 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2/6/12 |
 |
||||||||
|
 |
Home / Projects & Publications / News |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
RANSAC Nuclear News, August 12, 2003 Compiled By: Billy Magnuson A. Nuclear Cities Initiative
 A. Nuclear Cities Initiative 1. US DOE Positively Assessed Snezhinsk PET-Center Construction Project The US Department of Energy (US DOE) issued a positive conclusion regarding the construction of ultra-modern medical Positron-Emission-Tomography Center (PET-Center) in Snezhinsk, as Nuclear.Ru was informed by the information service of All-Russia Research Institute of Technical Physics (VNIITF). Positron-Emission-Tomography is used for diagnostics of cardiovascular and cancer diseases and to cure the central nervous system�s disorders. There are about 600 PET-Centers abroad. Russia has them only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Now such center is to emerge in Snezhinsk. The study of a possibility to use the isotopic diagnostics for medical purposes in VNIITF was tasked to the experts of the Fifth Research Division who had already participated in 1999 in creation of the Neutron Therapy Center at the 20-th industrial site of the VNIITF. The proposal to set up a regional cancer treatment center was developed and sent to Minatom of Russia but was not responded to due to the change of the ministerial administration at that time. It turned that a great help was the visit of VNIITF Director F.G. Rykovanov and VNIITF Scientific Supervisor Ye. Avrorin to the United States in April 2002. In Louisiana that houses six PET-Centers the Russian scientists agreed the US participation in creation of the Snezhinsk PET-Center. Already four months after the US team came to meet their Russian colleagues in Snezhinsk where they visited the local cancer treatment center and met the doctors who would take part in creation and operation of the PET-Center. Chief Medical Officer Professor Andrei Vazhenin heads this group of doctors. Early April this year another meeting took place to finally agree on the US participation in the project with the US experts valuing highly the presented project calling it �one of the most sound projects under the Russia-US Nuclear Cities Initiative�. The scale of the project is seen through the number of jobs to be created � 120-130, let alone the medical staff, and through its cost amounting to 9 million dollars, which include one third to be provided by the US side and two thirds by the Chelyabinsk Regional Administration and Minatom of Russia. The PET-Center is expected to commission within three or three years and a half starting from the moment the funds are available. The patient treatment scheme is going to be similar to that of the Snezhinsk Neutron Therapy Center: the patients from Chelyabinsk will be sent to Sungul resort first and then directly to PET-Center. After examination they will return to Chelyabinsk with their Positron-Emission-Tomography data. The PET examination cost in the US is 1,800 dollars at minimum with 500-600 dollars in St. Petersburg and 800 in Moscow. Such examination cost in Snezhinsk is estimated 400-500 dollars. Return to Menu B. Submarine Dismantlement 1. A Greener Future for Yellowing Submarines In all my years in Russia, I do not think I have ever felt a deeper sense of poignancy than I did on July 26, when I found myself standing in the middle of the Sevmash shipyard at Severodvinsk, near the Arctic Circle. On one side was what is said to be the largest workshop in the world -- a building higher than St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg and with a floor area larger than five soccer fields. The cost of heating it through the Arctic winter is mind-boggling, and it is only one of many buildings in a complex 5 kilometers long that still employs 28,000 people. At Sevmash were constructed the world's largest nuclear submarine, the world's fastest nuclear submarine, the world's quietest nuclear submarine, and, back in the 1950s, Russia's first nuclear submarine, the Komsomolets. Tied up in the outer harbor on the other side were two submarines and a cruiser, no longer needed for the Cold War for which they were made and silently awaiting their fate. Around the corner was the celebrated aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, said to be on its way to India. One of the submarines is to be floated down to Moscow to be put on public display. Another will soon be cut up in the yard that built it. The moment was poignant for many reasons. I was the first British ambassador to be able to visit Severodvinsk -- but far from the first Briton to land on Yagry Island, where the town stands. Yagry Island is where Britain's relationship with Russia officially started, when Richard Chancellor and the crew of the Edward Bonaventure made a landfall there in August of 1553. They were looking for a northern route to China, but bumped into Russia instead and decided to open diplomatic and commercial relations with Ivan the Terrible. At the monument recording Chancellor's arrival, Governor Anatoly Yefremov, Mayor Alexander Bagrayev and I commemorated the 450th anniversary. But July 26 also marked Den Goroda Severodvinska, the 65th anniversary of the shipyards and town that Stalin began building, with forced labor from the gulag, in 1938. What had remained a marshland for nearly four centuries since Chancellor's arrival was suddenly, for obvious reasons, shut to foreigners and plunged into secrecy for the next half-century. It is a place and a region that encapsulates a lot of history. Early contact with the West. Growing prosperity from the 17th to the 19th centuries through the port of Arkhangelsk and the fur and timber trades. Unspeakable suffering during the Stalinist repression. A heavy toll in lives during World War II, when close ties with Britain were renewed through the heroic northern convoys that ferried tanks and aircraft to the Soviet Union through Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The Cold War. And not far away, three summers ago, the Kursk submarine tragedy. But on July 26, this northern outpost of tumultuous European history presented the extraordinarily peaceful sight of shipyard workers and their families stretched out on the sand and frolicking in the White Sea, with history the last thing on their minds. Crossing the island from the beach to the shipyard, we came to the second -- and equally poignant -- purpose of my visit. Having looked back on over 450 years of often difficult times, we had come to open a new chapter in the history book, looking forward. The British government is about to begin work with the Nuclear Power Ministry and the shipyards of Severodvinsk for the safe disposal of the nuclear submarines originally launched there. This is part of the Global Partnership developed by Russia and other members of the G-8 in 2002 to deal with the redundant weapons inherited from the Cold War that represent hazards to the ecology and safety of our planet. Countries such as the United States and Norway are already engaged in this work. Britain is joining under an agreement signed during President Vladimir Putin's visit to London in June. One of the submarines I was inspecting in Severodvinsk has been allocated to us. Could anything more graphically symbolize a changing relationship than that, instead of building weapons to use against each other, we should be combining forces to make them safe? Most poignant of all was to think of the labor, the resources and the human ingenuity which we all wasted so massively during the Cold War, and of the better uses to which they could have been put. Building shipyards the size of Severodvinsk on an Arctic marsh was an extraordinary achievement. The construction of generations of the most sophisticated seagoing vessels the world has ever seen testifies to a brilliance of design and the cutting edge in engineering skills. You cannot stand there without being struck by the tragic paradox that, while both East and West were dedicating their most advanced scientific research to achieving levels of weaponry vastly greater than were ever needed for defense and deterrence, those who accomplished these feats were living in dismally poor conditions in places like Severodvinsk and now face an uncertain future. The contrast between the living standards of the far northwest and those of the capital is painfully sharp. What does the future hold in store? Severodvinsk is a pool of human talent, which is one of Russia's greatest assets. Turning back the clock is clearly not an option. But in a sense, the future may already be on its way. The oil and gas industry that is developing in the north is in need of platforms and other equipment, and one giant rig is already under construction at Severodvinsk. The yard has also built barges and pontoons for foreign customers. Doors are being opened to a wider market. Judging from the experience of others, the formation of new enterprises geared to compete dynamically in areas of comparative advantage would be particularly valuable. One journalist asked me if Severodvinsk could become a new Hong Kong. It seemed like an odd question -- the two places could hardly be more different -- but perhaps he had a point. Hong Kong became wealthy in a single generation by combining human ingenuity with free enterprise in mostly small and medium-sized businesses. Let the entrepreneurs of Severodvinsk show us what they can do now. Return to Menu C. Russian Nuclear Forces 1. Russia Air Force Can Deflect Aggression by Using Conventional, Nuclear Arms The Air Force now plays the role of "the forward echelon of the Russian armed forces, entering armed struggle first and predetermining its further organized development and conduct", commander-in-chief of the Russian air force, Vladimir Mikhaylov, told TASS in connection with Air Force Day to be marked on Tuesday [12 August]. Estimating the present state of the air force, the commander-in-chief emphasized that "it possesses sufficient combat potential to fulfil tasks on rebuffing aggression against Russia of a local and regional scale by using conventional as well as nuclear weapons". To tackle the tasks of containing a potential aggressor, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, the air force has long-distance missile aviation, including over 60 Tu-22M3, Tu-160 and Tu-95 bombers. Russian long-distance aviation also includes 20 Tu-142 jets from the Russian navy, capable of fighting submarines. Besides, there are thousands of jets of front-line aviation, including Su-24, Su-25, MiG-29 and Su-27 which were updated and became, in actual fact, new aircraft. Return to Menu 2. Vladimir Putin: Strategic Air Force Needs to be Re-Equipped Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that aviators consider re-equipping strategic air force. "It should be able to carry both heavy nuclear warheads and conventional warheads," the Russian president said during his working meeting with Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov, commander in chief of the Air Force. At the beginning of the meeting, Commander in Chief of Russia's Armed Forces (Mr. Putin) congratulated all those having to do with aviation on their professional holiday - Air Force Day. Then the president asked Vladimir Mikhailov to brief him on the progress of work over the new Yak-130 aircraft and on the projects of the military aviation industry. The Air Force commander in chief reported Russian aircraft builders had started to work over the Yak-130 aircraft together with the Italians back in 1993, and had developed a new modified type of the training combat aircraft. Yak-130 can be used both as a training and assault aircraft and can carry a 3-ton bomb load. This aircraft will be assembled at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod, Mikhailov said. In his words, the initial avionics projects have become outdated in the past decade, and therefore aircraft will be produced with new avionics. The new aircraft is nearing the fifth generation in its characteristics and will possibly replace the Su-24 aircraft, Mikhailov stressed. The Su-27SN aircraft is also being modernised - especially its in-flight radioelectronic equipment - and is already being tested. As to heavy aviation, the commander in chief pointed out IL-112V. This new aircraft will replace An-26 and An-24 and exceeds all their characteristics at least two-fold. Tests of the Russian IL-76MN aircraft are continuing in Uzbekistan, the commander in chief said. He added there was a shortfall in medium aircraft to replace An-12. An-70 is no longer medium but heavy, approaching the characteristics of Il-76 but is still inferior to it in terms of some parameters. But we are continuing to work over it, he said referring to some engine-related difficulties. As to medium aircraft, the Ilyushin and Tupolev design centre are currently developing two aircraft types. Vladimir Mikhailov asserted the medium transport aircraft would be developed and assembled at Russian aircraft building plants for the domestic transport aviation. Vladimir Mikhailov said at present the Air Force was paying serious attention to the army aviation. A light transport aircraft, a light helicopter and a night helicopter are being developed, with the tests of the latter having been almost completed, the commander in chief said. Mi-26 is still in service as having no rivals in the world. And besides, it is less expensive and more profit-making than any other similar helicopters, the commander in chief said. Mikhailov also remarked the Tu-160 aircraft was being upgraded at the Kazan plant. The first Tu-160 was produced in 1986 and is now being modernised. The commander in chief stressed the aviation component had become more stable. Return to Menu 3. Russia: Moscow to Begin Testing Bulava SLBM in 2004 Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexei Moskovsky has said Russia plans to begin testing the new Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile next year, Jane�s Defense Weekly reported today (see GSN, Aug. 7). Russia is set to begin testing the Bulava SLBM in 2004 on a Typhoon-class submarine, Moskovsky said. The missile is then set to be installed on three Borey-class submarines, which are scheduled to be operational by 2010, he said. Each Borey-class submarine will be armed with 12 Bulavas, Russian defense industry sources said. Each Bulava, designed to have a range of more than 8,300 kilometers, is expected to be equipped with multiple warheads, according to Jane�s. The Borey-class submarine has a displacement of 17,000 tons, measures 170 meters in length and has a crew of 130, Jane�s reported. The submarine is equipped with both a nuclear reactor for high speeds and a low-noise electric engine. The submarine is also equipped with the latest in underwater noise reduction measures, project officials said (Nikolai Novichkov, Jane�s Defense Weekly, Aug. 13). Return to Menu 4. Russian Air Force Acquires New Strategic Bomber A new bomber, Tu-160, will be added to the arsenal of the Russian Air Force this year. The machine comes complete with new missiles capable of hitting targets 2,500-2,800 kilometers away, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Vladimir Mikhailov told a Moscow press conference on Friday. The new bomber will undergo "baptism of fire" in an exercise of the Russian Pacific Fleet involving long-range aviation, which is taking place in the Far East. Speaking about the future of the Russian Air Force, the commander-in-chief said: "The primary task is to upgrade the aircraft currently used by the Air Force." Return to Menu D. Nuclear Testing 1. Powell Says No Need for Nuclear Tests Now Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday a resumption of U.S. nuclear testing could not be ruled out forever but there was no need to test now. "The president has no intention of testing nuclear weapons," Powell said at a news conference. "We have no need to." While the United States and other nuclear powers have a responsibility to keep their nuclear weapons stockpiles safe and reliable, "we see no need to test in order to do that at the moment," Powell said. "We can't rule it out forever," he said, but "we have no plans to test" and the topic is not likely to be discussed by President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting next month at Camp David in Maryland. The United States has signed the international treaty to ban nuclear tests, but the Senate refused to ratify it. Bush, like his predecessor, Bill Clinton, has imposed a voluntary moratorium. Some Bush administration officials have suggested that tests may be necessary if there is a decision to develop new U.S. nuclear weapons. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association, said, "It's useful that the secretary is reinforcing the current commitment to the test ban." However, Kimball said in an interview, "That commitment is not solid, given the view of others in the administration that nuclear testing might be needed to develop and produce new types of nuclear weapons." He said nuclear testing "definitely should be on the agenda with Russia because the United States and Russia continue to be concerned about activities at each other's test sites and there is an important opportunity to reach agreement on transparency measures to allay concerns about cheating." Return to Menu E. Nuclear Security 1. Nuclear Security Issues to be Discussed in Samarkand Over 250 scientists from the USA, Germany, France, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and the CIS member-states together with IAEA representatives and other international organizations are participating in the international conference "Modern Problems of Nuclear Physics" opened in one of the world's most ancient cities - in the city of Samarkand. The organizer of the conference is the Nuclear Physics Institute under the Uzbek Academy of Sciences. It is the largest nuclear physics research center in Central Asia. It conducts the conference together with a number of international research centers and companies. About 300 scientific reports on modern problems of fundamental and applied nuclear physics and radiology protection will be delivered at the conference. "Special attention will be paid to nuclear security issues," deputy head of the Nuclear Physics Institute under the Uzbek Academy of Sciences Umajon Salekhbayev said. According to him, scientists of the Institute have been working on nuclear security systems such as reinforcement of physical protection for nuclear reactors and other larger nuclear facilities, development of devices to control illegal transfer of radioactive and nuclear materials for the customs and frontier checkpoints. Return to Menu F. U.S.-Russia 1. Commentary: US Missile Shield Sparks Space Arms Race Danger Major-General Vladimir Slipchenko is a leading Russian defence expert. In his view, America's missile defence system is an attempt to establish military superiority in space using new principles of warfare. In an interview with this RIA Novosti analyst Slipchenko noted that "by 2010 the total number of precision-guided weapons in the arsenals of the most developed countries may reach 30,000 to 50,000 units, and after 2020 -- 70,000 to 90,000. The accent on the massive use of these weapons suggests that their designated purpose is not deterrence, but large-scale combat operations". On September 12, a regular session of the UN conference on disarmament is due to complete its work in Geneva. General Slipchenko's opinion reflects Russia's position, which is to prevent the militarisation of outer space. And this position has been made clear in an official statement issued by the Foreign Ministry. Russia supports a proposal for a UN moratorium on the deployment of weapons in space and "is ready to assume such an obligation right away if the leading space powers join this moratorium". But why is the disarmament process now related to space? To begin with, the late 1990s brought with them a new strategic concept of warfare involving the large-scale use of precision-guided weapons. Extensive satellite networks are needed for them to be used effectively. Secondly, the United States, regardless of opposition, is deploying a global strategic missile defence shield. Objectively, the defence doctrines of the leading space powers, Russia and the US, will now focus on the militarisation of space. Unless appropriate international obligations are assumed, a runaway buildup of military space capabilities and the further militarisation of space will be inevitable. Ever since man began to travel to the stars, military interests have been a paramount factor in exploration in this sphere. Since the mid-1960s, individual spacecraft and whole orbital formations have been developed and are currently widely exploited, the latter of which might tentatively be described as general-purpose military space systems. Such systems are designed to give warnings about missile attacks, carry out observation and reconnaissance, ensure communications and help with navigation and meteorological studies. Although military-orientated, they are not weapons, since they are not intended to engage hostile targets and do not pose an offensive threat in or from space. The space-based observation and intelligence-gathering craft bear the brunt of monitoring arms limitations agreements and troop and materiel movements. Early warning spacecraft conduct global monitoring of missile launches and provide the leaders of nuclear states with the necessary information to make a balanced analysis of a situation and formulate an appropriate response. Communications, navigation and weather spacecraft used by the armed forces in effect guarantee the security of international transport and help avert dangerous situations at sea and in the air. Thus, as Major-General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, deputy head of the Russian Defence Ministry's international agreements department, told a Moscow conference on strategic stability in May 2003 "one can state that the normal functioning of general-purpose military space systems on the whole helps to maintain strategic stability and international security". But with the advent of entirely new types of precision-guided weapons, the status of general-purpose military satellite systems has been radically altered. High precision fire and guidance are generally ensured by formations of navigation, reconnaissance and weather satellites. Consequently, rather than being individual units, these spacecraft turn into components of a weapons system called precision-guided weapons. In that way, precision-guided arsenals, if built up, will rapidly increase the number of military satellite formations, which are essentially elements of these weapons. In this context, the task today is to work out, within the norms of international law, a new approach to the limitation and control of general-purpose military satellite systems. On the other hand, orbiting space weapons, i.e., means designed to hit enemy targets from space, should be banned from the outset. In the opposite scenario, the entire existing structure of understandings on strategic arms limitations will be eroded and a fresh impulse will be given to the arms race, raising it to a qualitatively advanced level. Today this menace is very real, as Washington plans to work on a global missile defence system. "Global" is the important word here. A special memorandum of the US administration of May 21, 2003, explicitly states: the system we are developing must protect United States territory, our armed forces and those of our allies. In other words, half the Earth, since American troops are deployed in 120 countries across the globe. Naturally, such a large-scale objective cannot be met with conventional means, such as ground-based interceptors. To believe a report issued by the RAND research corporation about a year ago on the Pentagon's orders, a missile defence system, to be effective, must employ orbital directed-energy weapons - mega-watt lasers, beam and kinetic weapons. These kinds of weapons are capable within a short interval of time of engaging both ground- and space-based targets. The United States is almost certain to enjoy the lead in their development. But there will be only one outcome. In addition to the US and Russia, there are other countries with serious space programmes, such as France, China, Japan and India. The testing and deployment of weapons in space by a large number of countries may very well increase the probability of a global armed conflict that will be hard to avert. Return to Menu G. Russia-Iran 1. Iran, Russia Stress Closer Ties in Various Areas Iranian Ambassador to Russia Gholam Reza Shafei in a meeting with Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trabnikov said here that the Tehran-Moscow relations are quite satisfactory. The officials reviewed regional and international developments and stressed on closer ties between the two nations on various issues. Shafei referred to the presence of US forces in central Asia and Caucuses and said "their goal is to move from south to north." He said the US is muddying the waters over Iran-Russia peaceful nuclear activities adding "the reason is the absence of the US in Iranian markets." He also stressed on peaceful nuclear cooperation within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Russian official also confirmed the pressure on Russia by a third country to cut-off nuclear cooperation with Tehran. Moscow is fully bound to its signed international obligations in this respect and "will resist any pressure to that effect."Trabnikov said. He also brushed aside the US claims on Iran's reserve of oil and gas and therefore its not needing the nuclear energy for domestic purposes. "The decisions concerning the way Iran meets its energy needs is within the prerogatives of the country's officials," he added. The two sides also criticized use of double standards in international affairs. The Russia official also voiced concern on the efforts by th US to strengthen its foothold in the area, saying "the US force in Afghanistan and Iraq face a grim task." Meanwhile, Iran and Russia signed in July a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would lay the grounds for the lengthy cooperation between the two states. The draft MoU which covers the economic, industrial, scientific, energy and trade spheres was signed by the Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian and Russian Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Vladimir Katinsky. The annexes to the MoU are to be inked during the visit to Tehran by Katinsky in September. The two side agreed on the ways and means to develop the joint venture, to create a balance in the trade transactions and to get involved in joint economic and trade projects. Under the draft MoU which would be finalized shortly, the two sides would cooperate in the high-tech, scientific, agricultural and academic areas as well. The sides expressed readiness to engage in further deliberations to pave the way for the state services of Iran and Russia to establish and broaden the relations in their specific domains and to exploit the available potentials. Return to Menu 2. Iranian Embassy to Moscow Denies Information About Missile Supplies from North Korea The Iranian Embassy to Moscow has refuted the information about missile supplies to Iran from North Korea. Recently some Russian mass media have published unconfirmed information that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea agreed about supplies of Taepodong 2 ballistic missiles, reads the statement of the embassy's press department released on Friday. "In this connection we announce: such statements do not correspond to reality and are flatly refuted," the release goes on. Return to Menu H. Russia-North Korea 1. China and Russia expect tricky N. Korea talks China said on Monday there were still serious gaps between North Korea and the United States over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and Russia urged all sides to be flexible in talks on the crisis late this month. Beijing and Moscow, who backed the North in the 1950-53 Korean War and remain its closest allies, both said the six-way talks in the Chinese capital were likely to start in late August, but negotiations were continuing on the details. Russia will hold separate bilateral talks with delegations from North and South Korea in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss the Beijing meeting, but diplomats said the officials from Pyongyang and Seoul were not likely to meet each other. Envoys from key regional players have held a flurry of meetings in the last few days in a bid to resolve the crisis which began in October after U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme. "There are still differences on both sides and there are some that are very serious," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told a news conference in Tokyo. The crisis escalated after North Korea expelled United Nations nuclear inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted a mothballed reactor north of Pyongyang. "I think hopes that the six-way talks will be held successfully are high, because it matches the common hopes of the region and countries around the world," said Li, speaking after meetings with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov also discussed the crisis on Monday with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, just back from a visit to Pyongyang. "The talks, of course, will not be easy," Russian news agencies quoted Losyukov as saying afterwards. "We and our Chinese colleagues understand it is not possible to solve all the questions in one round." "We and our Chinese colleagues agree that positive movement towards disarmament on the peninsula is possible only in the case of parallel actions by the main participants in negotiations. The situation when only one side imposes conditions is counter-productive and leads to a deadlock." Pyongyang had demanded bilateral talks and a non-aggression pact with Washington, but this month agreed to six-way talks with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. "North Korea is currently showing pleasing flexibility," Losyukov said. "Our Chinese colleagues also see positive dynamics in the position of the North Korean leadership." Russia and China could offer North Korea security guarantees to back up U.S. commitments, but that did not mean Russian troops would help the North in the event of a conflict, he said. Moscow opted out of a defence pact with Pyongyang in 1995. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said its delegation, led by Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok-ung, left Pyongyang for Russia on Monday but gave no further details. The South's delegation is led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-sup, currently visiting St Petersburg. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda wrapped up a three-day visit to China by saying Japan planned to raise the abduction of its citizens by North Korea at the six-way talks. "This is an important issue so this will be raised," a Japanese official quoted him as saying in Beijing. North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies and has said eight of the Japanese subsequently died. It has apologised for the kidnappings and the survivors have returned to Japan, but the fate of abductees' offspring has frayed ties between the two countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations. "Japan will seek a comprehensive solution to the issues of North Korea's nuclear development and missile programmes, and the abduction, and then normalise diplomatic relations," a Japanese official quoted Koizumi as telling Li. Return to Menu 2. North Korea Talks Could Start Aug. 26 A Russian diplomat said Tuesday that planned six-nation talks aimed to defuse tension over North Korea's nuclear program could begin Aug. 26, the Interfax news agency reported. "That (date) is one of the suggestions," Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov as saying. He said that a date would be announced after participants in "intensive discussions" about the talks, which are to be held in Beijing, reach an agreement. Russia, which has good relations with North Korea, plans to hold separate bilateral meetings with diplomats from North and South Korea in Moscow on Wednesday. Russian diplomats have also been meeting with their Chinese counterparts. The goal of the ralks is to ease tension over U.S. allegations that Pyongyang is trying to develop nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 agreement. North Korea, which had pressed for bilateral negotiations with the United States, recently agreed to talks with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to discuss the standoff. A Chinese diplomat said Saturday that the talks could begin in late August. Separately Tuesday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported that President Vladimir Putin's envoy in Far Eastern Russia, Konstantin Pulikovsky, will visit North Korea later this month to discuss bilateral cooperation. Pulikovsky does not plan to discuss the nuclear issue, the report said. Return to Menu 3. Six-party talks on NKorea nuclear programme to start in Beijing The six-party talks with Russia's participation on settling the situation around the North Korean nuclear programme will start on August 26 in Beijing with a series of informal meetings, including a joint dinner. The talks will last around three days, reports on Tuesday the Japanese Kyodo Tsushin news agency, referring to government sources. At the same time, the final programme of the meeting in Beijing with the participation of the two Korean states, China, the United States, Russia and Japan has not been fixed. The last intensive talks are now underway to prepare the talks. For this purpose, the foreign ministers of the United States, South Korea and Japan will hold consultations in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov is now in Beijing for the same purpose. Consultations are also expected between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the foreign ministries of the North and South Koreas. Return to Menu 4. Beijing to Host Multilateral Negotiations on DPRK Nuclear Issue Late in August (Update) Beijing will host multilateral negotiations on the North Korean nuclear issue late in August, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov reported. According to him, the talks will be probably conducted at the level of foreign ministers. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister believes that it will not be possible to settle all issues during the first round of talks. Most likely, the parties will have to meet once again. According to Alexander Losyukov, it is necessary to reach an agreement on setting up such a system that will ensure stability and eliminate concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region as well as promote economic development of the Korean Peninsula. This system is to replace the existing one based on the truce agreement in the Korean Peninsula, the Russian diplomat stressed. The other day Alexander Losyukov conducted a series of consultations on multilateral negotiations in Beijing. According to him, the consultations were "friendly and fruitful." "We attach much importance to contacts with Chinese colleagues with whom we share our stance. We have the same stance and have the same estimates of all details of the forthcoming talks and it is very important as the talks will be determined mostly by these details," the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said. He also underscored that at present, intensive negotiations between all participants of the talks in Beijing are underway. On August 13, the US, South Korean and Japanese representatives will come together in Washington. Later, negotiations between the Russian delegation and the North Korean delegation will be conducted in Moscow. Then the Russian party will hold talks with the South Korean party, Alexander Losyukov said. Return to Menu 5. Russia Urges Flexibility Ahead of N.Korea Talks Russia called on Monday for flexibility from all six sides due to hold negotiations on the North Korean nuclear crisis later this month, as a delegation from Pyongyang headed for Moscow for preparatory talks. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, in Beijing to discuss the crisis, said he would meet the North Korean delegation and South Korean officials separately on Wednesday to discuss the six-party talks in Beijing. But diplomats said there were no plans for a meeting between the North and South Korean officials in Moscow. Russian news agencies quoted Losyukov as saying the Beijing talks would start in late August. In Tokyo, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also said they would begin around then. "The talks, of course, will not be easy," Losyukov said after meeting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, just back from Pyongyang. "We and our Chinese colleagues understand it is not possible to solve all the questions in one round." "We and our Chinese colleagues agree that positive movement towards disarmament on the peninsula is possible only in the case of parallel actions by the main participants in negotiations. The situation when only one side imposes conditions is counter-productive and leads to a deadlock." Russia announced on Sunday it would hold talks with North and South Korea this week, taking a more prominent role in efforts to mediate between its old Communist ally and its new economic partner. The nuclear crisis erupted last October after U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme. North Korea has since expelled United Nations nuclear inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted a mothballed reactor north of Pyongyang. Pyongyang had demanded bilateral talks and a non-aggression pact with Washington, but this month agreed to six-way talks with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. "North Korea is currently showing pleasing flexibility," Losyukov said. "Our Chinese colleagues also see positive dynamics in the position of the North Korean leadership." Russia and China could offer North Korea security guarantees to back up whatever commitments the United States made, but that did not mean Russian troops would help North Korea in the event of a conflict, he said. Moscow backed the Communist North in the 1950-53 Korean War but opted out of a mutual defence pact in 1995. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said its delegation, led by Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok-ung, left Pyongyang for Russia on Monday but gave no further details. South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-sup is already in Russia, visiting the second city of St Petersburg. Return to Menu 6. Russia, China to Guarantee North Korea's Security Russia and China could guarantee North Korea's security if it is dissatisfied with the US guarantees, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told journalists in Beijing on Monday. According to him, he is not speaking about "sending troops" but about Russia's and China's authority to provide a system of guarantees other countries could possible join later. Alexander Losyukov said that spokesmen for both the Korean and Russian foreign ministries touched upon a wide range of issues of the forthcoming multilateral talks on the North Korean nuclear issue including international guarantees for North Korea at the consultations in Beijing. However, Alexander Losyukov believes that the main thing is to launch negotiations. Both Chinese and Russians are sure that further escalation of the nuclear situation in North Korea is fruitless. According to estimates of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, North Korea's stance on the whole is the same, but the fact that it is ready to launch hexalateral talks shows both North Korea's and the USA's flexibility. "We cannot count on positive shifts when one party lays down preliminary conditions." Return to Menu 7. Russian, Nkorean Diplomats to Have Consultations Consultations on the level of Russian and North Korean deputy foreign ministers will be held in Moscow next Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Itar-Tass. He concluded such consultations in Beijing on Monday. Losyukov himself will participate in the consultations in Moscow. Talks with a South Korean deputy foreign minister will be also held in the Russian capital this week. The planned six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear programme problem should be aimed at concluding agreements to stabilize the situation in the region, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said here on Monday. The goal of the talks could be an agreement on creating a system of relations in the region to ensure that a tension outbreak would be impossible between the participants of the consultations, Losyukov said. Such a system would ease the anxieties over possibility that the region may become nuclear and would promote the region's economic development. It could also replace the system of balancing that has existed after the Korean war, the diplomat noted. New relations should replace those based on the truce agreement. At the beginning, the talks should focus on issues, on which there is common understanding, and then details and nuances should be discussed, Losyukov said, noting that it was necessary to overcome the distrust between some participants of the talks. Return to Menu 8. Russia to Host Preparatory Talks on N. Korea Russia said Sunday it would hold talks with North and South Korea in Moscow this week to prepare for six-way negotiations in Beijing aimed at defusing a standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions. "The consultations will begin literally the day after tomorrow," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Itar-Tass news agency as he arrived in Beijing amid a flurry of weekend meetings between regional players. "We are working on the possibility of conducting a similar meeting with Japan in the near future," Losyukov said. "It is likely that those who are taking part in these consultations will lead the delegations at the talks in Beijing." The nuclear crisis erupted last October after U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program. It escalated after Stalinist North Korea expelled United Nations nuclear inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted a mothballed reactor north of Pyongyang. The United States has long been urging Russia and China, North Korea's old Communist allies, to use their influence in Pyongyang to help resolve the crisis but until recently Moscow appeared reluctant to play a major role, diplomats say. That changed when North Korea, which had been holding out for bilateral talks with Washington, agreed this month to multilateral talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. DIPLOMATIC FLURRY Tass said Losyukov would discuss preparations for the multilateral talks with Chinese officials including Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi who has played a key role in bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table. Wang returned Saturday from a three-day visit to Pyongyang and told reporters the six-party talks would start in Beijing in the latter part of August. No precise date has been announced but Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily said the United States, South Korea and Japan had told China they wanted two days of dialogue from August 26. Beijing hosted initial talks with Washington and Pyongyang in April. Russia had proposed holding the next round at the deputy ministerial level, in which case Losyukov would likely represent Moscow and Wang China, Tass said. But the United States has yet to choose a representative, it quoted Losyukov as saying. "It seems they have not yet decided," he said. Chinese, Japanese and South Korean envoys shuttled around the region at the weekend to pave the way for the Beijing talks. Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda, a top aide to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also flew to Japan on Sunday en route to South Korea on Aug. 13. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-sup left for Russia Saturday. Return to Menu I. Russia-India 1. Indian Diplomats Discussed Nuclear Science and Technology Cooperation Prospects With IPPE The delegation of India�s Embassy to Russia headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Krishnan Raghunath visited the Russian Research Center Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE) (Obninsk) to discuss prospects of cooperation in the field of nuclear science and technology, as Nuclear.Ru was informed by the IPPE press-service. IPPE Director General A. Zrodnikov, head of Obninsk municipal Administration I. Mironov, as well as IPPE scientists leading the research that may be of Indian interest, attended the meeting. In particular, Director of the Institute for Isotopes and Radiopharmaceuticals within IPPE N. Nerozin familiarized the guests with the experience in Russia-India cooperation that is already available. In his turn, Ambassador Raghunath expressed hope that the bilateral cooperation would be developing as the isotope product market expands. Considering such prospects the Indian side requested a list and specifications of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals produced by IPPE. The meeting tackled the progress in cooperation to construct Koodankulam nuclear power plant (NPP). Director of the Institute for Thermal Physics within IPPE A. Yefanov informed the guests on the delivery of the hydrogen safety system and filtering equipment to India. S. Morozov, the head of hardware diagnostics division, described to the Indian delegation the IPPE developments related to ensurance of safe operation of reactor installations: primary coolant leak detection systems for Koodankulam NPP. The pilot specimens of the system are available and planned to be shortly supplied to India. The meeting also discussed the necessity of implementation of those systems at Koodankulam under guidance of the Russian experts and the necessity for the plant personnel to do relevant training. IPPE Director Zrodnikov noted that a special attention should be paid to cooperation in the field of education and training of the Indian experts. He believes that it is reasonable to train Koodankulam� personnel in Russia, particularly, in the one in the field education institution � Obninsk State Technical University of Atomic Energy. �Considering the fact that there are nine educational institutes and a unique educational bases in Obninsk one should think of using the whole educational potential of the city to develop long-term Russia-India�s ties�, Zrodnikov said. Return to Menu J. Russia-China 1. GAN Met Officials of China�s State Environmental Protection Administration The top nuclear energy regulators of Russia and China met on August 11. As Nuclear.Ru was informed by Gosatomnadzor of Russia press-service, the Chinese side was presented by Chairman of the State Environmental Protection Administration Xie Zhenhua and Head of Nuclear Safety Department of this Administration Li Ganze. Chairman of Gosatomnadzor of Russia Andrei Malyshev headed the Russian delegation. The negotiations discussed forms of cooperation between the regulatory authorities as regards construction of Tianwan nuclear power plant and the experimental fast neutron reactor in China. It was noted that in case a decision were made to construct a floating nuclear power plant in China, Gosatomnadzor of Russia would share its experience in licensing similar projects. In addition, the meeting outlined practical steps to implement the agreements achieved during the 7-th Russia-China Subcommittee meeting on nuclear issues. The sides confirmed their readiness to cooperate under the existing 1996 Agreement noting its growing significance in the light of recent reorganization of the Chinese state governing bodies. Return to Menu K. Nuclear Safety 1. Russian Nuclear Watchdog Defends Past The new chief of Russia's nuclear watchdog dismissed fears that his background as an industry insider threatened the agency's independence and stressed Friday that safety is one of his top concerns. In his first interview since taking the post, Andrei Malyshev extolled the revival of Russia's nuclear industries, hobbled after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drop of funding that accompanied it. He acknowledged that the advanced age of some nuclear facilities was a concern. Nuclear safety advocates were caught by surprise when the Nuclear Safety Authority's former chief, Yuri Vishnevsky, was sent into retirement in June and replaced with Malyshev, then the deputy nuclear minister for power plant construction. Vishnevsky had reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, but most observers expected the government to extend his term. Critics of the shake-up, including the liberal Yabloko party, believe Vishnevsky was dismissed because he was too critical of the Nuclear Power Ministry. They said Malyshev's appointment is an effort to diminish the independence of the watchdog, which issues licenses for civilian nuclear facilities and has the power to fine violators. Malyshev denied the charge. ``My position when I worked within the Nuclear Power Ministry was that the federal agency that regulates nuclear and radiation safety should be independent. That's the way it is today,'' he told The Associated Press. Malyshev said his experience in construction and design gave him the expertise for the job. ``The word 'safety' has permeated me,'' he said with a laugh. During nearly 12 years at the safety authority, Vishnevsky was cautiously critical of the Nuclear Energy Ministry. He spoke out against a 2001 law allowing the import of spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing, arguing that Russia shouldn't take on such a risky endeavor. That issue will be a test of Malyshev's commitment to safety, said Alexander Nikitin, a St. Petersburg-based expert with the Norwegian environmental group Bellona. No spent fuel has been imported yet under the new law, and it will be up to the safety authority to license such projects. Malyshev said he would judge each import project individually. ``The environmentalists are always against. Against what? They say it will just be bad in general. Well, it can't just be bad in general,'' Malyshev said. ``You need to look at the law and answer the question: Is this particular project safe according to these criteria?'' Malyshev said there were no major safety gaps in Russia's nuclear empire - the same system that spawned the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 at Chernobyl in then-Soviet Ukraine. However, he said the country still had to catch up on safety after falling behind during the chaotic 1990s. The advanced age of many facilities is also a concern, he said. In a long aside to his answers to safety questions, Malyshev praised what he called Russia's impressive ``technical potential'' in the nuclear sphere. ``Today in the world, about 32 reactors are being built. Out of that, there are four being built in Russia, and another five we are building abroad,'' he said. ``Is that potential? That's potential.'' Malyshev said he is paying close attention to violations by Mayak, a facility in the Ural Mountains that specializes in reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. The plant has been ordered to make improvements to prevent liquid radioactive waste stored in closed reservoirs from leaking into surrounding rivers. Return to Menu L. Nuclear Industry 1. Russia to Cease Storage for Bulgaria's Nuclear Waste: Report Russia will no longer store nuclear waste for Bulgaria Kozloduy nuclear power station, local daily "Words" reported on Saturday. Russia would continue to help Bulgaria process nuclear waste, but the processed waste must be sent back to Bulgaria for storage,the newspaper quoted officials from the Russian Ministry of AtomicEnergy as saying. According to the newly-released decree, it is illegal to store nuclear waste for other countries in Russian territory, the Russian ministry said. Russian environmentalists in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk haveprotested for several times against underground storage for nuclear waste in the city, reports said. It was Russian unilateral decision and the officials of two countries were in negotiation about the matter, said a manager of the Bulgarian nuclear power station. According to an agreement signed in 1998 by Bulgaria and Russia,the two sides agreed that Russia would provide equipment, new technology and nuclear fuel and underground storage for nuclear waste of the Kozloduy nuclear power station for 20 years. Bulgaria is now the biggest electricity-exporting nation in theBalkan peninsula. Kozloduy plant, the only nuclear plant in Bulgaria, which supplies 45 percent of the country's electricity, earned more than 100 million US dollars from exporting electricityto its Balkan neighbors in 2000. Return to Menu M. Official Statements 1. Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yuri Fedotov Meets with PRC Ambassador to Moscow Zhang Deguang A meeting took place at the Russian MFA on August 11 between Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Yuri Fedotov and Zhang Deguang, the People's Republic of China's Ambassador at Moscow. During the talk, held in a spirit of frankness and mutual understanding, the sides exchanged views on their countries' positions with regard to the broad range of questions to be discussed at the 58th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, opening in New York this September. The sides expressed satisfaction with the level of constructive coordination between the delegations of Russia and China at the previous UNGA sessions, and reiterated their readiness to strengthen and develop such cooperation. The interest of Russia and China in enhancing the UN's role as a major instrument for the settlement of international issues was particularly stressed. The sides also reaffirmed their intention to maintain a regular exchange of views on the problems of counteraction against new challenges and threats, of the struggle against terrorism and of the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and on the questions of disarmament, regional conflicts and globalization. Return to Menu 2. Compliance Diplomacy Takes on Greater Emphasis in Arms Control - Interview with Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Paula DeSutter (excerpted) Q: How is verification being handled with respect to the 2002 U.S.-Russian Moscow Treaty, or SORT (Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty)? A: The Moscow Treaty represents a fundamentally different approach to an arms control agreement. The United States had said this is something we want to do, and we saw a reciprocal agreement by the Russian side and basically reflected it at the presidential level. The Moscow Treaty in and of itself does not contain any kind of on-site (verification) provisions. It provides for dialogue at the Bilateral Implementation Commission. But it does specifically draw upon the agreement we already have in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and that verification regime will continue. When I say verification regime, this is something that is important for people to understand -- a verification regime isn't an on-site inspection regime. That's one of the fallacies that had been generated. I don't know how. A verification regime entails not only any possible on-site measures, but also any national intelligence collection as well as other information we can acquire: information we can get through dialogue. You know if somebody tells us what they're doing we clearly know what's happening. But it's also important in the sense that the verification regime can be the structure of the agreement. It can be what it's going to draw upon. It can be using one type of wording versus another type. Before the fact, you try to structure the agreement so that both sides have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. In terms of the Moscow Treaty there is an awful lot of information that we gain through the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs and programs like that where we can gain information and certainly understand what is being eliminated on the Russian side. [...] Q: Does your Bureau continue to have concerns about biological weapons programs in Cuba, China and elsewhere? A: Our findings are in the unclassified Noncompliance Report. This is an area of tremendous concern to us. When the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was signed (1972) and the United States became a party, part of how that happened is the United States had made a unilateral decision again that we did not want to possess biological weapons and we did not want them in our military inventories. As a part of that, we wanted to see if we could stop these weapons before they proliferated and a lot of countries had them. And so joined by the United Kingdom, and at that time the Soviet Union, we led the development of the Biological Weapons Convention. When then-director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Fred Ikle testified about the BWC before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, what he said was: understand that this isn't highly verifiable, and yet what we also believe is that other nations will make the same decision as the U.S. that these are not useful weapons of war and that any nation that pursued them and was discovered pursuing them would have the weight of world opinion fall down upon their heads. Two things have happened. One, other nations, and unfortunately terrorist organizations, have understood biological weapons in a way different than we do. They see them as useful as weapons of terror. They are horrific weapons. And some of these countries, such as Iraq, perceive them in a way that we haven't for some 35 to 40 years. They are unusable. One doesn't do this. Another thing, when noncompliance with the Biological Weapons Convention was uncovered with regard to the Soviet Union's offensive weapons program, the weight of world opinion did not fall down upon it. And that's unfortunate. Another instance is Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). And what you see over time is that there are consequences for not responding to these kinds of provocations. There are almost always consequences for the responders in the short-run. It's difficult. No one wants to go into another country and say harsh words against them, but the consequence over time of the Soviet Union's biological weapons program not being stopped as soon as we found out about it -- I mean then-Soviet President Boris Yeltsin agreed to eliminate the program but we believe that the vestiges of it continue --- is that, perhaps, other countries saw this and thought: it's cost free. Other countries probably looked at Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran and thought it, too, was cost free. And the consequence of that is that despite the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions, we have ongoing offensive weapons programs in both areas. It's important not just for the United States to articulate the noncompliance but for other countries to say: this is not acceptable to us. Q: When you have to worry about verifying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their delivery mechanisms, do you have to prioritize how you focus your attention or do you give them all equal weight? A: We probably give them different weight. The difference is the resources available to use. Biological weapons are pretty difficult but we have been looking at a number of countries over a period of years and so I think our findings in those regards are pretty solid as far as they go. There may be undetected noncompliance. One of the things that is certainly true of the Noncompliance Report is that there is no violation of an arms control or nonproliferation agreement or commitment that we have ever cited in the President's report that has ever been undermined by subsequent evidence. Subsequent evidence is always additive to what we've found. So that is important to be the case -- that analysis be rigorous, that findings of noncompliance be based on solid evidence in a solidly analyzed case. They are all very important to us. Certainly, some countries' violations are going to be of greater concern to us than others. Yes, we are concerned about the finding we reached with regards to Russia and the Biological Weapons Convention. We think there is still a program. But nobody is staying up tonight wondering if Russia is going to use its biological weapons against the United States. We have a relationship. We have a dialogue. We have a history of non-use of weapons of mass destruction against each other. That's not the case with some of these rogue nations. We simply can't rely on their understanding of how to behave as a country in the world. That's why the United States is so concerned about North Korean's nuclear program. We've seen them proliferate missiles. They are probably the worst proliferators of missiles in the world. We have seen them undertake activities blatantly violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty, throwing out the inspectors (and) undertaking a number of provocative actions. And I don't think that we can rest assured that any nuclear weapons that they possess or will possess over time would not, then, be proliferated. It's bad enough worrying about them proliferating to another rogue state, but given the way that they have ignored international norms already why should we be confident that those weapons wouldn't fall into the hands of entities even more dangerous than rogue states -- that is terrorist organizations? [...] Return to Menu N. Links of Interest 1. Projects Approved for Funding by ISTC Governing Board at the 31st Funding Session Return to Menu 2. Global Partnership Update: A Post-Evian Assessment Return to Menu 3. Preemptive Action: When, How, and to What Effect? Return to Menu DISCLAIMER: Nuclear News is presented for informational purposes only. Views presented in any given article are those of the individual author or source and not of RANSAC. RANSAC takes no responsibility for the technical accuracy of information contained in any article presented in Nuclear News. RANSAC's Nuclear News is compiled two to three times weekly. To be automatically removed from our mailing list, click on the following link: Remove Me From The List If you have questions/comments/concerns, please reply to news@216.119.87.134 |
|
|
|
© 2007 Partnership for Global Security. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement.