NUCLEAR ROUNDUP

- Iran is still building centrifuges for uranium enrichment — despite its pledge to stop making weapons-grade nuclear material.
– The U.S. will start sending India civilian nuclear and space technology.
– “North Korean officials told an unofficial delegation of U.S. experts last week that the country has no clandestine program to enrich uranium, even though one member of the delegation had been present when a senior North Korean official admitted it during a meeting in October 2002.“
THERE’S MORE: “President Bush’s top nuclear security administrator defended yesterday the administration’s decision to begin research on a new generation of low-yield nuclear weapons,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
In a leaked memo from December 5, Linton Brooks, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, gushed about the repeal on the ban of such weapons.
“We should not fail to take advantage of this opportunity,” he told the nation’s nuclear lab chiefs. “We are now free to explore a range of technical options that could strengthen our ability to deter or respond to new or emerging threats without any concern that some ideas could inadvertently violate a vague and arbitrary limitation. I expect your design teams to engage fully.“
Nevertheless, the Sun notes, Nonetheless, Brooks told reporters that other countries shouldn’t pursue such research.
That earned guffaws from Joseph Cirincione, with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
He says, “It’s like telling your kids not to smoke when you have a two-pack-a-day habit.”

January 14th, 2004 | Nukes | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.