop brought together representatives from the League of Arab States, the 1540 Committee, the U.N. Disarmament Affairs Department, and officials from African states already party to the pact. Experts described the advantages of peaceful chemistry in Africa, benefits of treaty participation, and enforcement mechanisms operating in member nations.  Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci, host for the two-day discussions, marked the 10th anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention by reaffirming his nation’s commitment to banning chemical weapons on the continent (see GSN, April 27; Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, June 26). Back to top

Possible North Korean Missile Test Reported North Korea might have conducted another missile test today, apparently launching a short-range weapon from its east coast, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 20). “We have signs that North Korea fired a short-range missile into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) off the coast of South Hamgyong at around 11:30 this morning and we’re running a close analysis on that,” a South Korean government official told the Yonhap News Agency. It was not immediately known what type of missile had been fired. Pyongyang has launched a number of short-range missiles in tests since late May.  Nations involved in the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program have said they appear to be part of normal drills and are not cause for concern (Reuters/New York Times, June 27). Back to top

Poland Missile Defense Deal Could be Finished Soon The agreement for Poland to host 10 U.S. missile interceptors could be finalized by September, a senior Polish official said yesterday (see GSN, June 12). Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski met Monday with Assistant Secretary of State John Rood, the Associated Press reported.  They said afterward that the meeting had moved Poland closer to participating in Washington’s plans for missile defense sites in Europe, which also include installing a radar base in the Czech Republic. While some legal and logistical issues persist regarding the interceptor base, “there don’t appear to be any show stoppers,” Rood told AP. Waszczykowski criticized the recent offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to have the United States use an existing radar in Azerbaijan rather than developing the Czech installation.  Russian leaders have vehemently opposed the U.S. plans, calling them a threat to their nation’s security. “I think it was an intentional effort to block or freeze the discussion,” said Waszczykowski, Poland’s top negotiator on the missile defense proposal.  “It was a smart idea by Putin to make things fuzzy.” U.S. officials have said they are considering the Russian offer, but as an addition rather than a replacement to the present plans. While Russia has questioned the missile threat posed by Iran, a primary justification for the missile shield, Waszczykowski said Putin’s offer indicates he believes there is cause for concern, AP reported. “He put himself in a trap, because he can no longer argue that there is no threat,” he said. The Soviet-era Azerbaijan site, leased by Russia, “is an outdated radar,” Waszczykowski said.  “It could serve as a first-warning radar, but could not trace the full trajectory of a missile (Associated Press/USA Today, June 26). Back to top

FDA Releases High-Tech Food Protection Aid The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has developed a computer program to assess the food industry’s vulnerabilities to chemical, biological, and radiological contamination, the agency announced earlier this month (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2006). Adapting risk assessment attributes from a U.S. military acronym, the software program is called CARVER+Shock, with the first word standing for criticality, accessibility, recuperability, vulnerability, effect, and recognizability.  “Shock” acknowledges the sweeping psychological turmoil expected in the wake of a food-borne terrorist attack. “FDA’s goal in developing the CARVER+Shock software is to maximize protection of the American food supply,” said David Acheson, FDA assistant commissioner for food protection, in a press release. The paper-less platform expedites the process of assessing the vulnerability of food industry plants to acts of terrorism.  Formerly, government inspectors would need two to three days to question up to 30 plant employees, according to Donald Kautter Jr., acting supervisor of the FDA food defense oversight team. “What we’ve done is taken that face-to-face interaction and put it into a software program so that the questions and discussion are posed by the computer,” he said in the release. CARVER+Shock is available for download on the FDA’s Web site.  It requires a small team from the food plant and lasts less than a day, according to the press release.  Including more than 100 questions, the program prompts employees about vulnerable areas within their facility and the food production process while pinpointing the greatest threat type. “CARVER helps industry think like an attacker so that it can identify any weak spots and put countermeasures into place,” Kautter said in the release (U.S. Food and Drug Administration release, June 15).   Back to top

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