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U.S. agencies responsible for nuclear data leak : GAO | Reuters
Several federal agencies share responsibility for the inadvertent publishing by a government office of sensitive U.S. nuclear power information on the Web last May, Congressional investigators said on Wednesday.
U.S.
The Government Printing Office published the 266-page document, which gave details on nuclear power sites, locations, facilities and activities, on the Web on May 7.
It included 14 diagrams of buildings or facilities at U.S. nuclear sites, two of which were marked "Official Use Only" and described activities at national laboratories.
None of the agencies that had prepared the draft document for the International Atomic Energy Association -- the Departments of Energy and Commerce and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- had made sure it was marked with U.S. security designations, the Government Accountability Office said in a report about its investigation.
U.S. hails Emirates nuclear deal as model | Reuters
The United States formally signed a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, hailing it as a "new bargain" that could help prevent the spread of dangerous atomic technology.
Stocks
"This is a new bargain for the Middle East region and the United States welcomes and applauds the UAE's decision," Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary for arms control, said at the signing ceremony.
The pact, which President Barack Obama approved in May and sent to Congress for a 90-day review period, is potentially worth billions of dollars to General Electric Co (GE.N) and Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp (6502.T).
Three caught with uranium, depleted yet hazardous
Three men were caught with 5 kg of “regulated and prescribed material” Uranium-238 on the city’s outskirts Tuesday. They are suspected to have got the radioactive material, also known as depleted uranium, from an imported scrap consignment belonging to a Navi Mumbai company.
They were booked under sections of the Atomic Energy Act by the Panvel police. Nuclear experts say that Uranium-238 is a “protected material” with only special and regulated agencies allowed to possess and transport it.
Tarapur nuclear station shaken by theft attempt, News - Mumbai - Ahmedabad Mirror,Ahmedabad Mirror
The Tarapur Atomic Power Station – which has since long been on the radar of terrorist organisations – has been shaken by a security breach.
Two contract workers managed to steal two computers from the site, and even got them past the first security point of the nuclear plant, which is guarded by over 300 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel.
The accused, Prashant More and Amit Shelke, were nabbed when they failed to give a satisfactory reply at the second security post.
More and Shelke worked for Sharma Engineering, a company that has been awarded a maintenance contract for the piping in the core area of the 320 Mw thermal power plant.
Centre confirms poisoning at Kaiga
The Centre on Thursday said an insider might have deliberately added some heavy water containing tritium into the water cooler at the Kaiga Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Karnataka.
Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Prithviraj Chavan, said an interim report of the National Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) into the causes of radioactive contamination has indicated that heavy water containing tritium was “deliberately added to the drinking water cooler with a mala fide intent”.
However, he said there was no security breach or damage to the power plant and “all the systems are operating safely”. The Centre was reviewing processes and procedures at all nuclear power stations following the incident, the minister said.
Homeland Security cancels Strip nuclear response training - Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 | 11:52 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
The Department of Homeland Security has canceled a Federal Emergency Management Agency training exercise that would have simulated the detonation of a nuclear device on the Las Vegas Strip.
Sen. Harry Reid’s office today confirmed the cancellation of the exercise for first responders that had been scheduled for May 2010. Reid and several Southern Nevada tourism and business leaders objected to the scenario, suggesting that it could create unnecessary anxiety to efforts to boost tourism and investment in Las Vegas.
“I thank the Department of Homeland Security for considering my letter to Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and reaching the decision to cancel this exercise so quickly,” Reid said in a statement issued this morning.
Worker blamed for nuclear leak at Indian plant | World news | guardian.co.uk
State-owned power company launches inquiry after radioactive tritium in water cooler makes 55 employees ill
Authorities investigating the deliberate leaking of a radioactive substance into drinking water at an Indian atomic plant say a disgruntled worker could be behind the safety scare.
The state-owned atomic power company launched an inquiry into how radioactive tritium seeped into a water cooler and remained at levels dangerous enough to make 55 employees ill after they drank the contaminated water.
Urine samples found workers at the Kaiga nuclear power plant, in the southern state of Karnataka, had unusually high levels of radioactivity in their bodies.
Residents around plant get locked in - dnaindia.com
The mischief at India's most modern nuclear power plant in Kaiga, 35 km south of Karwar (Karnataka), that left 55 employees ill has struck fear among the residents of nearby Mallapuram. Almost a week after the incident, the township where the affected were taken for medical care, wears a deserted look, with most people keeping indoors.
Though the authorities have signaled 'no danger', employees of the plant and other residents alike are not venturing out even for daily needs. The entire area has been cordoned off and the road to Kaiga from Mallapuram blocked by investigators.
"We are living in constant fear since the incident took place," Suguna (name changed), a teacher who lives with her husband in one of the Type-B quarters, said.She is angry at the restrictions that have been put in place after radioactive material found its way into drinking water at the plant.
Radiation leakage in India nuclear power plant act of sabotage: official _English_Xinhua
The radiation leakage in a state-run nuclear power plant in southern India is an "act of sabotage" possibly by a disgruntled employees at the plant, India's Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar said on Sunday.
Some 50 employees of highly protected Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, southern India, fell ill for being exposed to the radiation leakage, after they drank water from a cooler in the operating area on Nov. 24.
"Somebody deliberately put the tritiated water vials into a drinking water cooler. Therefore, we are investigating who is behind the malevolent act. People involved will be punished under the Atomic Energy and other acts after investigation," Kakodkar told the media.
"The investigations are being carried out from two angles. First to ascertain as to who contaminated the water cooler with tritiated heavy water, and the second from radiation protection angle," said Kakodkar.
BBC News - Pakistan's president hands over nuclear powers
President Asif Ali Zardari has handed control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to his prime minister, in an apparent bid to ease political pressure.
The move was a "giant leap" forward that empowered the PM and parliament, Mr Zardari's spokesman said.
But analysts said it was an attempt to placate political and military critics, as an amnesty protecting Mr Zardari from possible prosecution expired.
The amnesty gave him and several others immunity from corruption charges.
Government facing key decisions about plutonium stockpile
The UK Government is facing key decisions about what to do with what is the world's largest plutonium stock pile.
A report, published in full for the first time last night (November 26), revealed the UK's estimated 100 tonnes of plutonium is not just a potential terrorist target it's increases the 'risk of nuclear weapon proliferation'.
The report, by the highly regarded working party British Pugwash, is called The Management of Separated Plutonium in the UK.
The report is an 'optioneering study' which identifies some major issues which it believes must be tackled if the expansion of nuclear power is to be considered as a 'viable future energy option' both in the UK and worldwide.
Deputy chairman of British Pugwash, Dr Christopher Watson, said: "The strategy developed in the 1990s for utilising the UK stockpile of separated plutonium is currently in disarray.
Cuban nationals land at Florida nuclear plant: NRC | U.S. | Reuters
A group of Cuban nationals who fled their country by boat landed in the cooling canal of a nuclear power plant along Florida's coast on Thanksgiving Day, according to a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission event report issued Friday.
The plant's operations were not disrupted by the incident, according to the report.
The Turkey Point nuclear power plant control room received a call from an individual stating that he was a member of a group of 33 Cuban nationals that had landed in the cooling canal. The group was made up of 29 adults and 4 children.
NRC allows Entergy fuel secrecy: Rutland Herald Online
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given Entergy Nuclear permission to keep a change in its technical specifications secret that deals with the nuclear fuel that will be loaded next spring into Vermont Yankee's core.
A subcontractor for Entergy, Global Nuclear Fuels, had requested the secrecy, saying it involved proprietary information.
Entergy Nuclear spokesman Larry Smith said Monday that the proprietary information belonged to Global Nuclear Fuels, and he said the request had met the criteria set out by the NRC. Entergy was notified Monday that the exemption was granted.
At issue are the thermal stresses that occur in the reactor core, which if above a certain standard, can damage fuel cladding. Damaged fuel leaks radiation.
NRC: Risk Management and Security – is it Time for a Recalibration? - Nuclear Power Industry News
Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this important conference. The concept of managing risk to avoid adverse consequences has been with us since the first human beings appeared on the planet. Over time, the application of the principles of risk management to ever broader fields of activity has been constant and is still expanding. Some view this as progress and others as the unwelcome price we have to pay for the increasing complexity of our existence.
In the regulatory field, the concept of risk as a management tool is relatively recent. At the NRC, it was not until 1995 that the Commission issued a policy statement that encouraged the application of probabilistic risk assessment “as an extension and enhancement of traditional regulation.” As a regulator and based on the agency’s experience over the last two decades, I strongly support the use of risk analysis as a means to focus on the events and activities that pose the greatest risks to public health and safety and to ease unnecessary burdens on licensees. I believe we have come a long way since 1995. I also believe, however, that we can and should expand the systematic use of risk analysis to areas where, up to now, it has been used intermittently. I am referring here to the security arena. This will be a difficult task, however, and will require the concerted effort of the NRC and the industry to carry it out.
Asia Times Online: Nuclear fallout rocks Pakistan
Sharp differences between Pakistani leaders over safeguarding the country's nuclear arsenal are placing increasing pressure on the embattled administration of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Zardari is already seriously at odds with the military establishment over dealing with the Taliban-led insurgency and there is a strong likelihood that his government will face a make-or-break test within weeks in the form of mass street protests.
Pakistan has reacted strongly to an article in The New Yorker by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh on November 16, "Defending the arsenal", in which he claimed that Pakistan was discussing "understandings" with the US that could even see specialists take sophisticated nuclear triggers out of the country to prevent them
India puts nuclear plants on alert-report | Reuters
India has put its nuclear power plants under alert and tightened security around them after intelligence about possible attacks, a report said on Monday.
The step comes after a man arrested in the United States on charges of plotting attacks in India was found to have travelled to Indian states that have nuclear installations.
The Press Trust of India quoted unnamed sources in the home ministry as saying that state governments had been asked to step up security around their nuclear plants as a "precautionary measure".
"The step is precautionary in nature. The states have been asked to increase the vigil and patrolling to thwart any sabotage attempt aimed at these vital facilities," a home ministry official was quoted as saying.
Indian media often reports security alerts based on unnamed intelligence sources.
Pakistani nuclear scientist's accounts tell of Chinese proliferation - washingtonpost.com
Accounts by controversial scientist assert China gave Pakistan enough enriched uranium in '82 to make 2 bombs
In 1982, a Pakistani military C-130 left the western Chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and provided to The Washington Post.
U.A.E. Nuclear Program May Send Region Into Arms Race - Bloomberg.com
The United Arab Emirates, which plans to award the Persian Gulf’s first nuclear power contracts this year, may start a regional arms race as its neighbors seek similar technology, according to a Chatham House report.
“Risks from nuclear proliferation cannot be eliminated entirely” from the U.A.E.’s program, Ian Jackson wrote in “Nuclear Energy and Proliferation Risks: Myths and Realities in the Persian Gulf,” published today. “It is possible that the genuine desire of Gulf states to engage in civil peaceful nuclear power could possibly tip the region into a nuclear arms race, especially if state intentions are misunderstood.”
The U.A.E., the fourth-biggest OPEC producer, is turning to nuclear power because it doesn’t produce enough natural gas to meet demand. The government has an atomic-energy agreement with the U.S., a necessary step to awarding construction contracts, and will prohibit the enrichment of uranium on U.A.E. soil.
A French group including Areva SA and Electricite de France SA is competing for U.A.E. power-plant contracts against groups led by General Electric Co. and Korea Electric Power Corp.
Can America defend its nuclear arsenal? | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online
US intelligence agencies knew months before the November 05 Fort Hood shooting that suspect Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan tried to contact people with Al-Qaeda links, ABC News reported November 09, citing two US officials. However, it was unclear if the US Army had been informed.
Having read the above news, I wonder if Seymour Hersh is thinking to use his acid soaked pen to write another article about the insecurity of American nukes since members of the American military of Muslim faith are allegedly in touch, or were trying to get in touch, with Al-Qaeda. Here's a unique glimpse of what he may write.
OpEdNews - Article: US Defensive Tactic: Lying about Enemy Nukes
Other US Traitors are in Denial of Sibel's Testimony
Edmonds claims that much of the Pentagon information found its way into the hands of both Israeli and Turkish operatives through the State Department, courtesy of Marc Grossman, then assistant secretary of state for political affairs, the third-highest ranking member at State. As she described in her Aug. 8 testimony, "certain people from Pentagon would send a list of individuals with access to sensitive data, whether weapons technology or nuclear technology, and this information would include all their sexual preference, how much they owed on their homes, if they have gambling issues, and [Grossman] would provide it to these foreign operatives, and those foreign operatives would go and hook those Pentagon people."
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