WASHINGTON NUCLEAR UPDATE

8 March 2006

In this issue:

• United States
  • U.S. Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
  • India & U.S. nuclear cooperation
  • US-UK sub-critical nuclear test
  • Safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal
  • A new Hydrogen bomb?
  • Politicization of the State Department's arms control and international security bureaus
  • New plutonium cores
  • Upgrades to Minuteman ICBMs
• France
• Iran
• Publications

Previous editions of Washington Nuclear Update are available at: http://www.basicint.org/update/wnu.htm.

UNITED STATES

U.S. Global Nuclear Energy Partnership

The U.S. Energy Department has proposed a broad global energy partnership to promote nuclear energy as a clean and safe source of electricity and to develop advanced nuclear technologies to prevent spent nuclear fuel from being used to produce nuclear weapons.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell announced the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative at a February 6 media briefing. Sell said a central goal of the partnership would be to develop and demonstrate a process to recycle spent nuclear fuel in a way that does not separate plutonium. The United States has invited India to join. See coverage by the New York Times here and by the Christian Science Monitor here.

However, the Union of Concerned Scientists Energy Department disputed claims that the technoologies developed for this initiative would be proliferation resistant.

India & U.S. nuclear cooperation

For a useful analysis of the technical implications of the separation plan for India's military nuclear capabilities, see Zia Mian's and M. V. Ramana's article in the Jan./Feb. issue of Arms Control Today

The Arms Control Association held a press briefing on The U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation Deal: A Critical Assessment on February 15.

On February 24 the Council on Foreign Relations published a Background Q&A on the deal.

On March 2 the White House released a U.S.-India Joint Statement and a fact sheet on the U.S.-Indian Strategic Partnership during President Bush's visit to India.

The Center for Nonproliferation Studies released an analysis on proliferation issues raised by the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal.

US-UK sub-critical nuclear test

On February 21 U.S. and British government scientists performed an underground nuclear experiment, short of a nuclear blast, at the Nevada Test Site. The material tested was specially processed nuclear plutonium. The test was designed to examine the effects of the explosion on the plutonium. It was the 22nd sub-critical test at the site since 1997. Scientists for the first time posted a nearly eight-minute video Web log of preparations for the experiment. See February 23 BASIC press release for details.

Safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal

On February 3, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report saying the National Nuclear Security Administration should make several improvements to its program for verifying the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

A new Hydrogen bomb?

The Tri-Valley Herald reported Feb. 5 that for the first time in more than 20 years, U.S. nuclear-weapons scientists are designing a new hydrogen bomb, the first of probably several new nuclear explosives on the drawing boards.

Politicization of the State Department's arms control and international security bureaus

Knight Ridder Newspapers reported February 7 that State Department officials appointed by President Bush have sidelined key career weapons experts and replaced them with less experienced political operatives who share the White House and Pentagon's distrust of international negotiations and treaties. The reorganization of the department's arms control and international security bureaus was intended to help it better deal with 21st-century threats. Instead, it has thrown the agency into turmoil and produced an exodus of experts with decades of experience in nuclear arms, chemical weapons and related matters.

New plutonium cores

The Albuquerque Journal reported February 7 that the Bush administration hopes to have the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico producing 30 to 40 new plutonium cores annually by 2012.

Upgrades to Minuteman ICBMs

The Feb. 21 issue of Defense Daily's Defense Watch reported that Gen. Lance Lord, the outgoing commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), says AFSPC remains interested in a concept called Minuteman Elite that would upgrade the guidance systems on a portion of the nation's Minuteman III ICBM fleet. This would give these enhanced nuclear-tipped missiles the ability to hold at risk certain types of targets that require more precision to strike because of the difficulty in accessing them, like deep underground complexes or facilities built into mountains.

FRANCE

On February 10 The Guardian reported that France has secretly modified its nuclear arsenal to increase the strike range and accuracy of its weapons. The move comes weeks after President Jacques Chirac warned that states that threatened the country could face the "ultimate warning" of a nuclear retaliation. Reportedly there had been two major changes: the bombs can now be fired at high altitude to create an "electromagnetic impulsion" to destroy the enemy's computer and communications systems; and the number of nuclear warheads has been reduced to increase the missiles' range and precision.

IRAN

On February 16 the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution, H. Con. Res. 341, condemning Iran for violating its nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations and expressing support for efforts to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

On February 27 the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report on Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran. See the astute commentary by Arms Control Work.

On March 2 the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on A Nuclear Iran: Challenges and Responses.

In his March 6 statement to the IAEA Board of Governors Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei wrote:

The report on the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran is before you. As you are aware, the Agency over the last three years has been conducting intensive investigations of Iran's nuclear programme with a view to providing assurances about the peaceful nature of that programme.

During these investigations, the Agency has not seen indications of diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Regrettably, however, after three years of intensive verification, there remain uncertainties with regard to both the scope and the nature of Iran's nuclear programme. As I mentioned in my report, this is a matter of concern that continues to give rise to questions about the past and current direction of Iran's nuclear programme.

For confidence to be built in the peaceful nature of Iran's programme, Iran should do its utmost to provide maximum transparency and build confidence. Only through clarification of all questions relevant to Iran's past programme and through confidence building measures can confidence about Iran's current nuclear activities be restored. This is clearly in the interest both of Iran and of the international community.

PUBLICATIONS

Unresolved IAEA Questions Regarding Iran's Nuclear Program, Arms Control Association, February 1, 2006.

Iran: Is There a Way Out of the Nuclear Impasse?, International Crisis Group, February 23, 2006.

What to Look For in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) FY 2007 Budget Request, Tri-Valley CAREs, Feb. 5, 2006.

Announcing the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership: Press Briefing by Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell.

Charles D. Ferguson and Ray Takeyh, Making the Right Call: How the World Can Limit Irans Nuclear Program, Arms Control Today, March 2006.

Conventional Warheads For Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, February 13, 2006.

U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Changes in Policy and Force Structure, Congressional Research Service, updated January 27, 2006.

Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, updated January 23, 2006.

North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program, Congressional Research Service, updated January 17, 2006.

Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons, Congressional Research Service, updated January 13, 2006.

Nuclear Arms Control: The U.S.-Russian Agenda, Congressional Research Service, updated January 3, 2006.

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