Proliferation
The West’s dispute with Iran and North Korea over their nuclear capability has taken a dangerous turn following the failure of talks on the Iranian programme and Pyongyang’s pledge to conduct its first nuclear test. The reclusive Communist state drew a strong response from the US, Japan and Europe yesterday when it issued a statement announcing that because of the American “threat of nuclear war and sanctions” it would carry out a nuclear test. Hopes that Iran could be coaxed into curbing its nuclear programme faded after the European official who had been holding discreet talks with the chief Iranian negotiator informed European ministers and the US that they had failed.
Independent 4th October 2006
Belfast Telegraph 4th Oct 2006
North Korea
North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its first nuclear test, prompting the United States, France and Japan to urge the U.N. Security Council to respond to what Washington called “an unacceptable threat” to world peace.
Reuters 3rd October 2006
The Register 3rd October 2006
ICWales 4th Oct 2006
Times 4th Oct 2006
Telegraph 4th Oct 2006
Scotsman 4th Oct 2006
Guardian 4th Oct 2006
FT 4th Oct 2006
View London 4th Oct 2006
QA re NKorea’s threat
Times website 3rd Oct 2006
Iran
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that time was running out for the international community if it did not want to lose credibility over the Iranian nuclear problem.
Middle East Online 4th Oct 2006
THE latest Iranian brinkmanship on its nuclear hopes is ingenious. But it should be a non-starter: a concession that other countries cannot contemplate. Whether Iran extracts any mileage will depend on whether it can split France from Britain and the US. “we have just had an idea,” announced Mohammad Saeedi, deputy chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation. The declaration, made yesterday to France Info radio, must win a prize for contrived spontaneity in the service of diplomacy. The idea, he said, was that “France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium”. “That way France, through the companies Eurodif and Areva, could control in a tangible way our enrichment activities.” Except that it couldn’t. The flaw of this plan, for those trying to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, is that it would allow Iran to master the most sensitive technology on its own soil.
Times 4th Oct 2006
BBC 3rd Oct 2006
Telegraph 4th Oct 2006
Paris rejects Tehran’s proposal to set up consortium to produce enriched uranium on Iranian soil.
Middle East Online 3rd Oct 2006
The British government signalled yesterday the latest round of negotiations with Iran had failed and that it will begin a push within the next fortnight for targeted UN sanctions against Tehran.
Guardian 4th Oct 2006
FT 4th Oct 2006
New nukes
ENVIRONMENTAL groups are setting back the fight against global warming with misguided and irrational objections to nuclear power, according to Britain’s leading thinker about the future. Climate change will be the greatest of many significant challenges for humanity over the next century, and every tool available will be needed to prevent it wrecking the planet, James Martin said.
The Australian 3rd October 2006
Nuclear Waste
THIRTEEN Midland locations are back on the table to become dumping grounds for nuclear waste. The sites, 12 of them in Warwickshire and one in Solihull, were first identified for underground burial of radioactive material in 1990 but ruled out due to public outcry at the time.
Birmingham Evening Mail 3rd Oct 2006
Nuclear waste is here, so where do we put it?
Birmngham Post 3rd Oct 2006
BNFL Privatisation
BRITISH Nuclear Fuels, the state-owned operator of four ageing nuclear power plants in the UK, has put its trading and marketing arm up for sale, The Times has learnt. The sale, to be overseen by PricewaterhouseCoopers, comes as unions believe that the company is also planning to sell the contracts to operate 11 Magnox nuclear power station sites.
Times 4th October 2006
