Israel's Leaders Hole Up In Nuclear Bunker

JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders holed up in a new underground nuclear bunker on Wednesday as part of annual nationwide maneuvers to prepare for a possible missile war with Iran, Syria and their Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla allies. 

Officials said it was the first time that the security cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had tested the bunker, dug deep in the western Jerusalem foothills over the past decade and dubbed the "Nation's Tunnel" by local media.

Israel has held increasingly sweeping civil defense drills since the 2006 Lebanon war, during which Hezbollah guerrillas (allegedly) fired thousands of short-range rockets at its northern towns. 

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Pak Short-range nukes raise alarm

Pakistan's recent testing of NASR or Hatf-9 short range missile, coupled with its rapidly growing stockpile of low-intensity nuclear weapons, suggests that it is actually preparing to cross the nuclear threshold in case of a conflict with India, The Times of India reported on Sunday.
One of world's most authoritative voices on Pakistan's nuclear strength and American nuclear expert Hans Kristensen told the paper that a nuclear-tipped NASR seemed more like a weapon intended for use against Indian forces advancing into Pakistani territory.

"While that wouldn't threaten Indian survival in itself, it would of course mean crossing the nuclear threshold early in a conflict, which is one of the particular concerns of a short-range nuclear weapon,'' said Kristensen, who is also Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project director.
While the 60-km short range of the nuclear capable missile doesn't threaten the security of any major Indian city, it certainly makes the Indian army and security forces vulnerable in case India does try to implement its much talked about Cold Start Doctrine

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I Saved My Country From Nuclear Blackmail

Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan

Pakistan’s nuclear program has always been a target for Western propaganda and false accusations. I would like to make it clear that it was an Indian nuclear explosion in May 1974 that prompted our nuclear program, motivating me to return to Pakistan to help create a credible nuclear deterrent and save my country from Indian nuclear blackmail.

After 15 years in Europe with invaluable experience in enrichment technology, I came to Pakistan in December 1975 and was given the task of producing nuclear weapons by then–prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. On Dec. 10, 1984, I informed Gen. Zia-ul-Haq that we could explode a device at a week’s notice, whenever he so desired. We achieved credible nuclear capacity by the second half of the ’80s, and the delivery system was perfected in the early ’90s. For a country that couldn’t produce bicycle chains to have become a nuclear and missile power within a short span—and in the teeth of Western opposition—was quite a feat.

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Pak Nuclear assets are safe?

ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Technology Resources (STR) Dr. Shireen Mazari said questions rose in media and general public about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets makes no sense.

The Arms Control & Disarmament Centre of STR held a briefing on Saturday to explain why Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and delivery systems remain safe and secure today. Dr Shireen said the need for clearance of Pakistan’s position was felt in the wake of the uncertainty and fear prevailing in the country in the aftermath of the US Abbottabad operation on 2nd May.

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British and American diplomats caught spying near Kahuta day before Abbottabad attack

Four western diplomats, including Britons and an American, were caught hiking in the prohibited surroundings of the restricted Kahuta atomic plant.

Interior ministry sources while quoting an intelligence report said that they were taking photographs of the area and carrying electronic gadgets including cameras and a laptop.

These sources said that they were intercepted, questioned and later escorted back to Islamabad by the Pakistan security officials with the clear warning that they were crossing the red-line. Their cameras were confiscated; however, they were not formally arrested or thoroughly probed after they proved their diplomatic status.

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Pakistan lambasts world powers' nuclear duplicity

UNITED NATIONS,  (APP): Drawing the United Nations’ attention to perils of major powers’ contradictory, discriminatory and vague approach to nuclear and security issues, Pakistan has called for transparent and uniform application of policies towards goals of non-proliferation, disarmament and sustainable peace. “A multitude of disputes and conflicts are lingering. The pursuit of  doctrines and policies of containment, balance of power, unilateralism and preemption by global and regional powers, have combined to make the world a much more dangerous and unstable place than ever before,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon warned.

 

He was making a statement at the 2011 Substantive Session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission.

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PAF Chief: Pakistan not wishing to enter in nuclear arms race

ISLAMABAD,  (APP):  Air Chief Marshal Roa Qamar Suleman said on Monday that Pakistan would continue to maintain the policy of credible minimum deterrence  and does not wish to enter into nuclear arms race. He was speaking as chief guest at international conference on  “Fissile material treaty (FMT): Possibility and Prospects”  here. While addressing the conference, Air Chief said, “Pakistan was a reluctant to enter into the nuclear business. It decided to embark on a nuclear programme- not as a matter of choice, but out of compulsion”.

 

Air chief said Pakistan wants to follow a policy of peaceful co-existence in the region, but at the same time it can not remain oblivious to the developments in South Asia. 

 
He said as a nuclear weapon state, Pakistan is fully cognizant of its responsibilities, and has established effective and robust Command and Control structures along with comprehensive export control and regulatory regimes. 

 
“These are fully compatible with international practices and global regimes-and are acknowledged internationally”, he remarked.

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India's atomic plants remain on terror radar: Government

News One (India)

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) Nuclear power plants in India continue to be on the target list of terror organisations but the government maintains constant vigil and enhances security from time to time, the Lok Sabha was told Tuesday.

‘In view of the prevailing security scenario, the atomic power plants continue to remain targets of terrorist groups,’ Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said during question hour.

The minister said central security forces were conducting ‘regular sensitisation programmes’ for officials of these plants.

He said intelligence inputs were shared ‘at the appropriate level of Department of Atomic Energy and the state governments concerned from time to time’ to maintain constant tight security vigil at such vital installations.

‘Central security agencies review security of atomic power plants periodically and make specific recommendation to enhance the security wherever required,’ he said.

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The Agence France Presse (AFP) reported :

ABU DHABI — A Lockheed Martin official said on Tuesday that he expects an agreement to be concluded this spring for the United Arab Emirates to buy an anti-ballistic missile system reputedly worth about $7 billion.

"I think ... sometime this spring, we'll get some positive news that the two governments have reached an agreement" on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, said Dennis Cavin, Lockheed Martin vice president for international air and missile defence.

"The discussions started way back in 2007 when the Emirati government expressed interest in an integrated air and missile defence system," he said at a defence exposition in Abu Dhabi.

The missile defence consists of "the Patriot PAC-3 system, the THAAD system and then the integration" of the two.

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Radioactive Releases in Japan Could Last Months

WASHINGTON — As the scale of Japan’s nuclear crisis begins to come to light, experts in Japan and the United States say the country is now facing a cascade of accumulating problems that suggest that radioactive releases of steam from the crippled plants could go on for weeks or even months.

The emergency flooding of stricken reactors with seawater and the resulting steam releases are a desperate step intended to avoid a much bigger problem: a full meltdown of the nuclear cores in reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. On Monday, an explosion blew the roof off the second reactor, not damaging the core, officials said, but presumably leaking more radiation.

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Uranium miners in meltdown as Japan scrambles to avert nuclear disaster

HAVE Japan's nuclear safeguards worked as well as could be expected under unprecedented circumstances, or do the reported near or partial meltdowns at two reactors demonstrate - once and for all - that atomic power is inherently unsafe?

If using seawater to cool the plants was in the manual, it was written by Homer Simpson.

Investors this morning took their own safeguards and sharply sold off uranium shares across the board. By late morning, pure-play producers Energy Resources Australia (ERA, $8.44) and Paladin Energy (PDN, $4.12) had lost 10 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, while African developer dazzler Extract Resources (EXT, $9.67) was down 9 per cent.

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Video of blast at Fukushima nuke plant, radiation leak reported

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Reactors powering Devonport nuclear submarines are vulnerable to accidents

Joseph Watts [This Is Derbyshire]

A declassified defence report has raised concerns that the nuclear reactors made at Rolls-Royce in Derby, which power Britain's naval submarines, are "potentially vulnerable" to accidents.

The report seeks to contrast the safety of the submarines' reactors with those used in the civil nuclear industry and concludes that they compare poorly.

In particular, it claims they are vulnerable to a structural failure, which could result in the release of highly radioactive material into the environment.

The document was released after the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament requested it under the Freedom of Information Act.

Last night, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed it was genuine but sought to play down any fears of imminent danger.

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Pakistan Successfully Test Fires Nuclear-Capable Hatf-II (Abdali) Missile

Xinhuanet News

ISLAMABAD, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Friday morning successfully test-fired a short range surface to surface ballistic missile HATF II (Abdali) with the range of 180 km, official sources said.

The missile can carry nuclear and conventional warheads to the target.

The test-fire of the missile was conducted at an undisclosed location witnessed by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Shamim Hyder Wyyne.

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China: No Limit To Nuclear Expansion

Philip Dorling [The Age, Australia]

High-ranking Chinese officials have declared that there can be no limit to the expansion of Beijing's nuclear arsenal, amid growing regional fears that it will eventually equal that of the United States, with profound consequences for the strategic balance in Asia.

Records of secret defence consultations between the US and China reveal that US diplomats have repeatedly failed to persuade the rising superpower to be more transparent about its nuclear forces and that Chinese officials privately admit that a desire for military advantage underpins continuing secrecy.

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Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal tops 100

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has doubled its nuclear weapons stockpile over the past several years, increasing its arsenal to more than 100 deployed weapons, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

Citing US non-government analysts, the newspaper said that only four years ago, the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons. – AFP Photo

Citing US non-government analysts, the newspaper said that only four years ago, the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons.

“They have been expanding pretty rapidly,” the report quoted David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, as saying.
Based on recently accelerated production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, Islamabad may now have an arsenal of up to 110 weapons, Albright said.
As a result, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival, The Post noted. India is estimated to have 60 to 100 weapons.
Source: DAWN.com

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