Iran Fuels Centrifuges, Resumes Enrichment at Fordow
Parisa Hafezi | Reuters
Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility, the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) said on Thursday, further stepping away from its 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers. The agreement bans enrichment and nuclear material from Fordow. But with feedstock gas entering its centrifuges, the facility, built inside a mountain, will move from the permitted status of research plant to being an active nuclear site. “After all successful preparations ... injection of uranium gas to centrifuges started on Thursday at Fordow ... all the process has been supervised by the inspectors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog,” the AEOI said in a statement reported by Iranian media. “The process will take a few hours to stabilize and by Saturday, when International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will again visit the site, a uranium enrichment level of 4.5% will have been achieved,” AEOI’s spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV.
Iran Cancels Accreditation of IAEA Nuclear Inspector
BBC
Iran has cancelled the accreditation of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector who was prevented from entering a nuclear facility last week. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) said an alarm was triggered when the woman went through screening at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. Officials feared she was carrying “suspicious material”, it added. There was no comment from the IAEA, which is in charge of monitoring Iranian compliance with a nuclear deal. The announcement came as Iran rolled back another commitment under the 2015 accord by resuming enriching uranium at its underground Fordo facility. The incident at Natanz seems to be the first of its kind since the nuclear deal was implemented.
North Korea Warns American ‘War Exercise’ Will Violate Trump’s Vow to Kim, Put Nuclear Talks on ‘Verge of Extinction’
David Brennan | Newsweek
North Korea has fiercely condemned planned joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, arguing that the scheduled war games threaten finely-balanced denuclearization talks and betray America's “imperialist” instincts. On Wednesday, a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency described the planned drills—a scaled-back exercise in place of the annual Vigilant Ace air maneuvers—as a declaration of confrontation with Pyongyang, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The North's said that holding the drill so soon after the Stockholm failure “cannot be but understood as a declaration of confrontation against our nation.” Joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises have long been of grave concern to Pyongyang. The North sees such activities as planning for a future invasion of the hermit state, and has consistently cited such drills as an excuse for its weapons research programs and belligerent behavior.
Russia Has Retaliation Ready if U.S. Quits Open Skies Treaty: RIA
Reuters
Russia has drawn up retaliatory measures in case the United States leaves the Open Skies treaty, a pact which allows both countries to conduct surveillance flights over each other’s territory, the RIA news agency reported late on Wednesday. RIA cited a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying late on Wednesday that Washington’s exit from the Open Skies treaty would deal a blow to global security, but that Moscow had drawn up a response in case it happened. “Of course. We’ve got everything ready. You’ll find out,” Vladimir Ermakov, head of the ministry’s arms control and non-proliferation department, was quoted as saying.
Centrus Signs HALEU Contract with Department of Energy
World Nuclear News
US company Centrus Energy Corp has signed a three-year contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to deploy a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel for advanced reactors. The contract includes licensing, constructing, assembling and operating AC100M centrifuge machines and related infrastructure in a cascade formation to produce HALEU at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, for the demonstration programme. Existing reactors typically operate on low-enriched uranium (LEU), typically containing up to 5% uranium-235. HALEU fuel, which is enriched to between 5% and 20% uranium-235, will be required by many advanced reactor designs that are under development in both the commercial and government sectors, but such fuel is not yet commercially available.
Russia Reportedly in Possession of Advanced Israeli Interceptor Missile
Times of Israel
Russia is in possession of an advanced Israeli interceptor missile that was launched last year in response to Syrian rocket fire, according to a Chinese news site. In its first known operational use, two interceptors from the David Sling’s anti-missile system were fired in July 2018 at rockets launched from Syria that appeared to be heading toward Israel but ultimately landed inside Syrian territory. According to a report by the Chinese news site SINA Saturday, the interceptor landed intact in Syria and was swiftly recovered by Syrian military forces. The news site said the David’s Sling missile was handed over to Russia, which is fighting on behalf of President Bashar Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war, and brought to Moscow for examination. According to SINA, Israel and the United States asked Russia to return the missile.