Monday, September 20, 2010

Iranian President Defends Nuclear Work

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100920_3100.php

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday reaffirmed his denial of international suspicions that Tehran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 17).
"We are not afraid of nuclear weapons. The point is that if we had in fact wanted to build a nuclear bomb, we are brave enough to say that we want it. But we never do that. We are saying that the arsenal of nuclear bombs (worldwide) have to be destroyed as well," Ahmadinejad told AP in New York, where he will attend this week's U.N. General Assembly session (Daniszewski/Lederer, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Sept. 20).
The Iranian leader also played down the effect of international economic penalties on his nation's economy, Agence France-Presse reported. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring Iran to halt elements of its nuclear program that could support bomb development; a number of countries and the European Union have since enacted unilateral punitive measures to the same end.
"These sanctions will definitively mark a new level of progress in our economy," Ahmadinejad told ABC News. "We have turned sanctions around and created opportunities out of this."
The increasing number of countries seeking to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear work "is meaningless to us," he said.
"We do take sanctions seriously, but taking it seriously is different from believing that they are effective," Ahmadinejad said. "We consider this and have recorded it as a serious violation of international law. It was illegal. It was wrong. It wronged the people of Iran by insulting them."
Addressing the penalties' potential impact on Iran's shipping sector, he said, "None of this is a problem."
"I want to stress, it is not a problem. If you want to say it's effective, why not wait for the next six months or a year to see with your own eyes whether there are effects or not? And I tell you there are none," he said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 19).
The Iranian president avoided suggesting a specific schedule for new negotiations over his nation's nuclear program with the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, AP reported. He said in July such discussions could begin this month.
"We have placed no restrictions on negotiations," Ahmadinejad said. "If they tell us officially that there's a joint meeting, we'll make the preparations for it."
He said Iran still seeks answers from the six powers to a number of questions ahead of the talks: whether the nations intend "to create the circumstances for further friendship or for further confrontation"; whether they intend to fully implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and "what the group's opinion is regarding the atomic bombs that [Israel] holds" (see related GSN story, today).
"Their response does not prevent the resumption of negotiations, but it certainly will define the framework for those talks when they resume," he said (Daniszewski/Lederer, AP I)
"We're always prepared to talk, but under fair conditions and respectful conditions," the Xinhua News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "If somebody thinks that they can, like, order us around or rule us and talk -- call it a talk, that wouldn't work. But if they are ready to sit down, respect the law, be fair and just, we're always prepared to talk" (Xinhua News Agency I, Sept. 20).
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday told Ahmadinejad he "hoped that Iran will engage constructively in negotiations" on the atomic dispute, AFP reported.
The negotiations should yield "a mutually acceptable agreement in conformity with relevant Security Council resolutions," a U.N. spokesman said in a statement. The resolutions call for Iran to end its uranium enrichment program, an effort that can produce nuclear-weapon material as well as fuel for civilian applications (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 19).
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was in communication with senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on reconvening the talks, Iran's Fars News Agency reported Friday.
"Our communications continue and there is hope for the resumption of talks," Ashton told the al-Alam News Network, noting the importance of "going back to the negotiating table at the first opportunity" (Fars News Agency, Sept. 17).
Ahmadinejad also addressed the charge that Tehran had impaired an ongoing investigation of its nuclear program by vetoing the appointment of two veteran inspectors, Xinhua reported. The officials had identified unreported atomic work in the nation, but Iran said the two were banned because their findings were incorrect.
Iran's nuclear program is "being controlled by cameras," and the nation's atomic resources are monitored to prevent their diversion for military use, Ahmadinejad asserted. "So as far as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is concerned, there's no blockage of that supervision."
The inspectors' release of nuclear data provided by Iran was "illegal," he said.
"The IAEA is required by a statute to protect that information, not to release it," Ahmadinejad added. "And plus, the IAEA is aware of several other violations that they have permitted" (Xinhua News Agency I).
"It appears that the agency is suffering from (a) moral authority and credibility crisis," Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi added today, according to Reuters (Dahl/Westall, Reuters, Sept. 20).
Meanwhile, Tehran on Saturday asserted it had ended all purchases from abroad of gasoline, AFP reported. Iran has sought to increase its production of gasoline in response to economic penalties targeting the country's ability to import refined petroleum products.
"No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Sept. 18).
Elsewhere, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday expressed doubt that "the stars are lining up" for U.S. or Israeli military action on Iranian nuclear facilities, AP reported (Anne Gearan, Associated Press II/Google News, Sept. 19).
The deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, though, yesterday said Washington and Jerusalem are "daily beating on their war drums" and speculated that an attack by one of the governments was likely, Xinhua reported.
Iran's army and Revolutionary Guard were prepared for any possible scenario, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid said (Xinhua News Agency II, Sept. 19).

Bring Russia Inside Security "Tent," NATO Chief Says

from GSN Daily News

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday emphasized the importance of bringing Russia inside the security "tent" amid plans to cover alliance states with a ballistic missile shield, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 16).
"If we manage to create an inclusive missile defense system, it can reinforce a virtuous circle," Rasmussen said during an event in Rome.
"If Russia and other countries feel like they are inside the tent with the rest of us, rather than outside the tent looking in, it will build trust," he said.
Moscow took a strong view against U.S. plans during the Bush administration to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. It has remained wary of the Obama administration's revised plan for European missile defenses, which officially focus on fielding land- and sea-based versions of the Standard Missile 3 system around the continent as a hedge against Iranian short- and medium-range missiles.
Meanwhile, NATO could decide at its November summit in Lisbon to establish alliance-wide missile defenses.
Iran "already has missiles that can hit NATO territory and Russia too (and) is expanding their range," Rasmussen said.
A "more flexible" program on missile defense would not be prohibitively expensive, he added.
"To expand a system to protect all our nations" would require a "small investment" of roughly $275 million over two decades, according to the one-time Danish prime minister. "How can we afford not to?" he said.
Rasmussen has said he would like to see Moscow participate in the Nov. 19-20 alliance conference. The 28 NATO states should use the event to "invite Russia to cooperate, linking a (missile defence) system of ours with capabilities of theirs."
"Unless we make a clear offer to Russia, we would risk that it will feel, rightly or wrongly, kept out of the tent," he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 17).

China Suspected of Undermining Missile Proliferation Controls

from GSN Daily News

A recent report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service cautions that China could be undermining international efforts to limit the spread of missile technology through its dealings with Iran, Pakistan and North Korea (see GSN, May 26).
The Congressional Research Service report on conventional arms transfers to the developing world states that "credible reports persist in various publications that China has sold surface-to-surface missiles to Pakistan. North Korea and Iran have also reportedly received Chinese missile technology, which may have increased their
capabilities to threaten other countries in their respective neighborhoods.
Such activities reported by credible sources raise important questions about China’s stated commitment to the restrictions on missile transfers set out in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), including its
pledge not to assist others in building missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons," according to the Sept. 10 report.http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100920_5750.php

Russia, US Request IAEA to Verify Weapons-Grade Plutonium’s Disposition

from IAEA Top News RSS Feed

On 16 September 2010, the IAEA´s Director General Yukiya Amano received a jointly signed letter from the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, requesting that the IAEA undertake “an important verification role under the amended Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America Concerning the Management and Disposition of Plutonium Designated as No Longer Required for Defense Purposes and Related Cooperation”.

The Iranian Ballistic Missile Threat And a “Phased, Adaptive Approach” to Missile Defense for Europe by John D. Johnson

The Iranian Ballistic Missile Threat And a “Phased, Adaptive Approach” to Missile Defense for Europe
by John D. Johnson
Download the Full Article: The Iranian Ballistic Missile Threat
Iran's position in the Middle East is unique. Iran is a Persian country surrounded by Arabs and other non-Persian ethnic groups. Iran is a Shia Muslim country surrounded by mostly Sunni Muslims and some Christians. It sees the presence of Western militaries in neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. As such, Iran perceives an existential threat. Feeling threatened, Iran continues to develop offensive and defensive military capabilities including long-range ballistic missiles and proxy groups, and probably views a nuclear-armed ballistic missile as a credible deterrent against an external attack.
The threats posed by Iran’s ballistic missiles and the nexus of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs are of great concern to the U.S., NATO, and the international community. While Iran claims its missiles are defensive in nature and its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, insufficient cooperation and transparency on Iran’s part leaves these claims open to serious debate.
Given Iran's military capabilities and ambiguous intent, the international community has gone to great lengths to engage Iran diplomatically. The U.S., NATO members and Middle Eastern countries have also engaged in threat mitigation activities including non-proliferation efforts, economic sanctions and the deployment of missile defense systems.http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/09/the-iranian-ballistic-missile/

State Nuclear Profiles 2010 --EIA

The newly-formatted State Nuclear Profiles contains 2008 final data on nuclear generation and capacity, significant facts about the local nuclear industry, nuclear plant construction costs, dates of commercial reactor operation and license expiration, and type of cooling system. Tables also compare nuclear and other output and capacity.

Russia To Defy US By Selling Anti-Ship Missiles To Syria -- The Telegraph

Image: The P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missile. Photo from Haaretz
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8009335/Russia-to-defy-US-by-selling-anti-ship-missiles-to-Syria.html

Russia To Defy US By Selling Anti-Ship Missiles To Syria -- The Telegraph

Russia is to defy Israel and the United States by supplying Syria with advanced anti-ship missiles despite fears that they could fall into the hands of Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed group based in southern Lebanon.

Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian foreign minister, brushed aside pleas to halt the delivery of a consignment of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles, arguing that Moscow had supplied Syria with an older version of the missile and had not encountered problems.

"The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont," he told reporters during a confidence-building visit to the Pentagon. "But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists.

Read more ....

More News On Russian Arms Sales to Syria

Russia to honor deal to sell P-800 anti-ship missiles to Syria -- RIA Novosti
Russia to sell missiles to Syria -- UPI
Russia to sell Syria anti-ship cruise missiles -- BBC
Russia: We will provide Syria with advanced missiles, despite Israel, U.S. protests -- Haaretz
Russia to supply Syria with cruise missiles -- AFP
Israel Tried To Block Russian Arms Deal With Syria -- CBS
Russia to supply missiles to Syria, despite Israel protest -- Jerusalem Post
Russia 'irresponsible' for selling arms to Syria: Israel -- Breitbart/AFP

Nuclear Power in the USA

US Nuclear Fuel Cycle

The USA is the world's largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for more than 30% of worldwide nuclear generation of electricity.
The country's 104 nuclear reactors produced 799 billion kWh in 2009, over 20% of total electrical output.
Following a 30-year period in which few new reactors were built, it is expected that 4-6 new units may come on line by 2018, the first of those resulting from 16 licence applications to build 24 new nuclear reactors made since mid-2007.
Government policy changes since the late 1990s have helped pave the way for significant growth in nuclear capacity. Government and industry are working closely on expedited approval for construction and new plant designs.

The USA has 104 nuclear power reactors in 31 states, operated by 30 different power companies. In 2008, the country generated 4,119 billion kWh net of electricity, 49% of it from coal-fired plant, 22% from gas and 6% from hydro. Nuclear achieved a capacity factor of 91.1%, generating 805 billion kWh and accounting for almost 20% of total electricity generated in 2008. Total capacity is 1,088 GWe, less than one tenth of which is nuclear.
Annual electricity demand is projected to increase to 5,000 billion kWh in 2030. Annual per capita electricity consumption is currently around 12,400 kWh.
There are 69 pressurized water reactors (PWRs) with combined capacity of about 67 GWe and 35 boiling water reactors (BWRs) with combined capacity of about 34 GWe – for a total capacity of 101,263 MWe (see Nuclear Power in the USA Appendix 1: US Operating Nuclear Reactors). Almost all the US nuclear generating capacity comes from reactors built between 1967 and 1990. There have been no new construction starts since 1977, largely because for a number of years gas generation was considered more economically attractive and because construction schedules were frequently extended by opposition, compounded by heightened safety fears following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. A further PWR – Watts Bar 2 – is expected to start up by 2012 following Tennessee Valley Authority's decision in 2007 to complete the construction of the unit.
Despite a near halt in new construction of more than 30 years, US reliance on nuclear power has continued to grow. In 1980, nuclear plants produced 251 billion kWh, accounting for 11% of the country's electricity generation. In 2008, that output had risen to 809 billion kWh and nearly 20% of electricity, providing more than 30% of the electricity generated from nuclear power worldwide. Much of the increase came from the 47 reactors, all approved for construction before 1977, that came on line in the late 1970s and 1980s, more than doubling US nuclear generation capacity. The US nuclear industry has also achieved remarkable gains in power plant utilisation through improved refuelling, maintenance and safety systems at existing plants.

Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel

(Updated September 2010)

Used nuclear fuel has long been reprocessed to extract fissile materials for recycling and to reduce the volume of high-level wastes.
New reprocessing technologies are being developed to be deployed in conjunction with fast neutron reactors which will burn all long-lived actinides.
A significant amount of plutonium recovered from used fuel is currently recycled into MOX fuel; a small amount of recovered uranium is recycled.

A key, nearly unique, characteristic of nuclear energy is that used fuel may be reprocessed to recover fissile and fertile materials in order to provide fresh fuel for existing and future nuclear power plants. Several European countries, Russia and Japan have had a policy to reprocess used nuclear fuel, although government policies in many other countries have not yet addressed the various aspects of reprocessing.
Over the last 50 years the principal reason for reprocessing used fuel has been to recover unused uranium and plutonium in the used fuel elements and thereby close the fuel cycle, gaining some 25% more energy from the original uranium in the process and thus contributing to energy security. A secondary reason is to reduce the volume of material to be disposed of as high-level waste to about one fifth. In addition, the level of radioactivity in the waste from reprocessing is much smaller and after about 100 years falls much more rapidly than in used fuel itself.
In the last decade interest has grown in recovering all long-lived actinides together (i.e. with plutonium) so as to recycle them in fast reactors so that they end up as short-lived fission products. This policy is driven by two factors: reducing the long-term radioactivity in high-level wastes, and reducing the possibility of plutonium being diverted from civil use – thereby increasing proliferation resistance of the fuel cycle. If used fuel is not reprocessed, then in a century or two the built-in radiological protection will have diminished, allowing the plutonium to be recovered for illicit use (though it is unsuitable for weapons due to the non-fissile isotopes present).
Reprocessing used fuel^a to recover uranium (as reprocessed uranium, or RepU) and plutonium (Pu) avoids the wastage of a valuable resource. Most of it – about 96% – is uranium, of which less than 1% is the fissile U-235 (often 0.4-0.8%); and up to 1% is plutonium. Both can be recycled as fresh fuel, saving up to 30% of the natural uranium otherwise required. The materials potentially available for recycling (but locked up in stored used fuel) could conceivably run the US reactor fleet of about 100 GWe for almost 30 years with no new uranium input.
So far, almost 90,000 tonnes (of 290,000 t discharged) of used fuel from commercial power reactors has been reprocessed. Annual reprocessing capacity is now some 4000 tonnes per year for normal oxide fuels, but not all of it is operational.
Between now and 2030 some 400,000 tonnes of used fuel is expected to be generated worldwide, including 60,000 t in North America and 69,000 t in Europe.

World commercial reprocessing capacity^1,2

(tonnes per year)
LWR fuel	France, La Hague	1700
	UK, Sellafield (THORP)	900
	Russia, Ozersk (Mayak)	400
	Japan (Rokkasho)	800
	Total (approx)	3800
Other nuclear fuels	UK, Sellafield (Magnox)	1500
	India	275
	Total (approx)	1750
Total civil capacity		5550

Products of reprocessing

The composition of reprocessed uranium (RepU) depends on the initial enrichment and the time the fuel has been in the reactor, but it is mostly U-238. It will normally have less than 1% U-235 (typically about 0.5% U-235) and also smaller amounts of U-232 and U-236 created in the reactor. The U-232, though only in trace amounts, has daughter nuclides which are strong gamma-emitters, making the material difficult to handle. However, once in the reactor, U-232 is no problem (it captures a neutron and becomes fissile U-233). It is largely formed through alpha decay of Pu-236, and the concentration of it peaks after about 10 years of storage.
The U-236 isotope is a neutron absorber present in much larger amounts, typically 0.4% to 0.6% – more with higher burn-up – which means that if reprocessed uranium is used for fresh fuel in a conventional reactor it must be enriched significantly more (e.g. up to one-tenth more) than is required for natural uranium^b. Thus RepU from low burn-up fuel is more likely to be suitable for re-enrichment, while that from high burn-up fuel is best used for blending or MOX fuel fabrication.
The other minor uranium isotopes are U-233 (fissile), U-234 (from original ore, enriched with U-235, fertile), and U-237 (short half-life beta emitter). None of these affects the use of handling of the reprocessed uranium significantly. In the future, laser enrichment techniques may be able to remove these isotopes.
Reprocessed uranium (especially from earlier military reprocessing) may also be contaminated with traces of fission products and transuranics. This will affect its suitability for recycling either as blend material or via enrichment. Over 2002-06 USEC successfully cleaned up 7400 tonnes of technetium-contaminated uranium from the US Department of Energy.
Most of the separated uranium (RepU) remains in storage, though its conversion and re-enrichment (in UK, Russia and Netherlands) has been demonstrated, along with its re-use in fresh fuel. Some 16,000 tonnes of RepU from Magnox reactors in UK has been used^c to make about 1650 tonnes of enriched AGR fuel. In Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland over 8000 tonnes of RepU has been recycled into nuclear power plants. In Japan the figure is over 335 tonnes in tests and in India about 250 t of RepU has been recycled into PHWRs. Allowing for impurities affecting both its treatment and use, RepU value has been assessed as about half that of natural uranium.
Plutonium from reprocessing will have an isotopic concentration determined by the fuel burn-up level. The higher the burn-up levels, the less value is the plutonium, due to increasing proportion of non-fissile isotopes and minor actinides, and depletion of fissile plutonium isotopes^d. Whether this plutonium is separated on its own or with other actinides is a major policy issue relevant to reprocessing (see section on Reprocessing policies below).
Most of the separated plutonium is used almost immediately in mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. World MOX production capacity is currently around 200 tonnes per year, nearly all of which is in France (see page on Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel).

Inventory of separated recyclable materials worldwide³

	Quantity (tonnes)	Natural U equivalent (tonnes)
Plutonium from reprocessed fuel	320	60,000
Uranium from reprocessed fuel	45,000	50,000
Ex-military plutonium	70	15,000
Ex-military high-enriched uranium	230	70,000

More at link
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf69.html

MIT looks at US fuel cycle options

20 September 2010

The availability of uranium resources, as well as scientifically sound methods for managing used nuclear fuel, should mean that nuclear fuel will not need to be recycled in the USA for much of this century at least, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 2003, MIT published a report on The Future of the Nuclear Power, which said "that in order to make a serious contribution to alleviating global climate change, the world would need new nuclear plants with a total capacity of at least a terawatt [1000 gigawatts] by 2050." In an update of that report in 2009, MIT noted that the rate of deployment of new nuclear power plants around the world has been much slower than needed in order to combat climate change.

MIT announced that it has now released a report on The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle because "of the continuing importance of nuclear power as a low-carbon option that could be deployed at a scale that is material for mitigating climate change risk, namely, global deployment at the terawatt scale by mid-century."

It added, "Because of the significant changes in the landscape, we have undertaken this study ... to bring a sharper focus on the key technical choices available for an expanded nuclear power program in the US and the near-term policy implications of those choices."

According to MIT, "In the US, fuel cycle policies have been in a state of confusion." It said, "To enable an expansion of nuclear power, it must overcome critical challenges in cost, waste disposal, and proliferation concerns while maintaining its currently excellent safety and reliability record." MIT added, "In the relatively near term, important decisions may be taken with far reaching long-term implications about the evolution of the nuclear fuel cycle - what type of fuel is used, what types of reactors, what happens to irradiated fuel, and what method of disposal for long term nuclear wastes. This study aims to inform those decisions."

The report states, "A key message from our work is that we can and should preserve our options for fuel cycle choices by continuing with the open fuel cycle, implementing a system for managed light water reactor (LWR) spent fuel storage, developing a geological repository, and researching technology alternatives

Government drops final curtain on PBMR

he government of South Africa has formally announced its decision no longer to invest in the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project.
The PBMR was to have been a small-scale high-temperature reactor using fuel spheres of silicon carbide-coated uranium particles encased in graphite, with helium as the coolant, able to supply process heat as well as generating electricity. The nature of the fuel in particular gives the reactor a high degree of passive safety, exploiting inherent safety characteristics depending on the physical properties of the system without the need for intervention. Based on well-proved German technology, South Africa has been working on the PBMR project since 1993, but earlier this year PBMR Pty announced the loss of government funding, along with drastic staff cuts. At that point the government had initially decided to downsize the company by 75%, which would have allowed it to operate for up to 3 years.

Addressing the country's National Assembly, public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan cited a number of "sobering realities" underlying the government's decision no longer to invest in the project. Among these were the project's failure to secure an anchor customer or other investment partner; the prospect of the requirement for further investment of at least another ZAR 30 billion ($4.2 billion); and the loss of the opportunity to participate in the USA's Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) program as part of a consortium with Westinghouse when Westinghouse withdrew from the project in May 2010.

Middle East nuclear issues to top IAEA meeting

On the issue of Israeli nuclear capabilities. The report revealed that during a visit to Israel last month, the IAEA head Amano invited Israel to join the NPT and put all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive safeguards of IAEA.
Israel has enacted a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the existence of its atomic warheads. The stance has drawn sharp criticisms from some Middle East countries.

IAEA meeting begins with row over nuclear inspectors in Iran

China attaches great importance to nuclear safety: diplomat

China attaches great importance to nuclear safety: diplomat

VIENNA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua)-- China is willing to increase cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its member states in nuclear safety, to ensure safe and reliable construction and operation of all nuclear power plants, a Chinese diplomat said Tuesday.

Hu Xiaodi, China's permanent representative and ambassador to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Vienna, made the comments as during an afternoon session of the IAEA directors' meeting on nuclear safety.Full story

Nuclear energy should be used to better serve mankind: Chinese diplomat

Iran calls on U.S. to change strategy toward Iran

Iran calls on U.S. to change strategy toward Iran
TEHRAN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the United States needs "big turn" in its policies toward Iran, local English language satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.
"Time is ripe for the U.S. to make a big change in its strategy. They should accept a world of equality for their survival," Brigadier General Hossein Salami was quoted as saying.
In a meeting with military attaches of foreign countries in Iran on Thursday, Salami praised the firm resistance of the Iranian nation against the U.S. "plots" over the past 30 years after the Islamic Revolution gained victory over the west-backed Shah.
"Despite pressure and sanctions against Iran, we move forward day by day ...Today the Islamic (Iran) is capable of defending its cultural, political and religious thoughts," the report quoted him as saying.
"We can resist against the toughest sanctions and meet our demands," he added.
Iran on Monday turned down a visit offer to Tehran by U.S. Senator John Kerry, official IRNA news agency reported.
Head of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iran turned down a request made by John Kerry to pay a visit to Tehran because the U.S. Democrats proved inconsistent in word and action.
Since there is no change in the U.S. policy concerning the Islamic Republic after President Barack Obama took office last year, there will be no change in Iran's policy as well, Boroujerdi said.

54th IAEA general conference opens

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/20/c_13521741.htm

54th IAEA general conference opens

English.news.cn 2010-09-20 18:57:29

Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), addresses the 54th General Conference of IAEA in Vienna, capital of Austria, Sept. 20, 2010. The 54th IAEA General Conference opened here on Monday, with the participation of representatives of 151 countries. (Xinhua/Xu Liang)

VIENNA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The 54th International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference opened here Monday, with the implementation of safeguards in Middle East, especially Israel's nuclear capabilities, expected as center of attention during general debate.

In the opening statement of the conference, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano noted that no progress had been achieved on the development of model safeguards agreements toward establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region.

At last year's General Conference, an Arab nations-supported resolution was passed calling for Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and putting all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive safeguards of IAEA.

The United States and its allies have been trying to block the resolution being adopted again this year, on the grounds that talk of Israeli nuclear issue could jeopardise newly-launched Middle East peace talks.

A Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) statement to the board rejected the U.S. reasoning behind excluding Israeli nuclear issue, noting that stability cannot be achieved in a region where massive imbalances in military capabilities are maintained particularly through the possession of nuclear weapons.

Israel has enacted a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the existence of its atomic warheads.

China reaffirms commitments to nuclear security at IAEA meeting

VIENNA, Sept.14 (Xinhua) -- China remains committed to strengthening international cooperation against nuclear terrorism and promoting nuclear safety, a Chinese diplomat told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) directors meeting here Tuesday.
Hu Xiaodi, China's permanent representative and ambassador to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Vienna, said that the Chinese government always pays great attention to security issues on nuclear materials and facilities and positively participate in various activities on nuclear security led by the IAEA.
At the Nuclear Security Summit in April, Chinese President Hu Jintao raised five points of proposals on stepping up international cooperation on meeting nuclear security challenges, he said.
In August, China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) and the IAEA signed a practical arrangement in the field of nuclear security in Beijing, which played a significant role in effectively achieving China' s commitments to nuclear security and strengthening cooperation with the agency on nuclear security, the diplomat added.
He said China has joined the agency's Illicit Trafficking Database (ITDB) program and constantly improved the management and access control of its domestic radioactive source in the light of the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and supplementary Guidance on the Import and Export of Radioactive Sources.
He also pointed out that the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment is an important international instrument to promote international nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security.
China submitted the ratification of the Amendment to the convention in September last year, becoming the second country with nuclear weapons to ratify the convention following Russia, the diplomat went on.
China also called for more countries to take positive action to ratify the convention so that it enters into force as soon as possible, he added.
The diplomat also noted that this year is the first year for the implementation of the IAEA' s Nuclear Security Plan for 2010-2013 and the IAEA has done a great deal of work in the aspects of promoting the implementation of international legal documents, helping the member states to establish and improve their nuclear security regulations system, infrastructure and capability-building.
In addition, he said China appreciated the help offered the agency to the member states in strengthening border controls, the return of highly enriched uranium used for nuclear reactors, as well as the recycling of radioactive materials. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/14/c_13494930.htm

Colin Powell on Meet the Press - September 19, 2010 Re: Iran's Nuclear Energy Program "Trust but Verify" by Rod Adams

Colin Powell on Meet the Press - September 19, 2010 Re: Iran's Nuclear Energy Program "Trust but Verify"

by Rod Adams http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/

China: Energy superpower

China: Energy superpowe
rhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LI21Dj05.html
China's emergence as the world's top energy consumer - and the likelihood of it keeping that status - has immense implications for the future of great-power politics and of the planet. Washington is watching with anxiety. - Michael T Klare

Nuclear chief says gas will rule: John Rowe

Nuclear chief says gas will rule

Sep 17 2010 John Rowe, chief executive of utility giant Exelon, talks to the FT's Henny Sender about future energy sources, nuclear power in emerging markets, and why he has grave concerns over US immigration policies. (10m 15sec)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Nuclear Reactors Don Dow Jones Sustainability Criteria

LONDON (IDN) – One of the leading international benchmarks for corporate contribution to sustainable development, the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), has included a number of U.S. and European nuclear power utilities in its latest review.
Forty-eight companies have been added to the DJSI in its most recent review, while 46 have been removed. In the utilities sector, eight nuclear power plant operators are listed. These include Germany’s EOn and RWE; Spain’s Endesa and Iberdrola; Entergy and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) of the USA; Italy’s Enel; and Fortum of Finland.

Iran leads nuclear drive in the Middle East

Egypt's plan to build four nuclear powerplants by 2025 underscores the emerging interest in atomic energy across the Middle East, where even oil-rich nations such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are eyeing fossil fuel alternatives to satisfy growing demand. In the region and beyond all eyes are on Iran, which says it is firing up its first nuclear reactor before the end of this year, becoming the first Muslim country in the Middle East to produce nuclear energy.
The announcement that the Russian-built Bushehr reactor in southern Iran will start up in October or November rang alarm bells in the region and beyond.
Iran's neighbours and world powers largely suspect that behind its claimed drive to acquire atomic energy for peaceful purposes, Tehran's anti-Western government is hiding a covert atomic weapons programme.
Though wary of Iran, Middle Eastern states want to harness nuclear energy more out of necessity than competition with Iran, some analysts and officials say.
"It is a matter of energy," said Mostafa el-Feki, who heads the Egyptian parliament's foreign relations committee and who was Egypt's ambassador to Austria and its representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency

Russia in 300-million-dollar missile deal with Syria: report

Russia plans to supply Syria with around 72 P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles in a deal worth at least 300 million dollars, a source in Russia's arms industry told the Interfax news agency Sunday. "Damascus is counting on receiving no less than two Bastion coastal defence systems. Since each system can include up to 36 Yakhont missiles, it is an order of a significant size," the source told Interfax.
Russia will receive at least 300 million dollars for the defence systems, Interfax cited the source as saying.

Self-sufficient Iran has stopped importing petrol: minister

by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Sept 18, 2010 Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Saturday that Iran had now stopped importing petrol, a commodity targeted by world powers in new sanctions against Tehran's controversial nuclear drive. "No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Mirkazemi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.
It reported him as saying Iran's daily petrol production had reached 66.5 million litres per day, more than the national requirement of 64 million litres.
On September 7, Mirkazemi said that Iran had now reached "self-sufficiency" in petrol production, adding that previously it produced 44 million litres a day and imported 20 million litres in order to meet domestic need.
On Saturday, Mirkazemi said any new imports of petrol would help to boost the country's domestic reserves.
Iran recently launched an emergency plan aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in petrol production by the end of the current Iranian year to March 20, 2011.
Prior to that, Tehran said its target was to meet its own refined fuel needs by 2012.

Row over Israel to dominate UN atomic watchdog meeting

A bitter row over Israel's assumed nuclear arsenal looks set to dominate the annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency which begins Monday. Every year at the week-long conference which brings together all 151 member states of the IAEA, Arab nations table a resolution urging Israel to foreswear atomic weapons and sign up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Because the resolution is non-binding and the Jewish state -- believed to be the only Middle East power to possess nuclear weapons -- steadfastly refuses to become a signatory of the NPT, it is purely symbolic.
But the issue has nevertheless led to long and bitter debates at past conferences, pitting highly developed western countries against emerging powers, particularly in the Middle East.
When the resolution was passed with a very narrow majority last year, the IAEA's new director general Yukiya Amano was instructed to "work with member states towards achieving" the goal of persuading Israel to join the NPT.
And Amano provided an update of his efforts in an 81-page report published at the beginning of September.
Nevertheless, Arab states quickly dismissed Amano's findings as "weak and disappointing" and criticised the report for being "devoid of any substance and not up to the typical level of the agency's reporting."
They accused the IAEA, which has long been investigating both Iran and Syria for alleged illicit nuclear activity, of using "double standards" when dealing with Israel.
By contrast, the United States and its western allies believe that pressing ahead with the resolution again this year could jeopardise newly-launched Middle East peace talks.
It would also not help in efforts to persuade Israel to attend a conference in 2012 on freeing the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, they argue.
At a time when US President Obama and State Secretary Hillary Clinton were "actively pursuing Middle East peace .... now is not the time and the IAEA is not the place for this divisive resolution," Washington's ambassador to the IAEA, Glyn Davies told reporters on the sideline of a meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board last week.
It was "important that we avoid engaging here in Vienna in a very divisive, tough debate. A resolution, if it's adopted could threaten these talks, could send a very bad signal," he said.
Washington's concern is shown by the decision to fly in President Barack Obama's top nuclear advisor, Gary Samore, to Vienna last to try and persuade Arab nations to drop their resolution.
The annual conference, scheduled to run from September 20-24, will be opened with a message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, followed by the opening address by IAEA chief Amano.
The agenda for the rest of the week is heavy, with topics ranging from the election of member states to the board of governors, the 2011 budget, nuclear security and technical coperation.
The debate on Israeli's nuclear capabilities, one of the last items on the agenda, will come towards the end of the week.

Tens of thousands protest against German nuclear plan

Map shows nuclear power plants in Germany

Image via WikipediaTens of thousands demonstrated in Berlin Saturday against the government's proposal to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power plants for another decade or more. Waving banners and yellow and green balloons marked with the slogans of the anti-nuclear movement, they turned out in force to protest outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's headquarters.
The organisers -- environmental groups backed by left-leaning opposition parties -- put their numbers at 100,000, though police made it 37,000.
Special trains and 150 buses had been chartered to bring the demonstrators to Berlin from all over Germany.
Merkel's centre-right coalition agreed last weekend to lift the deadline of 2022 for the phasing out of nuclear power set by an earlier Social Democrat-led government.
The new plan would extend the lifetime of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors for an average of 12 years beyond the previously scheduled shutdown.
Calculations in the German media suggest that the last plant will not be switched off until 2040, and critics say that operators may get away with keeping some running for even longer than that.
"It's a disgrace. We feel cheated", Hartwig Bottcher said, a 66-year-old retired teacher.
"During this time the pile of nuclear waste increases and we still don't know what to do with it," said 19-year-old student Laura, preferring not to give her full name.

Argentina eyes nuclear role in S. America

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

by Staff Writers Buenos Aires (UPI) Sep 17, 2010 Argentina is moving forward with a long-term strategy to expand its nuclear program that includes the building of a new plant and refurbishment of existing heavy-water reactors. Argentina and South Korea this week signed a memorandum of understanding that will see Korean expertise being deployed in both new and existing nuclear power installations to bolster the national grid.
Widely seen as an answer to Brazil's revival of its nuclear industry, including enrichment and defense-related technologies, Argentina's nuclear program will aim to push forward President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's aim of putting the country on the map as a nuclear power, a strong contender for regional nuclear supremacy.
Brazil's nuclear industry is more advanced than Argentina's, but the Argentine nuclear activities in the dictatorial period of the 1980s included a nuclear weapons program known only to U.S. and other Western nuclear watchdog bodies.

MIT study upbeat on nuclear power growth

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/MIT_study_upbeat_on_nuclear_power_growth_999.html

MIT study upbeat on nuclear power growth

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

by Staff Writers Washington (UPI) Sep 17, 2010 Nuclear power use is growing worldwide but the high costs of setting up plants, disposing of waste and worries over abuse are holding back expansion, a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said. "To enable an expansion of nuclear power, it must overcome critical challenges in cost, waste disposal and proliferation concerns while maintaining its currently excellent safety and reliability record," said the report, the third since 2003 on nuclear power by the Cambridge, Mass., institution.
The report noted how nuclear power development was moving ahead globally while lagging in the United States. The United States hasn't licensed a plant since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.
Proliferation fears cited in the report coincide with continuing row over Iran's nuclear program and plans announced by Argentina and Brazil to push forward their nuclear programs.
The report said concerns over climate change and global warming could drive a global growth of nuclear power industry if handled correctly.

Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Monday, September 20, 2010

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