NucNews - February 14, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR 30 more countries are potential nuclear powers: Annan Monday February 14, 2005 News International, Pakistan http://jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2005-daily/14-02-2005/world/w1.htm MUNICH: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned here on Sunday of the danger of a "cascade" of nuclear proliferation unless new steps are taken to prevent it and called for help to stop killings in Darfur. Annan told a conference of defence ministers and security experts that "the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has helped prevent a cascade of nuclear proliferation. "But unless new steps are taken now, we might face such a cascade very soon," he said. Annan said a high-level panel which has proposed far-reaching reforms of the United Nations has also made "many forward-looking recommendations" to beef up the system to prevent states from developing nuclear weapons. Without making direct reference to the current nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, Annan said: "Member states must summon the will to act to strengthen the non-proliferation regime." The UN chief believes that up to 30 countries could seek to develop a nuclear weapons capability. "Those who have the nuclear weapons are quite well known, we have about seven (or) eight of them," Annan told the BBC in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Sunday. "But there are estimates that about 30 countries can have it (and) have the capacity to have it," he said UN Secretary General also stressed on Europe and the United States to devise new ways of adapting collective security solutions for a world transformed by new threats. "Our global security environment has been transformed and our global collective security system, including the United Nations, must be transformed too," Annan said on the final day of a gathering of defence ministers and experts in the German city of Munich. Annan said support for a blueprint for a wide-ranging review of the UN he will present next month would recommend tougher rules to prevent nuclear proliferation and a better approach to fight terrorism. His call for Europe and the United States "to think ahead, and to help plant the seeds of long-term global collective security" summed up the underlying theme of the annual conference. Annan warned of a "cascade" of nuclear proliferation unless the stronger checks suggested by a panel of experts were introduced and said the world must adapt to threats that can appear "literally from a clear blue sky". The annual conference was dominated by the relationship between the United States and Europe, which is still being strained by Iraq, and particularly that between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and the European Union’s developing security capability. Annan meanwhile told the conference "the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has helped prevent a cascade of nuclear proliferation. "But unless new steps are taken now, we might face such a cascade very soon," he said. -------- canada Alberta Star Purchases Macinnis Lake Uranium Properties and Increases its Uranium Portfolio in the Northwest Territories (BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005 Alberta Star Development Corp. http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050214005142&newsLang=en VANCOUVER, British Columbia--Tim Coupland, President and CEO of Alberta Star Development Corp. (ASX), listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and on the OTCBB (ASXSF), is pleased to announce that the company has agreed to purchase a 100% interest in 18,953.64 acres called the MacInnis Lake uranium properties located in the Northwest Territories from three private individuals. PURCHASE AGREEMENT - MACINESS LAKE URANIUM CLAIMS Alberta Star has agreed to purchase a 100% interest, subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty (NSR"), in the MacInnis Lake Uranium claims (18,953.64 acres) by paying $60,000 and issuing 300,000 shares, conditional on TSX Venture Exchange acceptance for filing. Alberta Star may purchase half of the NSR for a one time payment of 1 million dollars. MACINNIS LAKE - URANIUM PROPERTIES The MacInnis Lake uranium claim block is comprised of 18,953.64 acres and is located in the Nonacho Basin 150 km northeast of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories and 275 km southeast of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The MacInnis Lake area is known to have widespread surface uranium mineralization, and contains 28 known high grade uranium showings that were discovered between 1954 and 1988. Uranium exploration on the MacInnis Lake properties and was commenced in 1954 with the discovery of large uranium outcrops and widespread surface uranium mineralization. Uranium exploration continued extensively until 1988 and the results have been reported by the Geological Survey of Canada. Uranium exploration involved companies such as Cominco, Shell, PNC, and Uranerz. The MacIinnis Lake uranium properties are located in the Nonacho Basin, a sandstone terrane of Proterozoic age that rests unconformably on Archean basement formations. This setting is geologically analogous to the Athabasca Sandstone Basin of Northern Saskatchewan. The MacInnis Lake uranium occurrences are characterized as unconformity related. The MacInnis lake area is situated 280km north of Saskatchewan's Athabasca Uranium Basin, and is considered one of the Northwest Territories most prospective uranium bearing regions. Alberta Star will immediately commence plans to explore and expand uranium drill targets at MacInnis Lake. Preparations for an aggressive spring and summer exploration season consisting of regional mapping, trenching, reviewing archived drill data and completing a comprehensive regional airborne magnetic and radiometric survey have begun. Drill targeting will focus on expanding known uranium showings. Erik Ostensoe, P.Geo is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical information contained within this news release on MacInnis Lake Uranium Project. LONGTOM LAKE IOCG/URANIUM PROJECT-NWT Alberta Star has already intersected high grade Uranium mineralization in both of its recent drill programs at Longtom Lake in 2003 and 2004, in Canada's Northwest Territories. Drilling intersected: - 1.68% U3O8 over 1.0 metre at a down hole depth of 80 metres. This uranium intercept was part of a broader interval that returned 0.56% U3O8 over 3.0 metres. - 0.16% U3O8 over 1.0 metres was intersected at a depth of 51 metres in the same hole. Previous drill campaigns by Alberta Star, Tyhee Development Corp. and the Central Electricity Board Exploration Ltd. (CEGB) in 1986, have also intersected significant anomalous to high grade uranium. Within a 300 metre radius of Alberta Star/Fronteer's new high grade discovery, eight historic drill holes intersected uranium mineralization with values ranging between: - 0.21% U3O8 over 0.6 metres at a down hole depth of 45 metres and - 0.48% U3O8 over 1.5 metres at a down hole depth of 59 metres. Based on recent drill hole results and historical results in the surrounding area, there are indications of a near surface uranium system. The world average grade from producing uranium mines is 0.15% U308. Fronteer's summer 2004 drill program completed 2100 metres of drilling to test the copper-gold-silver-uranium targets based on surface mineralization, geophysical data and historic drilling results. Other significant results include: - 0.19% copper over 15 metres at a down hole depth of 37 metres and 0.14% cobalt over 6 metres at a down hole depth of 185 metres Alberta Star, under the direction of Jan Klein M.Sc., P. Eng., P. Geo its consulting geophysicist is currently finalizing for completion its extensive geophysical data sets and uranium drill database for the Longtom Property. Alberta Star has adopted a strategy which will allow the company to focus largely on the exploration and development of the Longtom Property and MacInnis Lake uranium properties as uranium assets, as part of a long term strategy to take advantage of the growth in the U.S. and world-wide electrical energy demand. This increasing demand is occurring at a time when mine supplies are dwindling and inventories are being depleted. Over the next decade, uranium supply is expected to fall short of demand and the current production shortfall is more than 300 million pounds. Spot uranium prices have risen from a cyclical low of $7.10 (U.S.) per pound in late 2000 to a recent 20 year-high. Based on uranium's current spot price of $21.00/lb and its longer term price projections, Fronteer, as operator will prepare a follow up exploration program on the Longtom Property to explore and expand uranium targets. Fronteer has the option to earn a 75% interest in the Longtom Lake property from Alberta Star by paying $15,000 in cash and spending an aggregate of $500,000 on exploration over three years. Fronteer is the operator of the program during the earn-in period. ALLAN FELDMAN-INVESTOR RELATIONS Investors are welcomed to contact Mr. Allan Feldman, Alberta Star's In-house Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Specialist, for all corporate updates at (604) 948-9663. ALBERTA STAR DEVELOPMENT CORP. Tim Coupland, President & CEO Dr. Rick Valenta P.Geo of Fronteer Development Group is the qualified person for the Longtom Lake IOCG project. This News Release includes certain "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward looking statements that involve that involve various degrees of risk. The following are important factors that could cause Alberta Star's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements: changes in the world wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. To view the maps accompanying this press release please click on the following links: http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/database/fax/2000/ASXa.gif http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/database/fax/2000/ACXb.gif The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this News Release. Alberta Star Development Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ASX) (OTC Bulletin Board:ASXSF) Contacts Alberta Star Development Corp. Tim Coupland President and CEO (604) 681-3131 Fax: (604) 801-5499 www.alberta-star.com -------- europe Lithuania's nuclear plant sees profits surge by 43.7 percent VILNIUS (AFP) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050214140648.mhvg7gz2.html Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant, which last year shut down one of its two Chernobyl-type reactors, earned 22.558 million litas (6.5 million euros, 8.4 million dollars) in pretax profit in 2004, a 43.7-percent surge compared to the previous year, the company said Monday. Turnover at the plant last year contracted by 9.4 percent to 724 million litas. The first of two reactors at Ignalina was halted on December 31 in line with a pledge made by Lithuania during European Union membership talks. The Baltic state joined the EU in May last year. The deal with the EU provided that the nuclear facility be entirely closed in 2009. The Ignalina plant, which supplied more than 70 percent of all energy consumed in the Baltic state, operated two RBMK reactors -- the same type as those used at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant, which exploded in 1986 in the world's worst civil nuclear disaster. Almost half the electricity produced at Ignalina was destined for export -- some 7.3 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of the 13.917 billion sold last year by the plant went abroad, mainly to Russia, Belarus and Latvia. With just one reactor in operation, exports of electricity are expected to shrink to some two billion kWh this year. The government wants to continue using nuclear energy and has announced plans to seek international help to build and finance a new nuclear reactor. The EU has promised to finance the closure of the Ignalina plant, estimated at between two and three billion euros (2.5-3.75 billion dollars) over 30 years. -------- india / pakistan Britain's Straw 'confident' Pakistan can handle nuke inquiry ISLAMABAD (AFP) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050214132100.fwyayp9f.html British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday he was confident Pakistan was properly investigating its disgraced nuclear hero Abdul Qadeer Khan despite refusing to let international bodies quiz him. Straw said he also supports a diplomatic solution to a standoff between Iran and the United States over its uranium enrichment programme. Iran was one of three countries to which Khan admitted passing nuclear technology. "I have not directly raised the matter with the Pakistanis but we have very substantial confidence in President Musharraf and the Pakistani government about the way in which they are dealing with the issue in the aftermath of Dr Khan," he told a news conference in Islamabad. Straw was speaking after meeting Pakistan's military ruler President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his counterpart Khurshid Kasuri on the first day of a week-long tour of South Asia. The talks concentrated on nuclear arms, counter-terrorism, the fragile peace process between Pakistan and India and the rebuilding of war-shattered Afghanistan, officials said. Musharraf has repeatedly refused to allow the United States or the International Atomic Energy Agency to question Khan, who in February 2004 confessed to passing nuclear know-how to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Although Khan has been under effective house arrest ever since, Musharraf gave him a conditional pardon and said no government or military body was involved in the scandal. Kasuri told the joint conference that Pakistan would continue to cooperate over the rogue scientist and had earned the international community's confidence. "If our British and American friends bring forth more evidence we will confront A.Q. Khan and will convey the information again. That is a reflection of our commitment to non-proliferation," he said. On Iran, Straw said he believed there "can be and ought to be a diplomatic solution to the problem". The United States accuses Iran of trying to obtain nuclear weapons under cover of developing a civilian atomic energy programme and has not ruled out a military option against it. Britain, along with France and Germany is trying to persuade Iran it should dismantle its enrichment programme in return for economic and political rewards. Straw said the peace process between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, which has stalled in recent months on a number of key issues, had the "best chance in two generations" of succeeding. Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh is due in Islamabad on Tuesday for a rare visit in a bid to push the fragile peace dialogue along. Straw and Kasuri also discussed counter-terrorism. Both Islamabad and London are allies of Washington in its so-called war on terror and Pakistan has caught a number of key Al-Qaeda militants since 9/11. Straw was due to deliver a lecture in the eastern city of Lahore later on Monday. He is scheduled to travel to the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday and then on to New Delhi later in the week. -------- korea South Korea: N. Korea Not a Nuclear State By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 14, 2005 Filed at 7:23 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Koreas-Nuclear.html SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's point man on the North cautioned Monday that it would be premature to declare North Korea a nuclear power despite its claim to having atomic weapons. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young noted North Korea has yet to conduct a nuclear test, unlike other nuclear powers such as India and Pakistan. ``I believe it is early for us to call the North a nuclear state,'' when it has not been independently confirmed, Chung said in a speech to parliament. The secretive communist nation announced Thursday that it has built nuclear weapons and was staying away from international disarmament talks. The claim dramatically raised tensions in the two-year standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions. He said even senior U.S. officials who have pushed for a hard line on North Korea have said it's not clear if North Korea really has such arms. Chung, the South's point man on Pyongyang, noted Korea has said it has atomic weapons at least 10 times since 2003. ``It's definite that North Korea possesses 10 to 14 kilograms of plutonium that can make one or two nuclear weapons,'' he said. However, he said there was no ``conclusive evidence that North Korea made plutonium bombs'' with the material, but that other countries suspect North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs. Chung urged North Korea to embrace the spirit of denuclearization, saying it will ``be difficult for North Korea to become a trusted member of the international community if it holds and develops nuclear weapons.'' Also Monday, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun received a report from his top security aides about the North's latest statement on its nuclear program, and ordered them to ``carefully handle'' the issue, Roh's office said without giving further details. Opposition lawmakers were skeptical about Chung's optimism over the nuclear situation and charged that the government was not pushing the North hard enough to return to the negotiating table. ``When a father wants his son to quit smoking ... shouldn't he stop giving his son money to buy cigarettes?'' said Hong Joon-pyo of the main opposition Grand National Party. ``Peaceful resolution is good, but the government lacks concrete measures.'' South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday in Washington amid U.S efforts to coax North Korea back to six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear program. North Korea accuses the United States of planning to invade and says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself. Washington denies it intends to attack and insists that the communist North return to the talks, which also involve South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. The parties have also urged Beijing -- Pyongyang's last major ally and a key supplier of food and energy to the impoverished country -- to use its influence over North Korea. China pledged over the weekend to try to revive the talks and on Monday said it was reaching out to Russia for help. ``The Chinese side will make the utmost effort to work with the related parties, including Russia, to promote the process of the six-party talks,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a telephone call, the Chinese government said. ---- Seoul Doubts N.Korea Has Nukes, Despite Claim By REUTERS Published: February 14, 2005 Filed at 7:33 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-korea-northrefile.html SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's top policymaker on North Korea said Monday North Korea's claim to have nuclear weapons was unproven and Seoul's controversial engagement policy with the North would remain, at least for now. North Korea explicitly said for the first time last Thursday that it had atomic weapons. The reclusive communist state also said it was pulling out of six-party talks aimed at ending a two-year impasse over its nuclear programs because of what it called U.S. hostility. ``There is no doubt that North Korea has 10 to 14 kg (22 to 31 pounds) of plutonium, but there is no evidence that the North has turned it into plutonium bombs,'' Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young told parliament Monday. ``We see it as a claim to own nuclear weapons, not an official statement of being a nuclear weapons state,'' he said. Chung also heads South Korea's National Security Council, which advises President Roh Moo-hyun. U.S. officials and experts say North Korea probably has one or two -- and possibly more than eight -- nuclear weapons. A South Korean Defense White Paper released on Feb. 4 said North Korea was believed to have conducted an aerial blast test and has probably built one or two nuclear weapons. Domestic pressure is mounting on the South Korean government to reconsider its policy of reconciliation with the North. The conservative opposition said the government's policy on the North has made it ``a nuclear hostage'' and urged Seoul to reconsider commercial projects and aid under the government's engagement policy with the North. ``There is no reason to immediately change this policy direction,'' Chung said. ``It is true that the situation has worsened,'' he said, adding the government would analyze how to proceed on commercial projects. The two Koreas are jointly developing an industrial zone in the North Korean city of Kaesong, just north of the fortified border, for South Korean firms seeking to benefit from the North's cheap labor. Seoul has postponed making a decision on Pyongyang's request for 500,000 tons of fertilizer. South Korea provided 400,000 tons of bilateral food aid and 300,000 tons of fertilizer to the North last year. Chung said Pyongyang probably made the nuclear declaration to put pressure on Washington and attempt to boost its negotiating position in the six-country talks, if and when they resume. South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia met for three rounds of the talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs in return for aid and security guarantees. A planned fourth round never materialized, but many had expected the talks would resume soon after President Bush was inaugurated for a second term. North Korea has been playing a nuclear card to win diplomatic and economic benefits since the standoff emerged in October 2002 after Washington accused Pyongyang of conducting a secret program to enrich uranium in violation of a 1994 accord. North Korea seeks direct negotiations with the United States, which Washington rejects, although U.S. officials have held open the possibility of direct talks within the six-party framework. South Korea and the United States are hoping China can persuade the North to go back to the stalled talks, but analysts questioned whether China's influence on its communist neighbor was strong enough to convince the North. ``Pyongyang's announcement that it now has nuclear weapons is also a slap on the face for Beijing,'' the California-based Center for Nonproliferation Studies said. South Korean Foreign Minister Bank Ki-moon was scheduled to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday. A senior Chinese communist party official is expected to visit Pyongyang soon to press for resumption of the talks. ---- U.S. Is Shaping Plan to Pressure North Koreans By DAVID E. SANGER Published: February 14, 2005 NY TIMES http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/politics/14korea.html WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 - In the months before North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, the Bush administration began developing new strategies to choke off its few remaining sources of income, based on techniques in use against Al Qaeda, intelligence officials and policy makers involved in the planning say. The initial steps are contained in a classified "tool kit" of techniques to pressure North Korea that has been refined in recent weeks by the National Security Council. The new strategies would intensify and coordinate efforts to track and freeze financial transactions that officials say enable the government of Kim Jong Il to profit from counterfeiting, drug trafficking and the sale of missile and other weapons technology. Some officials describe the steps as building blocks for what could turn into a broader quarantine if American allies in Asia - particularly China and South Korea - can be convinced that Mr. Kim's declaration on nuclear weapons last week means he must finally be forced to choose between disarmament and even deeper isolation. China and South Korea have been reluctant to impose penalties on the North. To some degree the effort arises from Washington's lack of leverage over North Korea, and the absence of good military options, and it is far from clear that the administration's development of what one official calls "new instruments of pressure" will work. More than four decades of economic embargos of Cuba, tried by nine presidents, have failed, largely because European, Canadian and Latin American allies have not joined in. Nor have they succeeded against the Burmese, also a major source of drugs. The Secret Service has tried for years to halt North Korean counterfeiting, and Australia and Japan have tried to end its sales of amphetamines and heroin. In interviews over the past three weeks, administration officials have denied that the renewed effort is part of an unstated initiative to topple Mr. Kim. But several officials say North Korea has stepped up its illicit trafficking and counterfeiting in part to make up for lost missile sales and a crackdown on cash transfers from North Koreans living in Japan, some of which are illegal. "We think they are desperate to put more money into the nuclear program and we're trying to cut that off," said one senior official. Some officials acknowledge that undermining Mr. Kim's hold on power could be a side effect of the program, if it was successful. "That wasn't the intent in drafting it," said one senior official who involved in the process. "Whether it could be one of the results is anyone's guess." Several officials cautioned, however, that the new "tool kit" did not yet constitute a plan of action because the United States was only slowly trying to engage other nations in the strategy. They said some of the new techniques had already been carried out, but would not say which ones. Details of the "tool kit" were described by officials in one intelligence agency and two other government agencies. One official of a foreign government who has been briefed on parts of it confirmed some of the elements. On Sunday evening, Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, cast the effort as "complementary to our continued diplomatic efforts," but insisted that some of the techniques had been used for some time. "We have been working with our allies and partners for some time now to stop North Korea's illegal activities, especially in counterfeiting and narcotics," he said. "We have a responsibility to protect our citizens, our allies and our economies. North Korea cannot continue its involvement in illegal activities. It must make a strategic decision and eliminate its nuclear weapons program." Other officials said that while different agencies had been pursuing the North, the new effort was the first time the White House was coordinating and expanding the tactics to put more pressure on Mr. Kim. Several officials confirmed that the most recent proposal was drafted by Robert Joseph, the counter-proliferation chief at the National Security Council, before he left the administration in November. Mr. Joseph is widely expected to be nominated for the post of under secretary of state for arms control and international security. Two American officials cited, as an example of new pressure tactics, a Japanese law that goes into effect on March 1 that requires all ships to carry liability insurance against spills and other accidents. Almost no North Korean vessel meets the requirement, so it could halt most shipping traffic with North Korea. Although the nuts and bolts of the proposed measures are not clear, officials appear to be working from lists they have been collecting of banks and companies that the North Koreans have been using. Tracking North Korean financial transactions has long been difficult; it often deals in cash, and through shell companies and unregulated banking centers. White House officials have declined to say what role President Bush has played in the new strategy. But his dislike for Mr. Kim is well known, and his involvement in strategies to deal with him was described by one former official as "a lot more intense than you might think." Advisers, military officials and American and foreign diplomats who deal with Mr. Bush on North Korean issues say he frequently criticizes Mr. Kim's human rights abuses, referring to him as "immoral" and "a tyrant," according to one official who sat in on a recent meeting. In a meeting in December with President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea, Mr. Bush spoke about how Mr. Kim lets his people starve. "Roh said to him, 'Yeah, he's a bad guy, but we don't have to say it in public,' " said one official who has reviewed notes of the session. Mr. Roh's point was that turning the nuclear dispute into a personal confrontation, the way the Bush administration did with Saddam Hussein, could undercut any chance of diplomatic success in disarming North Korea. Mr. Bush, the official recounted, responded, " 'Alright, I won't say it publicly,' or words to that effect, and so far he hasn't." Officially, the Bush administration has never declared that "regime change" is its objective in North Korea, and Mr. Bush has expressed a willingness to offer a "security assurance" to North Korea pledging that the United States will not invade. Such an attack is considered nearly impossible, given North Korea's ability to destroy Seoul, South Korea's capital, about 40 miles from the border, and the fact that American intelligence does not know where the North's nuclear arms or all of its nuclear facilities are. But Mr. Bush has never made any such assurances about attacking North Korea's economic lifelines. On Sunday, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who served under Mr. Bush's father when North Korea was making what the C.I.A. later concluded were its first two nuclear bombs, raised the possibility of a broad economic crackdown. Appearing on ABC News program "This Week," Mr. Baker told the host, George Stephanopoulos, that "there's a big gap" between abandoning the six-nation negotiations that had been sporadically under way for the past 18 months "and going to military force." "There are many things we can do," Mr. Baker added. "Quarantine?" Mr. Stephanopoulos asked. "Quarantine is one," Mr. Baker said. "And perhaps the best one, of course, is sanctions by the United Nations Security Council for North Korea's violation of her promises to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the global community." ---- China, Russia to push for resumption of NKorean nuclear talks BEIJING (AFP) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050214135650.ky102gvi.html China and Russia on Monday agreed to push for a fresh round of six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme despite Pyongyang's announcement of an indefinite boycot. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov by telephone Monday that China will liaise with other countries including Russia to restart the talks on dismantling the North's programme, Xinhua news agency reported. "China is ready to make joint efforts with all relevant parties, including Russia, to push forward the process of the six-party talks," Li was quoted as saying. China has always advocated a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and the maintenance of peace and stability there, Li also told Lavrov. North Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday that Pyongyang had developed nuclear weapons to protect itself against a US attack and had no plans to resume negotiations. Xinhua quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia showed "great concern" over the matter and held the view that the problem should be resolved within the framework of the six-party talks. The Russian foreign ministry in a statement issued in Moscow said that the two ministers had "stressed the need to resume rapidly the six-party talks and work out a compromise solution which takes all sides' concerns and interests into account." "Russia is willing to keep in touch and coordinate with China in this regard," Xinhua quoted Lavrov as saying. Russia, traditionally considered sympathetic to the North, issued an unusually strongly-worded statement that Pyongyang would have made the "wrong choice" if it decided to quit the discussions. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting of security experts in the German city of Munich Saturday: "If the information in question proves accurate, I would say that North Korea has made the wrong choice." The last set of six-party talks, involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea as well as North Korea and the United States, took place in June last year. North Korea however shunned a fourth round set for last September, complaining of "hostile" US policies. The United States and North Korea have been locked in a stand-off since October 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of operating a secret program based on highly-enriched uranium, violating a 1994 arms control agreement. -------- mideast IAEA: Egypt Up Front About Atomic Arms By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 14, 2005 Filed at 6:06 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Nuclear-Agency-Egypt.html?pagewanted=print&position= VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Egypt's nuclear experiments were small, basic and do not appear part of an attempt to make weapons, the U.N. atomic monitoring agency said Monday, praising Cairo's cooperation with an investigation of the country's now mothballed clandestine activities. The report, compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency, made clear that investigations will continue into the atomic research that stretched back four decades and ended as recently as five years ago. Still, the summary, released to diplomats accredited to the agency and leaked to The Associated Press, went some way in dispelling concerns that, faced with potential threats from Israel and Iran, Egypt had explored developing nuclear arms. The Vienna-based agency suggested that it has not found anything so far to challenge Cairo's assertions that its activities did not go beyond the laboratory and did not include enriching uranium or separating plutonium -- two processes used to make the fissile core of nuclear arms, And the agency said Egypt appeared to be telling the truth when it said that the activities were not divulged to the agency because the country assumed it did not have an obligation to do so. The report said investigations since September have not come up with a smoking gun. ``The nuclear material and facilities seen by the agency to date are consistent with the activities described by Egypt,'' it said. It also welcomed Cairo's cooperation with the agency inquiry. Still, ``irrespective of the ... small amounts of nuclear material involved, the repeated failures by Egypt to report nuclear material and facilities to the agency in a timely manner are a matter of concern,'' said the report. A senior diplomat close to the IAEA suggested that agency officials were not expecting further investigations to raise concerns that Egypt -- which has expressed concern both about a nuclear-armed Israel and Iran's potential to develop such arms -- was actively working to create a weapons program. Asked about minute traces of plutonium found by agency inspectors, he said there appeared to be no reason to question official explanations that they were instances of contamination from fuel in one of the country's small research reactors. The focus of the IAEA investigation were the country's two research reactors, along with a partially assembled laboratory meant to separate small quantities of plutonium, all located at the Inshas center, northeast of Cairo. The diplomat, who demanded anonymity, suggested the Egyptian program was less a cause for concern than other secret activities recently investigated by the agency, including those of Iran and South Korea. ``The big difference is that there is no enrichment involved here,'' he said, alluding to South Korean uranium-enrichment experiments. He also suggested the Egyptians were more forthcoming with information than the South Koreans. In the report, Egypt was faulted for failing to tell the agency about imports of small amounts of uranium compounds and other substances that can be used both for peaceful or weapons-related nuclear programs, and about testing of facilities that can be used as part of such programs. It also should have reported about small-scale laboratory experiments linked to preliminary stages of enrichment and separation, and neglected to provide the agency with original or updated plans of facilities used in such research. Most of the activities took place before 1982, when Egypt signed an agreement with the IAEA committing it to transparency about its nuclear activities. Still, under the agreement, the country had an obligation to retroactively report on pre-agreement activities as well, said the report. Throughout the inquiry, Cairo has claimed that its scientists were involved in small-scale activities generated by interest in the nuclear fuel cycle for creating energy and characterized lack of reporting as sloppiness. In extreme cases of concern and widespread suspicions of an attempt to make nuclear arms, the agency's 35-nation board can report countries that don't adhere to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to the U.N. Security Council. On the Net: http://www.iaea.org -------- terrorism Pakistani, Russian Nukes Can Be Stolen While vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices will remain popular as asymmetric weapons, terrorists are likely to move up the technology ladder to employ advanced explosives and unmanned aerial vehicles, the report says. by Anwar Iqbal, UPI South Asian Affairs Analyst Washington (UPI) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-blackmarket-05h.html Use of stolen or purchased nuclear weapons from Pakistan or Russia by terrorists cannot be ruled out within the next 15 years, according to a CIA report made public. Prepared by the prestigious center of strategic thinking in the U.S. intelligence community, the National Intelligence Council, the report says that most terrorist attacks will continue to employ primarily conventional weapons, incorporating new twists to keep counter-terrorist planners off balance. The 119-page report, issued every five years, warns that terrorists probably could be more original not in the technologies or weapons they employ, but rather in their operational concepts, such as the scope, design or support arrangements for attacks. One such possibility is a large number of simultaneous attacks, possibly in widely separate locations. While vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices will remain popular as asymmetric weapons, terrorists are likely to move up the technology ladder to employ advanced explosives and unmanned aerial vehicles, the report says. "The religious zeal of extremist Muslim terrorists increases their desire to perpetrate attacks resulting in high casualties. Historically, religiously inspired terrorism has been most destructive because such groups are bound by few constraints," the NIC warns. "The most worrisome trend," according to this report, has been an intensified search by some groups to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The "greatest concern" of the U.S. intelligence community, is that these organizations might acquire biological agents or a nuclear device. The NIC, however, acknowledges that the acquisition of a nuclear device is less likely than that of biological weapons. For making either of these weapons, extremists would require only a household kitchen-size laboratory and could produce a device "smaller than a toaster," the NIC warns. The report says that the possibility of terrorists using biological agents is stronger, and the range of their options will grow. Because the recognition of anthrax, smallpox or other diseases is typically delayed, under a "nightmare scenario" an attack could be well under way before authorities would be cognizant of it, the NIC points out. The U.S. intelligence community says that the use of radiological dispersal devices can be effective in creating panic because of the public's misconception of the capacity of such attacks to kill large numbers of people. "With advances in the design of simplified nuclear weapons, terrorists will continue to seek to acquire fissile material in order to construct a nuclear weapon," the NIC report says. This could encourage countries without nuclear weapons, especially in the Middle East and Northeast Asia, to seek them as it becomes clear that their neighbors and regional rivals already are doing so. "The assistance of proliferators, including former private entrepreneurs such as the A.Q. Khan network, will reduce the time required for additional countries to develop nuclear weapons," the report says. "Concurrently, they can be expected to continue attempting to purchase or steal a weapon, particularly in Russia or Pakistan. Given the possibility that terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons, the use of such weapons by extremists before 2020 cannot be ruled out. "We expect that terrorists also will try to acquire and develop the capabilities to conduct cyber attacks to cause physical damage to computer systems and to disrupt critical information networks. "The United States and its interests abroad will remain prime terrorist targets, but more terrorist attacks might forced, large-scale expulsions of populations are particularly likely to generate migration and massive, intractable humanitarian needs." Pakistan tested its nuclear devices in May 1998, soon after similar tests by archrival India. Since then, both India and Pakistan have continued to develop their nuclear program and also are working on an ambitious missiles program to make a reliable delivery system for their nuclear weapons. In February last year, the creator of the Pakistani nuclear program, A.Q. Khan, confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Because of Khan's popularity in Pakistan as the father of its nuclear bomb, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf granted him a pardon but placed him under house arrest, forbidding the disgraced scientist from meeting anyone or answering telephone calls. Pakistan, however, categorically said it would not extradite Khan to the United States or any other country for interrogation, although it offered to cooperate with international agencies investigating Khan's network of nuclear proliferators. Responding to demands for Khan's extradition, both the White House and the State Department have said they are happy with the cooperation they have so far received from Pakistan in dismantling the Khan network and do not yet intend to seek his extradition. Last week, federal investigators said a Pakistani businessman, who ran an import business in New York was urging al-Qaida to acquire 50 nuclear weapons for use against American troops. Saifullah Paracha, 57, who was arrested 19 months ago and is now being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told the al-Qaida operatives that he knew where to get nuclear weapons, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington, investigators said. Papers filed last week in a court in Washington identify Paracha as a participant in a plot to smuggle explosives into the United States and to help al-Qaida hide large amounts of money. -------- treaties Fissile-material treaty urged February 14, 2005 By John Zaracostas SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050213-101620-3159r.htm Special correspondent John Zaracostas interviewed Patricia Lewis, director of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research, in Geneva on Friday about the prospects for breaking the near decade-long logjam in the Conference on Disarmament to open talks on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT). The 66-nation conference is linked to and funded by the United Nations, and negotiates disarmament accords. Mrs. Lewis, a dual Irish-British national, has a doctorate in nuclear physics. Question: Mrs. Lewis, how would you sum up the issues that have put the brakes on progress by the Conference on Disarmament in recent years? Answer: In a nutshell ... it's competing priorities. For some states, achieving a cutoff of fissile material production for nuclear weapons is the priority. For other states, the main issue is preventing an arms race in outer space, and for other states, it's nuclear disarmament. ... I think these are the three competing priorities ... but some countries are linking their issues to other issues, and blocking progress on one issue unless they get what they want in their priority. Q: Can you give an example? A: For example, we did have agreement in 1998 to begin negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, and late in the year of the Conference on Disarmament, it was decided to hold it over to 1999. Then, unfortunately, in 1999, one country — mainly China — said they were not happy in terms of the relative status of preventing an arms race in outer space, and wanted that to have equal [priority] with FMCT. That has now changed. China no longer demands [equal priority], but other countries have pushed up their issues on the agenda. Q: Is this the traditional nonaligned countries? A: Not altogether. I wouldn't say altogether they're traditional nonaligned, but I'd say they're countries that have traditionally put a great deal of effort in trying to promote nuclear disarmament. I think what the problem now is, is the issue of verification of the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. I think we got a long way in solving this relative balance and relative priorities, and a proposal was put down for a work program. But then the United States announced that they were doing a review of the FMCT. Last year, the U.S. announced it could accept a FMCT, but it didn't believe that the verification of such a treaty could be feasible. Q: A lot of countries are insisting that any verification of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty must not only be on future production, but also on stockpiles. A: Yes, not only is that a very political issue ... but it is also a very important technical issue for verification. If you want a treaty that has a high degree of certainty in its verification regime, the inclusion of previous production stockpiles is something that can increase the verification regime. The U.S. is one of the countries that are on record as saying it doesn't want past production and its stockpiles to be included in any treaty. It would only want a cutoff of production, if you like, from Day Zero of the treaty on future production. It might be one of the technical reasons it feels that a verification regime would not be so feasible. Q: Might that complicate things in terms of knowing who's done what? A: That's right. I think one of the things that you can increase confidence in such treaties is to know past production, how much is being produced, to know how much an enrichment facility can produce, how much a reprocessing facility can produce, and to know then, for the future, what it had stopped producing. It's not impossible to verify the treaty without stocks, but certainly it would increase the confidence of the verification regime if stocks were included. But it's always been known that, politically, the issue of stocks is very big because the issue of stocks gets into the whole issue of nuclear disarmament. And if stocks are included in the treaty, then the issue of what's called "surplus stocks" — surplus to requirements — becomes a very big issue. Some of the nuclear-weapons countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, have dealt to a large extent with "surplus stocks," and they have been very transparent. Q: They got rid of them? A: They've been trying to get rid of them. It's a very big job, but yes, they have done that. Other states have been much less transparent about that. Clearly this is a very political issue. It's not only technical. Q: What do the experts think? Can you verify a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty? A: A lot of the technology already exists. And you have inspections. And fissile material has a very clear signal. It's made only in certain places; it can be detected far more easily than chemical or biological weapons. Tiny, tiny materials of nuclear weapons can be detected. That's how the activities of Iran that had not been declared were picked up. Q: Some experts say no one has a clue what the stocks of China are. A: You're right. Outside China it's very hard to work out estimates. China itself has given some rough values in deployed fissile materials, but what it has in stock, I'm afraid, is very hard to know. Q: If there was some breakthrough and the conference hammered out a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty agreement, that would mean countries like Iran and North Korea would also be obliged to go along, right? A: Well, indeed, if you take the issue of Iran, which is somewhat different from the issue of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea], Iran is inside the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The NPT already prohibits Iran from making fissile material for weapons purposes. Iran is covered legally by that treaty. Now, in the case of the DPRK, that's in a different stage of development of all of this, as it was announced [by Pyongyang last week that it has nuclear weapons]. The DPRK was in the NPT [but] announced its withdrawal. Other states party to the NPT do not accept that the DPRK has withdrawn. Legally speaking, parties to the NPT believe the DPRK is covered by the treaty as well, like Iran. However, the DPRK itself does not consider itself bound by the treaty because it has announced its withdrawal. ... Q: The Chinese and the Russians are still making a lot of noise about the equal importance of PAROS — the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space. Are they backtracking in the Conference on Disarmament? A: No, I don't think so. Russia and China have for the last few years been developing a framework for PAROS. Certainly for China, it's a major issue, and for Russia it's also a very big issue. They link it to the missile-defense issue in terms of in the future placing weapons in space, and that's one of their biggest fears. Q: Why is it important to get a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty deal here? A: Well, I think one of the reasons it's important is, it is seen as an essential step on the route to nuclear disarmament. There's debate about when, but obviously the earlier the better. It's the analogy of a bath overflowing: The first thing you've got to do is turn off the tap, and then you can worry about mopping up the water and pulling up the plug. So the FMCT is the equivalent of turning off the tap for fissile materials to make nuclear weapons. ... Now some countries, such as China, argue they are way behind the development of nuclear weapons — compared with the United States, for example — and need to catch up and, therefore, need to produce more fissile material. Whereas, the U.S. has such a surplus of fissile material that they don't really need to produce any, and indeed have stopped production. And, in fact, there is a statement from the United States, from the UK, Russia and France that they don't need to produce any fissile material and have stopped production of fissile material for the production of nuclear weapons. So, four out of the five nuclear-weapons states have indeed stopped production. Now, those outside the NPT are India, Pakistan and Israel [which has never admitted any production]. India and Pakistan have admitted that they have developed nuclear weapons — they have tested — and they are producing fissile material for weapons purposes. And they both argue that they need more time to build up their stocks. This argument, of course, is not accepted by other states, because they don't think [India and Pakistan] should have nuclear weapons at all. North Korea has not talked about its production. It has only talked about what it possesses. The way in which North Korea has behaved over the NPT, one can imagine that they will say that they are not bound by the treaty. So even if the political problems between the United States and its allies over verification get sorted out in the Conference on Disarmament, what would be the role of North Korea? ... How will it go with India and Pakistan and Israel in the conference? Q: What if nothing happens on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty? Is it time, as some have suggested, to look at other issues rather than waste another year? A: There's a strong argument that the Conference on Disarmament as a forum for negotiations needs to exist, and if it didn't exist, you would have to find another forum — you would have to reinvent it. I think that is a strong argument. There is also a strong argument that where a process is not working, you need to find another one. The problems that we have within the conference is that every decision has to be made by consensus. That's fine when everyone is looking to find ways to agree, but when people are looking to find ways to block, it's basically giving every state a veto — and that happened at the end of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty negotiations and ever since on the Conference on Disarmament. -------- u.s. nuc weapons New Atomic-Bomb History Offered Hydrick's book asserts for the first time that the surrender of submarine U-234 (shown in file photo above) and its cargo of enriched uranium and infrared fuses allowed the Manhattan Project to complete and drop its bombs on Japan in time to meet an important mid-August 1945 deadline for war planners. by Phil Magers Dallas (UPI) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05e.html An author that challenges the traditional history of how the United States developed the nuclear weapons used to end World War II invites the face-to-face scrutiny of some of the nation's most respected scientists and historians. Carter Hydrick's book has raised eyebrows since it was published nearly two years ago, arguing that enriched uranium found in a surrendered German submarine in 1945 was used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The uranium found aboard submarine U-234 off the East Coast of the United States at the end of the war in Europe was used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and infrared fuses also from the vessel were used to develop the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, his book asserts. Hydrick has presented his case to audiences at both the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Oak Ridge Nat ional Laboratory in Tennessee, both of which were involved in the development of the atomic bomb 60 years ago. He has a return engagement scheduled Tuesday in Los Alamos. Hydrick said he was nervous the first time he appeared before the audiences, made up mostly of scientists, because he is not a scientist or an historian. Some scientists initially refused to take his book seriously because he was butting up against long-accepted history. "My answer to them was that's why I'm here - to get the critical review," he said in a recent interview. "If they can shoot it down, I will be sad because I put a lot of my life into it. If that's what it is, that's what it is." Historians were some of his most severe critics in the beginning because he lacked credentials as an historian, but the climate has changed after the appearances at the laboratories and in academic settings around the nation. Anthony Stranges, an associate professor at Texas A&M University who specializes in the history of science, knows Hydrick's work and he says the author has appeared twice on the campus to address the history honors society. "He has some evidence there that seems worth pursuing," Stranges said. Hydrick is challenging traditional history that has stood for decades, and that is a tough job, Stranges said. The Texas-based writer spent 10 years researching the book, "Critical Mass: How Nazi Germany Surrendered Enriched Uranium for the United States' Atomic Bomb," which came out in a second edition last year, published by Whitehurst & Company (380 pages, $29.95). Hydrick, a native of San Diego, began his career in film and video screenwriting and production. He eventually spent more than 20 years in the corporate world, overseeing corporate and marketing communications. The story of the surrendered U-boat and its possible link to the Manhattan Project first came to his attention when a producer asked him to meet a retired World War II German officer with an interesting story. He thought it might be a possible script, but it turned out to be more. Hydrick said there were "only two or three little scraps of information," but it was enough to get his attention. If they had validity, however, he wanted to do proper research and pursue critical review. It consumed 12 years of his life. The Manhattan Project was created because the U.S. government feared Germany was ahead in development of the atomic bomb and what the consequences would be for the world if the Nazis actually acquired nuclear weapons. The project, based at Los Alamos, was largely a U.S. project, with a large team of scientists, many of them émigrés from Nazi-occupied Europe. The project lasted for three years at a cost of $2 billion. Hydrick's book asserts for the first time that the surrender of submarine U-234 and its cargo of enriched uranium and infrared fuses allowed the Manhattan Project to complete and drop its bombs on Japan in time to meet an important mid-August 1945 deadline for war planners. "Without the surrender of U-234 we would not have been able to make the uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima or the plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, and would probably not have had a bomb of our own until late 1945 or early 1946," he said. The Soviet Union announced that it was going to declare war on Japan in mid-August, which meant that if the war lasted much more than a few weeks beyond that, the allies would have to partition off the Pacific like Eastern Europe. Hydrick cites captured cargo manifests from German submarine U-234 that list 580 kilograms - nearly 1,300 pounds - of uranium oxide, which is not conclusive proof that it was enrich ed uranium, but he found other stronger evidence. The containers were labeled U235, according to one eyewitness, the submarine's chief radio operator. He also saw two Japanese officers, who were to travel aboard the submarine, painting the label U235 on the containers as they were being loaded for the Atlantic voyage. The submarine's eventual destination was Japan, where the uranium and other high-tech weaponry and equipment were to be turned over to the Japanese government. Hydrick traced the enriched uranium, which is necessary to build an atomic bomb, and other components to Los Alamos, where he argues they gave the U.S. team the help they needed to complete the bombs as soon as they did. Hydrick also presents evidence that indicates infrared fuses found on the German submarine were used to fix problems the project scientists were having with the triggering mechanism for the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- new mexico Uranium Enrichment Plant Proposed for New Mexico New York Times Full Feed via NewsEdge Corporation February 14th, 2005 01:13 PM EDT http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/article.jsp?id=3071&siteSection=328 The uranium enrichment centrifuge plant that gets the most attention these days is in Iran, but a larger one, carefully watched by the civilian nuclear power industry and its opponents, is taking shape here, in the desert just west of the Texas border. If built, it would be the largest commercial nuclear project ordered in this country in more than three decades. To supporters, the proposed $1.3 billion plant is a sign of faith in the nuclear power industry's perseverance and revival, and a way to make reactor fuel with far less energy, replacing an enrichment technology invented for the Manhattan Project. To opponents, it is a risky new industry that could release clouds of chemical poisons. Even if it operates accident-free, opponents say, it would produce radioactive waste that nobody knows what to do with. New Mexico's governor, Bill Richardson, said in an interview he would support the project if there were ''an ironclad guarantee'' that the waste would leave the state. But Mr. Richardson, who was energy secretary in the Clinton administration, has expressed skepticism that the Energy Department would take the waste away, as the law requires. The waste would leave the state -- barely, says the company that wants to build here, Louisiana Energy Services. The company's preferred disposal site is a landfill several hundred yards over the Texas border that has applied for permission to take low-level nuclear waste. The site itself, a mile square, was determined to be well suited by Louisiana Energy's rival, which faces challenges in surviving the technology developed by Louisiana Energy. The rival, USEC, which used to stand for the United States Enrichment Corporation, uses gaseous diffusion technology, invented for the Manhattan Project. The company, which was part of the Energy Department until it began operation as a private corporation in 1998, tried to build an enrichment system here that used lasers, but it gave up because of technical problems. Now it, too, wants to build a centrifuge plant, near a former gaseous diffusion plant in Ohio. It has a license to build a pilot plant, which it needs to persuade bankers to finance the project, but its application to license a full-scale plant is about a year behind that of Louisiana Energy Services. The Louisiana Energy plant would duplicate centrifuge technology in use in Europe. Uranium, mixed with fluorine and heated to a gas, is spun in a metal tube at more than 1,000 revolutions per second. Uranium235, the kind that splits easily in a reactor, flows to the center, as uranium238, which is heavier, flows to the outside. In natural uranium, the proportion of U235 is about 0.7 percent; for reactors it is raised to 3 percent to 5 percent. For weapons it is commonly pushed above 90 percent. The plant here, which would not begin to produce enriched uranium until late 2008, would be open to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the builders say. A critical issue in hearings here this week before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is what would happen to the depleted uranium, from which the U235 had been removed. Louisiana Energy says it has a preliminary agreement with a nuclear services company to take the fluorine out of the mixture. The remaining uranium oxide, which is chemically nonreactive, could be buried in the Texas landfill. It could also be turned over to the Energy Department, which already has about 700,000 tons of depleted uranium, still mixed with fluorine and much of it in decaying metal canisters, in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Two antinuclear groups -- the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Public Citizen -- hired a consultant, Arjun Makhijani, who asserted at the hearings that the depleted uranium had emissions similar to plutonium and that there was no proven means for safe disposal. A Louisiana Energy Services spokesman, Marshall Cohen, said the depleted uranium was ''less radioactive than when it came out of the ground.'' Opponents say that may be so, but it is no longer in the ground, and thus a problem. Hearings in the fall will examine whether the technology is safe and whether the company will set aside enough money for cleanup. Two commercial fuel processing plants have become federal liabilities. Supporters say the plant would modernize nuclear fuel production and cut its costs. Mr. Cohen said that 70 percent of the plant's first 10 years of production had been sold and that the plant would be viable whether or not any new reactors were built. The last time a reactor was ordered in this country and not canceled was 1973. The plant would enrich enough uranium to make about 5 percent of the electricity used in the country. Although Governor Richardson has said that the waste problem is central, local sentiment seems favorable. The plant would run for 30 years and according to Louisiana Energy would provide 210 permanent jobs with an annual payroll of $10 million, including benefits, a substantial sum amid the region's fields of peanuts and cotton, interspersed with oil and gas wells. Harry Teague, who is chairman of the Lea County Commission and whose business is oilfield services, said the oil and gas business was strong but added, ''Hobbs has always been a boom-and-bust town.'' Existing local industry is dangerous, Mr. Teague said, citing the hydrogen sulfide gas that rises with methane out of most natural gas wells here. Nuclear fuel is not risk free, he said, but ''it's not near as bad as hydrogen sulfide.'' Map of New Mexico highlighting Hobbs: If built, a plant near Hobbs, N.M., would enrich uranium for fuel. -------- MILITARY -------- arms LockMart Conducts Fifth Successful Test Of Guided MLRS Unitary Rocket Dallas TX (SPX) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/news/missiles-05i.html Lockheed Martin recently conducted the fifth successful flight test of a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rocket at White Sands Missile Range, NM. Test objectives included demonstrating the GMLRS Unitary rocket's warhead Proximity Sensor, which gives the rocket the capability to detonate at a predetermined distance above ground for improved effectiveness against soft targets. Other test objectives were to collect temperature, shock and vibration data; verify rocket performance and evaluate warhead effectiveness. The rocket, launched from an unmanned MLRS M270A1 launcher, was tested at ambient temperature with a range of less than 20 kilometers. All test objectives were achieved. "This flight test demonstrated the ability of the Guided MLRS Unitary rocket to detonate the munition at a set height above ground level to deliver a blast and fragments onto soft targets," said Al Duchesne, director - MLRS Rocket Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "This is a capability our warfighters have needed for some time." The GMLRS Unitary tri-mode fuze provides the warfighter with three distinct detonation options: Point Detonate, which detonates the warhead on impact with the target providing minimal collateral damage; Delay Mode, which detonates after impact with the target providing a penetration capability; and the Proximity Sensor, which detonates at a predetermined height above the target allowing a greater target area to be covered. "The testing of the final mode of the three-mode fuze brings us closer to delivering this vital capability to the warfighters, which will enable them to more effectively achieve their missions," Duchesne added. "Guided MLRS Unitary is a munition I'm confident will prove valuable in a variety of missions." Guided MLRS Unitary integrates a 180-pound unitary warhead into the GMLRS rocket, giving battlefield commanders the ability to attack targets up to 70 kilometers away with high precision. This low-cost, low-risk program will greatly reduce collateral damage by providing enhanced accuracy to ensure delivery of the warhead to the target. Lockheed Martin received a $119 million contract to conduct a System Development and Demonstration (SDD) for a GMLRS variant with a single warhead in October 2003. The SDD phase of this program was preceded by a successful system demonstration in 2002 of a Quick Reaction Unitary Rocket and a nine-month Component Advanced Development program. The Guided Unitary SDD program will continue through 2007. -------- biological weapons Engineers Develop Biowarfare Sensing Device Tailored For Mass Production Austin TX (SPX) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05g.html A sensing device tailored for mass production of highly sensitive and stable nerve-gas detectors has been developed by a research group led by a mechanical engineer at The University of Texas at Austin. The new sensor technology, which was more sensitive and much more stable than its predecessors, was featured on this week's cover of Applied Physics Letters. The researchers' highlighted study demonstrated the sensor's potential ability to detect a single molecule of the nerve gas, sarin, the most toxic of biological warfare agents. The researchers, led by Dr. Li Shi, designed and tested a nanometer-thin crystal of tin oxide sandwiched between two electrodes. When a built-in micro-heater heated the super-thin device, the tin oxide reacted with exquisite sensitivity to gases. Shi's group experimented with a non-toxic gas, dimethly methylphosphonate (DMMP) widely used to accurately mimic sarin and other nerve agents. The sensor element responded to as few as about 50 molecules of the DMMP in a billion air molecules. Both the nano-sizing of the metal-oxide and the unique micro-heater element of the sensor gave the detector its high sensitivity, stability and low power consumption, said Shi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. The thinner a metal-oxide sensor becomes, the more sensitive it becomes to molecules that react with it. In addition to improved sensitivity, the group found its single-crystal metal-oxide nanomaterials allowed the detector to quickly dispose of previously detected toxins and accurately warn of new toxins' presence. Shi's engineering collaborator, Zhong Lin Wang from Georgia Institute of Technology, provided single crystals of tin oxide as thin as 10 nanometers, and with the ability to rapidly recover from chemical exposure. The researchers found that the sensor was refreshed immediately after the DMMP molecules were purged from the small flow-through chamber where the sensor element was tested in. By contrast, previous polycrystalline metal oxide thin film sensors could not recover automatically after being exposed to toxic or flammable gases, an effect known as sensor poisoning. Co-author and collaborator Wang is the first to grow the ribbon-like, single crystals of tin oxide used for sensing DMMP. Other sensors of this type consist of crystals with many imperfections, and recover slowly because molecules previously detected can become trapped in these imperfections. Shi constructed the accompanying sensor components using traditional computer chip design and fabrication techniques. Specifically, he used microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication methods. For instance, MEMS was used to fabricate the platinum electrodes, one of which links to a microfabricated heating element and thermometer to elevate the nano sensor's temperature to a constant 932 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius) with a power consumption of only 3-4 milliwatts. These components allow the sensor to be operated using a battery so that it can be used as a wearable device. To minimize heat loss, Shi's group isolated the silicon nitride membranes attaching the electrodes using trapeze-like strands of microfabricated silicon nitride. The sensor requires the high temperature to activate the reaction between DMMP molecules and the tin-oxide sensor element. That reaction changes the electrical current across the crystal, which indicates a nerve agent is present. The paper was based on the dissertation research of the lead author, Choongho Yu. Yu received a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin last year, and is a post-doctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Shi's group is continuing to develop methods to integrate nanomaterials with MEMS devices more efficiently in order to microfabricate better, lower-cost sensors. Multiple sensor elements would then be packaged together to produce a commercial sensing device that acts as an electronic nose for detecting different toxic and flammable molecules. -------- nato Nato is outdated, says Schröder By Stephen Castle in Brussels UK Independent 14 February 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=610862 Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, has soured carefully choreographed efforts to heal transatlantic wounds by calling for a drastic overhaul of Nato and a bigger voice for Europe, just as George Bush prepares to visit Brussels. Mr Schröder released a speech saying that Nato risked becoming outdated and was "no longer the primary venue where transatlantic partners discuss and co-ordinate strategies". The text proposed setting up a commission to propose improvements by the start of next year, and said "dialogue between the EU and the US neither reflects Europe's growing weight nor corresponds with new requirements of trans-atlantic co-operation". The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said: "Nato has a great deal of energy and vitality. I believe they are undertaking the kinds of reforms to bring the institution into the 21st century. The place to discuss transatlantic issues clearly is Nato." -------- russia / chechnya Talks break down over Russian military pullout from Georgia Feb 14, 2005 MOSCOW (AFP) http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050214140328.ml68unz2.html Talks have broken down over a new cooperation accord between Moscow and Tbilisi because of disagreement over the presence of two Russian military bases in ex-Soviet Georgia, Russia's foreign ministry said Monday. "It has not proven possible to reach a concrete agreement. Negotiations will continue," the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Russian statement said that the talks, which took place last week in Tbilisi between military experts and diplomats, had failed "because the Georgian side reneged on its position," without explaining further. The issue of the two remaining Russian bases in the former Soviet republic has been one of several straining relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, where a US-backed government took power in 2004 and is training its own troops with US help. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov denied Saturday at a security conference in Munich that Russia had pledged to close all four of its bases in Georgia at a 1999 summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It has withdrawn from two of them but negotiations over the timetable for the removal of the other two, in the western town of Batumi and the southern town of Akhalkalaki, have long been stalled. Russia says it will need up to 10 or more years to close the sites, and is pressing either Georgia or the United States to help finance the project. Georgia has offered a three-year timetable. A Russian proposal last year to set up joint "anti-terrorist centers" is seen in Tbilisi as a means to keep the Russian bases under another guise, a Georgian lawmaker who was in the talks, Guiga Bokeria, told AFP. -------- space US Conducts Space War Game To Test Warfighting Capability Washington DC (SPX) Feb 14, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/news/milspace-05e.html The US military has completed a week-long space war game in Nellis Air Force Base, in the western state of Nevada, to see how space-based assets can be used in a hypothetical war against terrorism in 2020, military officials said Thursday. Despite of its name "the Schriever III" space war game, the game was not focused on a military fight in space, game officials said. "Our focus was how best to use space assets to coordinate the joint terrestrial fight," said Brigadier General Daniel Darnell, game executive director and commander of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. In the game, which began Feb. 5 and ran through to Feb. 11, a 350-person team of space professionals battled in a global environment scenario set in the year 2020, the Air Force said in a statement. Besides officials from about 20 agencies of the US Defense Department, officials from Australia, Canada and Britain were also present in the game, to investigate future space systems, the missions they support, and how to ensure their survivability, a statement said. The war game aimed to ensure the United States maintained its ultimate high ground - space superiority, Darnell said. Darnell noted that the game examined the capabilities required to ensure global stability and explored how to build a seamless integration of manned and unmanned space systems, supporting homeland defense and US global and theater interests. There were very few things in conventional combat today that did not involve space systems, he said. Missile warning, battle-space awareness, precision munitions guidance, navigation and timing, and military satellite communications all critically relied on space support, he said. "Schriever III is more than a war game - it's a valuable forum that establishes partnerships and fosters innovative thought at the strategic- and operational-levels of war," said General Lance W. Lord, commander of US Air Force Space Command. ---- PENTAGON STARTS SPACE WAR TRAINING February 14, 2005 Defense Tech http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001384.html Just in case you were wondering whether or not the Pentagon was really serious about knocking other countries' satellites out of orbit, comes this item from C4ISR Journal. The Defense Department, it seems, has "launched a series of exercises designed to sharpen its understanding and management of counter-satellite operations." The three-year Joint Space Control Operations-Negation (JSCO-N) program will help the Pentagon figure out which satellite-killers to buy, and determine which procedures to follow when knocking the orbiters out. According to a report from the Pentagon's testing and evaluation office, the Defense Department wants to "target an adversary's space capability by using a variety of permanent and/or reversible means to achieve five possible effects: deception, disruption, denial, degradation and destruction..." "The JSCO-N effort includes three 'field tests,'" C4ISR Journal's Jeremy Singer notes. "The first of those, Terminal Fury 05, was scheduled to take place in December, according to the report. It was to be followed by Terminal Fury 06 and Unified Endeavor 06." Not surprisingly, the Pentagon refused to give details on the exercises. But, as Singer observes, "the Air Force has for at least the past few years been working on systems for neutralizing enemy satellite capabilities. The service announced in October 2004 that one such system, designed to disrupt satellite radio-transmissions, is now being fielded." In 2003, the Air Force released its "Transformation Flight Plan," which spelled out a number of anti-orbiter weapons, including "ground-based lasers, air-launched missiles and space-based radio frequency transmitters capable of disrupting or destroying other satellites." THERE'S MORE: On the other hand, Defense Daily has this... Weapons in Space? Not this year, it seems, or a least not part of the Missile Defense Agency’s budget. The Missile Defense Agency is not funding any new space-based programs in the FY ’06 defense-spending request, although the controversial Near Field Infrared Experiment, NFIRE, remains in the budget. “Space-based is not part of this budget,” says a senior Pentagon official. The “debate” on whether to develop a space-based capability has not yet taken place, according to the official. Another thing you won’t see is a follow-on on to Russian American Observational Satellite program, or RAMOS, which was “defunded” in the FY ’05 budget. AND MORE: "It is true that the space-based test bed was delayed by two years, but that decision is accompanied with an increase in classified funding for futuristic missile defense programs from $ 160 M to $ 350 M," the Arms Control Wonk notes. "That's a lot of secret money." -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- homeland security / national intelligence National ID cards on the way? February 14, 2005 By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com http://news.com.com/National+ID+cards+on+the+way/2100-1028_3-5573414.html A recent vote in Congress endorsing standardized, electronically readable driver's licenses has raised fears about whether the proposal would usher in what amounts to a national ID card. In a vote that largely divided along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed measure that would compel states to design their driver's licenses by 2008 to comply with federal antiterrorist standards. Federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to everything from airplanes to national parks and some courthouses. The congressional maneuvering takes place as governments are growing more interested in implanting technology in ID cards to make them smarter and more secure. The U.S. State Department soon will begin issuing passports with radio frequency identification, or RFID, chips embedded in them, and Virginia may become the first state to glue RFID tags into all its driver's licenses. "Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary," Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, one of the eight Republicans to object to the measure, said during the floor debate this week. "However, any state that opts out will automatically make nonpersons out of its citizens. They will not be able to fly or to take a train." Paul warned that the legislation, called the Real ID Act, gives unfettered authority to the Department of Homeland Security to design state ID cards and driver's licenses. Among the possibilities: biometric information such as retinal scans, fingerprints, DNA data and RFID tracking technology. Proponents of the Real ID Act say it adheres to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and is needed to frustrate both terrorists and illegal immigrants. Only a portion of the legislation regulates ID cards; the rest deals with immigration law and asylum requests. "American citizens have the right to know who is in their country, that people are who they say they are, and that the name on the driver's license is the real holder's name, not some alias," F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., said last week. "If these commonsense reforms had been in place in 2001, they would have hindered the efforts of the 9/11 terrorists, and they will go a long Now the Real ID Act heads to the Senate, where its future is less certain. Senate rules make it easier for politicians to derail legislation, and an aide said Friday that Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was concerned about portions of the bill. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on a terrorism subcommittee, said "I basically support the thrust of the bill" in an e-mail to CNET News.com on Friday. "The federal government should have the ability to issue standards that all driver's licenses and identification documents should meet." "Spy-D" cards? National ID cards are nothing new, of course. Many European, Asian and South American countries require their citizens to carry such documents at all times, with legal punishments in place for people caught without them. Other nations that share the English common law tradition, including Australia and New Zealand, have rejected such schemes. A host of political, cultural and even religious concerns has prevented a national ID from being adopted in the United States, even during the tumultuous days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that ushered in the Patriot Act. Conservatives and libertarians typically argue that a national ID card will increase the power of the government, and they fear the dehumanizing effects of laws enacted as a result. Civil liberties groups tend to worry about the administrative problems, the opportunities for criminal mischief, and the potential irreversibility of such a system. Some evangelical Christians have likened such a proposal to language in the Bible warning "that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." That mark is the sign of the "end times," according to evangelical thinking, which predicts that anyone who accepts the mark will be doomed to eternal torment. Those long-standing concerns have become more pointed recently, thanks to the opportunity for greater tracking--as well as potentially greater security for ID documents--that technologies such as RFID provide. Though the Real ID act does not specify RFID or biometric technology, it requires that the Department of Homeland Security adopt "machine-readable technology" standards and provides broad discretion in how to do it. An ad hoc alliance of privacy groups and technologists recently has been fighting proposals from the International Civil Aviation Organization to require that passports and other travel documents be outfitted with biometrics and remotely readable RFID-type "contact-less integrated circuits." The ICAO, a United Nations organization, argues the measures are necessary to reduce fraud, combat terrorism and improve airline security. But its critics have raised questions about how the technology could be misused by identity thieves with RFID readers, and they say it would "promote irresponsible national behavior." In the United States, the federal government is planning to embed RFID chips in all U.S. passports and some foreign visitor's documents. The U.S. State Department is now evaluating so-called e-passport technology from eight different companies. The agency plans to select a supplier and issue the first e-passports this spring, starting in Los Angeles, and predicts that all U.S. passport agencies will be issuing them within a year. The high-tech passports are supposed to deter theft and forgeries, as well as accelerate immigration checks at airports and borders. They'll contain within their covers a miniscule microchip that stores basic data, including the passport holder's name, date of birth and place of birth. The chip, which can transmit information through a tiny included antenna, also has enough room to store biometric data such as digitized fingerprints, photographs and iris scans. Border officials can compare the information on the chip to that on the rest of the passport and to the person actually carrying it. Discrepancies could signal foul play. In a separate program, the Department of Homeland Security plans to issue RFID devices to foreign visitors that enter the country at the Mexican and Canadian borders. The agency plans to start a yearlong test of the technology in July at checkpoints in Arizona, New York and Washington state. The idea is to aid immigration officials in tracking visitors' arrivals and departures and snare those who overstay their visas. Similar to e-passports, the new system should speed up inspection procedures. It's part of the US-VISIT program, a federal initiative designed to capture and share data such as fingerprints and photographs of foreign visitors. A "Trojan horse" The legislation approved by the House last Thursday follows a related measure President Bush signed into law in December. That law gives the Transportation Department two years to devise standard rules for state licenses, requires information to be stored in "machine-readable" format, and says noncompliant ID cards won't be accepted by federal agencies. But critics fret that the new bill goes even further. It shifts authority to the Department of Homeland Security, imposes more requirements for identity documents on states, and gives the department carte blanche to do nearly anything else "to protect the national security interests of the United States." "In reality, this bill is a Trojan horse," said Paul, the Republican congressman. "It pretends to offer desperately needed border control in order to stampede Americans into sacrificing what is uniquely American: our constitutionally protected liberty." Unlike last year's measure, the Real ID Act "doesn't even mention the word 'privacy,'" said Marv Johnson, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What I think the House is planning on doing is attaching this bill to tsunami relief or money to the troops," Johnson says. "When they send it to the Senate, the Senate will have to either fish or cut bait. They can approve it or ask for a conference committee, at which point the House can say 'they're playing games with national security.'" In response to a question about a national ID card, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters on Friday that "the president supports the legislation that just passed the House." McClellan pointed to a statement from the White House earlier in the week that endorsed it. Another section of the Real ID Act that has raised alarms is the linking of state Department of Motor Vehicles databases, which was not part of last year's law. Among the information that must be shared: "All data fields printed on drivers' licenses and identification cards" and complete drivers' histories, including motor vehicle violations, suspensions and points on licenses. Some senators have indicated they may rewrite part of the measure once they begin deliberations. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., chairman of a terrorism subcommittee, is readying his own bill that will be introduced within a few weeks, spokesman Andrew Wilder said on Friday. "He has been at work on his own version of things," Wilder said. "Senator Kyl does support biometric identifiers." CNET News.com's Alorie Gilbert contributed to this report. -------- ACTIVISTS In the week of March 14 to 20th join us in OUR RESISTANCE to War and Occupation Global Coordinated Actions on the 2nd Anniversary of the "Shock and Awe" Invasion of Iraq http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2005%20News%20archives/February/16%20n/join%20us%20in%20OUR%20RESISTANCE%20to%20War%20and%20Occupation.htm March 19 - 20 marks the two-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq. In the past two years over 100,000 Iraqis and more than 1,400 American soldiers have died, and yet the war and occupation have not brought freedom or democracy to Iraqi people. Moreover, Iraq's infrastructure has been devastated and its environment polluted for thousands of years through the use of depleted uranium weapons. Herin Atlanta, we join with the global movement in demanding an immediate withdrawal of the occupying troops, genuinely free and fair elections, and an end to the corporate invasion of Iraq’s resources. We invite all PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE to express through community activities their despair and anger over the loss of lives and the destruction that this war has inflicted upon our nation and the Iraqi people. We encourage anti-war activities on high school and college campuses, in faith institutions, in neighborhoods and at work places, and among artists and cultural, political, and humanitarian groups in the week leading up to the anniversary weekend. In particular, we want to appeal to students of all ages to demonstrate their objections to the war at their schools during the week of March 14, and to faith institutions to include an anti-war message in their services the weekend of March 18-20. Friday March 8th 5- 7 pm March and Rally in Downtown, Atlanta Saturday March 19th Southern Region 11- 4 pm March and Rally in Rowan Park, Fayetteville, NC Fayetteville is next to Ft. Bragg, NC - ground zero for the 82nd Airborne Division and most of the US Special Operations forces Sunday March 20th Southern Organizers' Gathering: Building Our Communities & First National Convention of Iraq Veterans Against the War For more information go to www.ncpeacejustice.org For further information about the march and rally in Atlanta, and inquiries about transportation to Fayetteville, NC or any other questions, please contact: International Action Center/Atlanta at atlantaiac@aol.com 770-989 -2536 , and go the website http://www.nomandateatlanta.org/ to download flyers for the events. * End the War * * Bring the Troops Home Now * March 19, 2005 The World Says End the War! SATURDAY, MARCH 19: GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST ON THE TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE IRAQ WAR On the anniversary of the war, there will be protests across the globe in hundreds of cities and in dozens of countries on every continent. For more information go to: United for Peace and Justice A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) PLEASE JOIN US