Iran and the NPT: Safeguards at Stake
Mark Hibbs | European Leadership Network
During the week of 9th March, member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have an opportunity to de-escalate rising international tension over Iran’s refusal to provide the IAEA information about its nuclear activities. Whether they succeed may depend on the agency’s Board of Governors (BOG) transcending polarisation that in 2019 factored in BOG debate and that has again broken out on the eve of the March conclave. In the view of the overwhelming majority of board members, Tehran must comply with its safeguards obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) by answering questions based on the IAEA’s findings and information.
North Korea Fires Projectiles Into Sea; US, China Urge Return to Talks
Hyonhee Shin and Sangmi Cha | Reuters
North Korea launched multiple projectiles into the sea on Monday as part of firing drills, according to South Korea’s military, drawing U.S. and Chinese appeals for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programs. Launched a week after North Korea resumed missile tests following a three-month break, the projectiles, including from a multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS), flew up to 200 km (124 miles) and reached 50 km in altitude, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that at least four projectiles had been detected. One of the officials said that according to initial information that could change, there were five projectiles, three short-range missiles known as the KN-25 and the other two were KN-09.
US Official: New START Treaty Should Cover Russian Weapon Systems Under Development
RFE/RL
An extension of the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia should include new weapons systems that Moscow is developing, a U.S. State Department official said in a briefing on March 9. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is scheduled to expire on February 2021 and Washington has said a new accord should encompass “slightly exotic new systems such as the nuclear-powered, underwater, nuclear-armed drone called Poseidon; the nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile, air-launched ballistic missile, and that sort of thing,” the official said. The Trump administration has said it wants an extension of New START to also include China. The United States and Russia are the two signatories of treaty that went into effect in 2011.
UN Watchdog: Iran Providing Access to Active Nuclear Sites
Philipp Jenne and David Rising | AP
Iran continues to provide international inspectors access to its active nuclear facilities, even after its announcement it was no longer bound by “any restrictions” of the landmark 2015 deal with world powers designed to prevent the country from producing a nuclear weapon, the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency said Monday. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told board members in Vienna that since Tehran’s Jan. 5 announcement it appears that Iran hasn’t escalated its violations of the nuclear pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Last week, the agency said in a report to member nations that its inspectors had confirmed that Iran had nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of the nuclear deal.
Pentagon Awards Contracts to Design Mobile Nuclear Reactor
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The Pentagon on Monday issued three contracts to start design work on mobile, small nuclear reactors, as part of a two-step plan towards achieving nuclear power for American forces at home and abroad. The department awarded contracts to BWX Technologies, Inc. of Virginia, for $13.5 million; Westinghouse Government Services of Washington, D.C. for $11.9 million; and X-energy, LLC of Maryland, for $14.3 million, to begin a two-year engineering design competition for a small nuclear microreactor designed to potentially be forward deployed with forces outside the continental United States.The combined $39.7 million in contracts are from “Project Pele,” a project run through the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), located within the department’s research and engineering side.
Energy Secretary Again Commits to Relocation of SRS Plutonium in Nevada
Colin Demarest | Aiken Standard
U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette has reaffirmed his department's commitment to removing a half-metric ton of defense plutonium from Nevada by the end of 2026, material that was secretly sent from the Savannah River Site in 2018. Brouillette renewed the promise to U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat and Department of Energy skeptic, who asked about the plutonium during a fiscal year 2021 budget hearing Tuesday morning. Former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry last year promised Cortez Masto in writing that the Energy Department would begin the relocation effort – moving a half-metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium away from the Nevada National Security Site, near Las Vegas – in 2021. The effort would wrap by the end of 2026, Perry explained.