In addition, some American and Israeli officials, and international security analysts, say that Iran may believe that President Trump will lose the November election and that his presumptive Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., will want to resurrect some form of the negotiated settlement that the Obama administration reached with Tehran five years ago next week.
Archiv: atomic energy / power plants / industry / facilities / waste
Israel, U.S Developing Shared Strategy to Harm Iran’s Nuclear Facilities, Officials Tell NYT
The Times also said that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintains a close relationship with Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, making it unlikely that Pompeo was unaware of the plan to attack the Natanz nuclear facility – if it was indeed an Israeli-engineered operation.
Magnitude 5.1 quake strikes near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant
The quake was moderate, which can cause considerable damage, and was centered 33 miles (53 km) east of Bushehr, a nuclear plant on Iran’s southern coast on the Persian Gulf.
Germany and Brazil renew nuclear cooperation agreement; third nuclear plant to be built by 2026
Moreover, added Kotting-Uhl, with the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil now has a leader with a long-term plan to develop nuclear weapons. “He wants to complete the fuel cycle, that means the risk of Brazil producing weapons-grade material is very high,” she said.
France turns off nuclear reactors following earthquake
Reactors at a nuclear plant in south-eastern France have been switched off to allow inspectors to carry out a safety audit, following Monday’s 5.1 magnitude earthquake that injured four people.
The Plowshares 7 Found Guilty: Nuclear Weapons Are the Real Crime
On that day, April 4, 2018, the group had entered a U.S. Navy Submarine base which is a home port for the Trident nuclear missile fleet. Just one of those nuclear missiles, if launched, would cause 1,825 times more damage than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Plowshares activists aimed to expose illegal and immoral weapons that threaten all life on earth.
U.S. Energy Secretary Perry expected to announce resignation next month: Politico
Perry held talks with Falih about Saudi Arabia’s plans to build its first two commercial nuclear power plants, urging the kingdom to use U.S. nuclear technology, rather than Chinese or Russian technology.
US energy secretary says nuclear power talks with new Saudi minister likely Monday
Perry did not say where he would meet Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who took over from Khalid al-Falih on Sunday. But a US official said the meeting would likely take place on the sidelines of an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna next week.
After a String of Nuclear Incidents, Russia Just Launched a Floating Nuclear Power Plant. Is It Safe?
Russia’s far east may just be the beginning. ROSATOM has said that it’s in talks with potential customers for the floating power unit, and sees “significant market potential” in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Administration policies seek to promote use of space nuclear power
A revised policy for approving the launch of spacecraft with nuclear power systems is the latest measure intended to support greater use of nuclear power systems in orbit and beyond.
The policy, formally issued by President Trump Aug. 20 to coincide with the latest public meeting of the National Space Council, updates guidelines for how both government and commercial spacecraft carrying space nuclear systems are reviewed and approved for launch.
Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems
This memorandum establishes processes for Federal Government launches and launches for which the Department of Transportation (DOT) has statutory authority to license as commercial space launch activities (commercial launches). These processes include transparent safety guidelines and are forward-looking and amenable to effective use of space nuclear systems for heating, power, and propulsion.
The false promise of nuclear power in an age of climate change
There are now more than 450 nuclear reactors throughout the world. If nuclear power is embraced as a rescue technology, there would be many times that number, creating a worldwide chain of nuclear danger zones—a planetary system of potential self-annihilation. To be fearful of such a development is rational. What is irrational is to dismiss this concern, and to insist, after the experience of more than a half-century, that a “fourth generation” of nuclear power will change everything.
New Documents Show Corporate and Foreign Interests Seek to Influence U.S. Nuclear Policy
Chairman Cummings issued the following statement:
“Today’s report reveals new and extensive evidence that corroborates Committee whistleblowers and exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. The American people deserve to know the facts about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President’s personal friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.”
The Committee’s second interim report is based on more than 60,000 pages of new documents produced to the Committee in response to requests that Chairman Cummings made to a host of outside companies about their involvement with plans to transfer U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. The report states:
New documents and communications show that IP3, the private company lobbying the White House to transfer U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, repeatedly sought a $120 million investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It is unclear if the company ultimately received the investment.
House Oversight Committee Identifies Yet Another Trump Insider Trying To Sell Us Out To Foreign Interests
The paradox of the current GOP administration in power is that while Donald Trump gets up at the podium and brays “America First” he and his son-in-law and other minions can’t sell out our interests to foreign powers fast enough.
Trump Ally Tom Barrack Backed Saudi Nuclear Goals, House Panel Finds
Thomas Barrack Jr., a top fundraiser and confidant of President Donald Trump, urged the administration to sell Saudi Arabia nuclear technology without restrictions designed to prevent the kingdom from developing nuclear weapons, according to a report released by House Democrats Monday.
Iran says meeting with parties to 2015 nuclear deal was ‚constructive‘
“The atmosphere was constructive. Discussions were good. I cannot say that we resolved everything, I can say there are lots of commitments,” Araqchi told Reuters.
South Korea to establish joint nuclear research centre in Saudi Arabia
(16.05.2019)
The ministry expects the establishment of the Joint Research Centre to lay the foundation for long-term research cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the development of domestic nuclear energy technology.
During the meeting, the two countries agreed on technical cooperation to support the creation and licensing of a small smart nuclear reactor and the development of the next generation of SMART.
Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the US- A Bid for a Nuclear Deal.
(05.05.2018)
Precisly for that reason, the enrichment provision in the 2011 Saudi-South Korean agreement is of vital: “Uranium transferred pursuant to this Agreement or used in any equipment so transferred shall not be enriched to twenty (20) percent or more in the isotope U-235 unless the Parties otherwise agree.” In other words, the agreement permits KSA to build enrichment facilities generally, and in particular the enrichment to 20% of uranium supplied. The reason this is worrying and eerily reminiscent of the Iran deal, is its counter intuitive nature. To go past 20% enrichment to a bomb explosive level, it takes one-tenth of the work it took to get to 20%. It is especially worrying when the Saudi prince states that if Iran got a bomb, the Kingdom would too, “as soon as possible.”
‚Alarm bells‘: Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions cast shadow over the region
(24.06.2019)
„There is a concern in the administration that if the Saudis don’t choose the United States as their supplier, they will turn to South Korea, Russia, or China, who tend to have weaker nonproliferation controls in their agreements,“ said Miller, the author of, Stopping the Bomb: The Sources and Effectiveness of US Nonproliferation Policy.
Trump is provoking a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. What could go wrong?
(06.06.2019)
How grimly galling, as Donald Trump ostentatiously marks today’s 75th anniversary of one of the world’s biggest battles, that he is so ready to risk starting another one of potentially greater magnitude. What could possibly be that dangerous, you might ask. Answer: selling American nuclear knowhow to Saudi Arabia without radiation-proof guarantees that it will not be used to make atomic bombs.
Why Is the Trump Administration So Eager to See a Nuclear Saudi Arabia?
(05.06.2019)
The Trump administration twice approved the transfer of nuclear technical expertise to Saudi Arabia after last year’s murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to new revelations this week. The disclosures have fueled frustrations in Congress over the administration’s apparent eagerness to aid Riyadh and its nuclear ambitions, including repeatedly ignoring and blindsiding lawmakers.
As Saudi Arabia Builds A Nuclear Reactor, Some Worry About Its Motives
(06.05.2019)
Saudi Arabia’s plans appear, on paper, to be entirely peaceful. But some arms control experts are concerned that its nuclear energy ambitions may also be part of its ongoing rivalry with Iran, which already possesses dual-use technology that could aid in the production of a nuclear bomb.
The U.S. and others such as South Korea and China are pushing ahead with plans to help Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear program.
Korea’s nuclear reactor technologies allegedly leaked to UAE, US
(18.06.2019)
According to multiple local news reports Tuesday, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and the National Intelligence Service are verifying the authenticity of a tipoff delivered to the NSSC through a nuclear safety ombudsman system.
Based on the tipoff, one retiree from state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has allegedly leaked “critical” nuclear reactor technologies to the US and the United Arab Emirates. The retiree had reportedly moved to the UAE’s Nawah Energy Company in 2015.
More than ever, South Koreans want their own nuclear weapons
(13.09.2017)
There are many reasons South Korea probably will not pursue this path. A big one: President Moon Jae-in took office in May promising a path toward denuclearization of the whole peninsula, so the chances of South Korean nuclear armament are slim.
But this debate has become a key issue after North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test, carried out Sept. 3, and the controversy underscores the frustration in the South over the North’s expanding nuclear and missile program.
US Lobby Group Criticizes S. Korea’s Nuclear-Phase Out Policy
(21.06.2019)
The head of a U.S. environmental lobby group that promotes nuclear power as an environmentally friendly source of energy has criticized the Moon Jae-in administration’s policy to lower South Korea’s dependence on nuclear energy.
Environmental Progress’ chief activist Michael Shellenberger sounded his disapproval at a talk session arranged by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party at the National Assembly on Friday.
Moon, Saudi crown prince to hold summit on Wednesday
Beyond traditional fields like construction and energy, the two nations are seeking to increase the scope of cooperation into other sectors, including ICT, nuclear power and health care.
International Atomic Energy Agency recognizes Palestine as a state
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed an agreement to recognize Palestine, as a state as it joined the international body as a observer on Tuesday. While it is not a member, it can attend meetings as an observer, an IAEA spokesperson said.
40 Years After A Partial Nuclear Meltdown, A New Push To Keep Three Mile Island Open
But mounting concerns about climate change, and the need for zero-carbon power, are also driving a new push to keep Three Mile Island and other nuclear reactors open. It’s a turnaround few would have foreseen in the chaotic days after the accident.
Top Trump appointees promoted selling nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia over objections from national security officials, House Democratic report says
The possible sale of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia was discussed in the Oval Office just last week. The meeting included Energy Secretary Rick Perry, representatives from the NSC and State Department, and a dozen nuclear industry chief executives, one of the people present told The Washington Post.