February 28, 2004
North Korea talks end without agreement
Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program have ended in Beijing without a major breakthrough. The meeting ended with agreement to hold more negotiations before July and form a lower-level "working group" to handle details of the 16-month-old dispute. Both are steps toward establishing an enduring line of communication between the United States and the North, which have no diplomatic relations. [via BBC]
February 27, 2004
North Korea nuclear summit extended
Six-nation talks in Beijing aimed at resolving a crisis over North Korea's nuclear program will continue longer than scheduled, officials say. China wants all parties to sign a joint statement as a basis for further talks.But it remained unclear whether a North Korean offer to stop nuclear activities would be enough to satisfy US demands it completely dismantle its programs. [via BBC]
February 26, 2004
North Korea makes nuclear offer
North Korea has offered to halt its nuclear activities in return for "corresponding measures" by the US.Pyongyang called on Washington to give up its "hostile policy" towards North Korea, and reiterated demands for security guarantees from the US. [via MSNBC]
February 25, 2004
Six-Nation North Korea Nuclear Talks Open
U.S. and North Korean top envoys held rare, face-to-face talks Wednesday on the sidelines of six-nation negotiations on the North's nuclear program, in which South Korea offered the North compensation to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. [via BBC]
February 24, 2004
Introducing: The Bomb Project
The Bomb Project http://www.thebombproject.org is a comprehensive on-line compendium of nuclear-related links, imagery and documentation. It is intended specifically as a resource for artists, and encourages those working in all media, from net.art, film and video, eco-intervention and site-specific installation to more traditional forms of agitprop, to use this site to search for raw material. The Bomb Project has gathered together links to nuclear image archives (still and moving), historical documents, current news, NGOs and activist organizations as well as government labs and arms treaties. It makes accessible the declassified files and graphic documentation produced by the nuclear industry itself, providing a context for comparative study, analysis and creativity.Nuclear substance found in Iran
International inspectors have found that Iran has produced and experimented with polonium, a radioactive element that can help trigger a nuclear blast. Polonium can be used in conjunction with another metal - beryllium - to ensure that the chain reaction leading to a nuclear explosion is initiated at the correct moment. Polonium-210 is a radioactive metallic substance that does indeed have a number of industrial uses. [via BBC]
February 23, 2004
North Korea Ready to Abandon Nuclear Program
Japan said Monday that North Korea has expressed "readiness" to abolish its nuclear program and the United States hinted at new flexibility as well, as diplomats streamed into the Chinese capital for a six-nation meeting. [via Yahoo]Libya wants to keep some nuclear capacity
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that Libya wants to keep some nuclear capabilities for civilian purposes after it finishes dismantling its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. "They want to keep their research reactor, which is legitimate," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head ElBaradei told reporters after meeting Libyan Foreign Minister Abdulrahman Mohammed Shalgam. [via Yahoo]
February 22, 2004
Iran admits using nuclear dealers
Iran has acknowledged for the first time that it has bought nuclear equipment on the black market. A foreign ministry spokesman said certain items were bought from international dealers, including some from the Indian subcontinent. [via BBC]
February 20, 2004
Libya 'produced nuclear material'
The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Libya managed to produce a small amount of plutonium using technology acquired on the black market. The report did not specify the amount, but said it was not enough to make a nuclear bomb. [via BBC]
February 19, 2004
Manhattan Project Notebook (1945)
This notebook records an experiment of the Manhattan Project, the all-out, but highly secret, effort of the Federal Government to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Recorded here is the world's first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, achieved on December 2, 1942. [via National Archives]Iran nuclear find 'concerns' US
U.N. inspectors in Iran have discovered high-tech equipment to process uranium at an air force base outside Tehran. Diplomats say this is the first known link between a suspected nuclear program and the Iranian military.The equipment found, an advanced gas centrifuge system, is used to process uranium, which can then be used for nuclear fuel or warheads. [via BBC]
February 18, 2004
Putin says Russia to have new weapons soon
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the Russian military would soon receive next-generation strategic weapons and might develop its own missile defense."The experiments conducted during these maneuvers, the experiments that were completed successfully, have proven that state-of-the art technical complexes will enter service with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces in the near future," Putin said in remarks broadcast by Russian television stations.
Putin also said that Russia would continue research work in defenses against ballistic missiles and might build a missile shield in the future, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported. [via MSNBC]
February 15, 2004
Iran 'ready to sell nuclear fuel'
Iran has announced that it is ready to sell nuclear fuel abroad. They insist it will enrich uranium only to the level needed to fuel power stations and not to higher, weapons-grade purity. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, countries are allowed to enrich uranium, but must notify the International Atomic Energy Agency they are doing so. Iran promised the IAEA in October that it would suspend its uranium enrichment program. Saturday's announcement may suggest that it has not done so. [via BBC]Libya nuclear warhead plans from China
Drawings of a nuclear warhead that Libya surrendered as part of its decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction are of 1960s Chinese design, but likely came from Pakistan, diplomats and experts told The Associated Press.China is widely assumed to have been Pakistan's key supplier of much of the clandestine nuclear technology used to establish Islamabad as a nuclear power in 1998 and resold to rogue regimes through the black market network headed by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. [via CNN
Pakistani Businessman Held in Nuclear Probe
A Pakistani businessman has been detained for questioning about his suspected links to the disgraced father of the country's nuclear program, officials said Sunday.It was unclear exactly when Aizaz Jaffery was detained or what ties he is suspected of having to Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear scientist. [via ABC News]
February 14, 2004
Nuclear Insecurity on 60 Minutes
Even after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, security is inadequate at some of the facilities that house America's nuclear weapons and the deadly material used to make them. Ed Bradley reports Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT [via CBS News:60 Minutes]
February 12, 2004
U.N. Discovers Secret Iran Nuclear Papers
U.N. inspectors sifting through Iran's nuclear files have discovered drawings of high-tech equipment that can be used to make weapons-grade uranium - a new link to the black market headed by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, diplomats said Thursday.[via Yahoo! News]Pakistan to share nuclear evidence
Pakistan's president has pledged to provide Japan with information from its investigation in the black market transfer of nuclear secrets to North Korea. [via CNN.com]US probes South Africa nuclear black market link
Washington has sent investigators to South Africa, a former atomic power, to probe a possible link to an illicit network in nuclear technology following the arrest of a Cape Town man in the US. [via sabcnews.com]
February 11, 2004
Bush urges nations to limit trade in nuclear fuel
President Bush warned in a speech Wednesday that U.N. safeguards failed to stop the spread of nuclear secrets by a Pakistani scientist and must be strengthened to halt a nuclear black market. [via BBC]
February 05, 2004
Pakistan President Pardons Nuclear Scientist
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pardoned the father of Pakistan's nuclear program Thursday for giving technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. [via Yahoo! News]
February 04, 2004
Pakistan Nuclear Scientist Asks Forgiveness
The founder of Pakistan's nuclear program apologized in a nationally televised address Wednesday for spreading weapons secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. "I have chosen to appear before you to offer my deepest regrets and unqualified apologies," Khan said in a solemn speech broadcast on state television. "I take full responsibility for my actions and seek your pardon." [via Yahoo! News]
February 03, 2004
N. Korea agrees to 6-way talks on nuclear issues
North Korea said Tuesday that it has agreed to six-nation talks on its atomic weapons programs starting Feb. 25, prompting expectations that the countries will discuss Pyongyang's offer for a nuclear freeze. [via MSNBC]
February 02, 2004
