House Votes to Block Funding for Nuclear Testing
Rebecca Kheel | Hill
The House approved Monday a measure aimed at preventing President Trump from conducting the United States’s first explosive nuclear test in decades. The House voted 227-179, largely along party lines, to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would prohibit funding from being used “to conduct or make preparations for any explosive nuclear weapons test that produces any yield.” Inclusion of the prohibition in the House version of the NDAA sets up a conflict with the Senate’s version of the bill that will need to be reconciled before it is sent to the president's desk. The Senate’s version of the NDAA includes an amendment from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that would make at least $10 million available to “carry out projects related to reducing the time required to execute a nuclear test if necessary.”
Explosion Hits Another Power Plant in Iran
AFP
An explosion hit a power plant in the central Iranian province of Isfahan on Sunday, state news agency IRNA reported, saying it was over faulty equipment and caused no casualties. A "worn out transformer... at Isfahan's Islamabad thermal power plant exploded at around 5:00 am today," the managing director of Isfahan's electricity company Said Mohseni told the agency. The incident is the latest in a string of fires and explosions at military and civilian sites across Iran in recent weeks. The string of fires and explosions have prompted speculation in Iran that they may be the result of sabotage by arch enemy Israel.
Chinese Spokesperson Says US Should ‘Stop Playing Dumb’ on Nuclear Arms Agreement
Caitlin McFall | Fox News
China has dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's calls for the United Nations Security Council to extend the Iranian arms embargo, citing concerns that the regime will become an arms dealer – with the suppliers being Russia and China. Pompeo said in press conference this week that the U.S. has intelligence which suggests “that China will sell weapons systems to Iran” and that “Iranians believe that China will sell systems to Iran.” The embargo, which prevents Iran from being able to purchase or sell arms, is a part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. “Pompeo's remarks are totally unreasonable and apparently an excuse to push the U.N. Security Council to extend arms embargo against Iran,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press conference Friday.
Two Russian Latest Nuclear-Powered Subs to Carry Hypersonic Missiles
TASS
Two upgraded Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ nuclear-powered submarines laid down at the Sevmash Shipyard in Russia’s northwest on Monday will get hypersonic weapons, Sevmash CEO Mikhail Budnichenko said at the keel-laying ceremony. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who attended the keel-laying ceremony for the Russian Navy’s first helicopter carriers at the Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch on the Crimean Peninsula on Monday said that the Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ two multi-purpose nuclear powered subs laid down at the Sevmash would be named the Voronezh and the Vladivostok in honor of the Russian military glory cities. Project 885/885M submarines will carry Kalibr-PL and (or) Oniks cruise missiles and also Tsirkon hypersonic missiles as their basic weapons.
Rosatom, Norway, and Bellona Discuss Nuclear Cleanup Work in Northwest Russia
Anna Kireeva | Bellona
Nuclear officials from Russia and Norway have met online to discuss raising sunken nuclear submarines from Arctic waters, the bulk of which were intentionally scuttled by the Soviet Navy during the darkest years of the Cold War. While Moscow will take the lead in the efforts, the Norwegian government and Bellona have long encouraged Russia to raise the vessels, as their unstable reactors pose a risk of contaminating critical fishing waters close to Scandinavia’s northern coast. The talks also included updates on a raft of other nuclear safety projects the two countries have undertaken over the past 25 years under the banner of the Russian-Norwegian Nuclear Safety Commission, most aimed at cleaning up the Soviet legacy of radioactive waste in Russia’s northwest.