Brazil’s Nuclear Posture Under Bolsonaro
Matias Spektor, Togzhan Kassenova, Lucas Perez Florentino | Arms Control Today
Promising a shake-up of Brazil’s policies, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro won the nation’s presidential elections in October 2018. A staunch supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, from whose playbook he borrowed extensively on his rise to power, Bolsonaro unveiled plans for an ambitious transformation of the country’s nuclear policy. In the last eight months alone, the president began to open up the nuclear sector to private investment, substituted old tenets of nuclear diplomacy for new ones, and restated ambitious plans to acquire additional capabilities. Over the next decade, Brazil aims to launch a nuclear-powered submarine, produce naval nuclear fuel, explore new uranium mines, construct a third nuclear power plant, expand uranium-enrichment capacity, and launch a new research reactor. To achieve these nuclear ambitions, not only will Brazil require an updated regulatory framework capable of unlocking public-private partnerships, but also one that responds to growing demands for strengthened nuclear safety and security, and improving oversight to curb the risk of political corruption and embezzlement.
Military Strike against Iran Would Result in “All-Out War”: Foreign Minister
Reuters
Any U.S. or Saudi military strike against Iran would bring “all-out war”, Tehran said on Thursday, keeping up a drumbeat of warnings to its adversaries after they accused the Islamic Republic of a strike on Saudi oil facilities. “I am making a very serious statement that we don’t want war; we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation ... But we won’t blink to defend our territory,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told CNN in an interview. Asked what the consequence of an American or a Saudi military strike on Iran would be, Zarif said “an all-out war”. The United States has been discussing with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies possible responses to an attack on Saudi oil facilities on Saturday which they blame on Iran, and which U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described as an act of war on the kingdom. Trump struck a cautious note on Wednesday. He said there were many options short of war with Iran, which denies involvement in the Sept. 14 strikes that initially halved Saudi oil output. He ordered more sanctions on Tehran.
Fukushima Disaster: Nuclear Executives Found Not Guilty
BBC
More than eight years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese court has cleared three former executives of the firm operating the plant of professional negligence. It was the only criminal case to arise out of the disaster, which was the worst since Chernobyl in 1986. The three former executives - ex-chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79, and vice-presidents Sakae Muto, 69 and Ichiro Takekuro, 73 - were indicted for failing to implement tsunami countermeasures leading to the deaths of 44 people. In the much-anticipated verdict, a Tokyo court found all three men not guilty of professional negligence resulting in death and injury. The accident led to a complete shutdown of all nuclear reactors in the country. Despite widespread anti-nuclear sentiment, several reactors have since resumed operations after passing special safety checks. Tepco is facing various legal cases seeking compensation over the disaster, after several workers developed illnesses after cleaning up the Fukushima plant.
U.S. Says Saudis Must Forgo Enrichment for Nuclear Sharing Deal
Ari Natter | Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia will be required to forgo enriching or reprocessing spent uranium if it wants to secure a nuclear-technology-sharing deal with the U.S., Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a letter to the kingdom that addresses bi-partisan non-proliferation concerns about the proposal. The U.S. has been in negotiations with the Saudis for an agreement that could benefit Westinghouse Electric Co. and other American companies that want to construct or sell nuclear reactor technology to the kingdom. But that prospect has been met with increasing alarm by Congress and others concerned that the Saudis could enrich nuclear fuel into weapons grade material. Those concerns were heightened after the Trump administration said it might not insist on the so-called “Gold Standard” barring such activities. Perry seemed to address those concerns in a letter sent earlier this month to the previous Saudi energy minister, Khalid Al-Falih obtained by Bloomberg. “The terms of the 123 Agreement must also contain a commitment by the kingdom to forgo any enrichment and reprocessing for the term of the agreement,” Perry wrote, referring to the section of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act that discusses transfers of nuclear equipment and material to other nations.
Pakistan Warns India’s Kashmir Move Could Lead to ‘Nuclear War’ if World Does Not Act
Tom O’Connor | Newsweek
A member of Prime Minister Imran Khan's cabinet has warned that, if left unchecked by the international community, the fallout of India's controversial move in Kashmir could lead to a nuclear conflict between the two longtime rivals. Speaking to Newsweek, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, who serves as Khan's special assistant for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development, discussed the Pakistani leader's upcoming visit to New York as part of the United Nations General Assembly. Bukhari said Khan's trip would be “very Kashmir-centric,” revolving around India's decision last month to consolidate control over its share of the disputed border territory and the ongoing human rights concerns that have since emerged there. Asked if he was concerned that another major conflict could erupt between the neighbors as the situation in India-administered Kashmir deteriorated, Bukhari said, “Absolutely.” “We're extremely concerned that this could snowball into a nuclear war, you have two nuclear countries,” Bukhari told Newsweek. “We're extremely worried about an escalation.”
Hypersonic Weapons Could Give the B-1 Bomber a New Lease on Life
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
It’s been a rough stretch for the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of 62 B-1B Lancer bombers, with a pair of fleet shutdowns over safety concerns and the confirmation of plans to start retiring the plane as the new B-21 comes online, even as the much older B-52 remains in service. But speaking at the Air Force Association’s annual conference Monday, Gen. Timothy Ray, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, seemed to throw his support behind keeping the B-1 around for quite some time. “The conversation we’re having now is how we take that bomb bay [and] put four potentially eight large hypersonic weapons on there,” Ray said. “Certainly, the ability to put more JASSM-ER [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range] or LRASM [Long Range Anti-Ship Missile] externally on the hardpoints as we open those up. So there’s a lot more we can do.”