U.N. Watchdog Decides to Close Nuclear Weapons Probe of Iran
Francois Murphy and Shadia Nasralla | Reuters
The U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected on Tuesday to close its 12-year investigation into whether Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program, a key step toward normalizing Tehran's international status after a landmark deal with major powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) produced a report earlier this month that strongly suggested Iran did have a nuclear weapons program for years up until 2003, but the international response has been muted, even from the United States, which had long accused Tehran of lying.
India, Japan fast-track ties with bullet train, civil nuclear deal
Jayanth Jacon | Hindustan Times
Japan and India on Saturday concluded negotiations for a landmark civil nuclear pact and Tokyo agreed to give a $12 billion loan for the country’s first high-speed train in a big boost to the ties between Asia’s second and third largest economies. The annual summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe also paved the way for India getting Japanese defence technologies and equipment, and coordinating their shared position on the contentious South China Sea issue.
India's Nuclear Solution to Global Warming is Generating Huge Domestic Protests
Adrian Levy | Center for Public Integrity
In a town riven by blackouts every summer, the startup in December of commercial operations for a multi-billion-dollar, Russian-built nuclear reactor near here would ordinarily have been a cause for celebration. It was more than a billion dollars over its budget and six years late. But its full operation in Kudankulam, a remote fishing village in the southern tip of India, 1,700 miles from the capital, was portrayed by operators and builders from the two countries as the latest symbol of their national friendship and technical prowess, as well as a showcase step in India’s ambitious plan to bring a total of 57 reactors on line to power the subcontinent’s economic surge.
Exclusive: Iran’s Oct 10 Missile Test Violated U.N. Ban—Expert Panel
Louis Charbonneau | Reuters
The medium-range Emad rocket that Iran tested on Oct. 10 was a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, which makes it a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, a team of sanctions monitors said in a confidential new report. The conclusion of the council's Panel of Experts on Iran will likely lead to calls for expanding sanctions against Tehran in Washington and some other Western capitals.
After INS Arihant, Indian Navy Considering Nuclear Propulsion for Aircraft Carriers
Economic Times
The Indian Navy’s design bureau is favourably considering nuclear propulsion for the second, and possibly a third indigenous aircraft carrier. Although the final decision is yet to be taken, reliable sources told India Strategic that the navy and the country's nuclear scientists have drawn sufficient experience from their success in installing nuclear propulsion in Arihant, the country’s first SSBN (ship submersible ballistic nuclear) submarine (or nuclear-propelled, nuclear-armed submarine), which is currently undergoing sea trials, and that is encouraging them to replicate the technology for indigenous aircraft carriers.
Fukushima Chief Says 'No Textbook' for Nuclear Cleanup
Yuri Kageyama | Associated Press
The man leading the daunting task of dealing with the Fukushima nuclear plant that sank into meltdowns in northeastern Japan warns with surprising candour: Nothing can be promised. How long will it take to decommission the three breached reactors, and how will it be accomplished, when not even robots have been able to enter the main fuel-debris areas so far? How much will it ultimately cost? Naohiro Masuda, tapped last year as chief of decontamination and decommissioning for plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co., acknowledges he is a long way from answering those questions definitively.