The Gold Standard and a New Civil Nuclear Order

August 2, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

Gold standard - The Obama administration could become an “accidental architect of the new civil nuclear order,” writes Jeffrey Lewis in Foreign Policy. The U.S. is in the process of negotiating civil nuclear cooperation deals with more than a dozen countries. Requiring “gold standard” provisions in these deals - where countries forgo enrichment and reprocessing technologies - could establish a strong norm for the nonproliferation regime. However, the “gold standard” requirement is being disputed in an interagency scrum.

--”If the administration really can persuade Taiwan and Jordan to agree to accept the gold standard, doing so will demonstrate that the United States can negotiate nuclear trade agreements that also have strong nonproliferation provisions. And this, in turn, will put pressure on the tougher cases, like South Korea and Saudi Arabia, to conform with what will appear to be an emerging global standard -- 24 carats and nothing less.” http://bit.ly/Rd6I2G

Squeaky clean - Iran appears to be finished what is believed to be clean-up efforts at Parchin, a site the IAEA has been trying to gain access to to confirm allegations of past military-related nuclear activity. The Institute of Science and International Security analyzed satellite photos from July 25, and found that the “entire area surrounding the buildings appears to have been bulldozed, covered, and flattened.”

--”The degree of the site’s modification and the fact that this apparent cleanup work started soon after the IAEA’s request for access cast further doubt on Iran’s claims that its nuclear program does not or has never had any military aspects.” Read the report and see the photos here. http://bit.ly/T3e730

So what? - Danger Room has a summary of ISIS reports on the Parchin site and explains how it relates to the Iran nuclear problem and U.S. policy toward Iran more broadly. http://bit.ly/PvlJqQ

Smut - “Missile Defense Staff Warned To Stop Surfing Porn Sites,” reports Bloomberg. http://bloom.bg/No8rvr

Welcome to Early Warning - Subscribe to our morning email or follow us on twitter.

--Have a tip? Email earlywarning@ploughshares.org. Want to support this work? Click here.

DO secure uranium, DON’T let nuns in - In response to last week’s embarrassing security breach at the Y-12 nuclear complex, the site ordered a “security stand-down”. The contractor running the site “shut down all plant nuclear operations, placed the stocks of enriched uranium in secure vaults, and set up a schedule for thousands of Y-12 workers to take refresher courses on security do's and don'ts,” according to Frank Munger at The Knoxville News Sentinel. http://bit.ly/N0TvI4

Pressure madness - Writing on the Iran sanctions bill du jour, Paul Pillar laments that “one searches in vain for any sign of understanding of the basic principle that sanctions can only be one-half of any attempt to influence another government...”

--”...as long as Western negotiators fail to couple Iranian concessions with any significant relief from sanctions, the Iranians lack incentive to make concessions no matter how much pressure they feel.” Full post at The National Interest. http://bit.ly/Rfkq0F

Tweet - @AdamSerwer: Kim Jong Un's mysterious roller coaster pal, REVEALED: http://bit.ly/MSZ397

Security - The Obama Administration has been a strong supporter of efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism, supporting international summits on nuclear security with the goal of securing fissile materials worldwide. Why then have White House budget requests for these initiatives dwindled while other, more controversial programs remain funded, asks Kingston Reif in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

--”In future years, the United States and its international partners should establish new initiatives, programs, and funding streams to strengthen the global nuclear security architecture and secure dangerous materials wherever they exist. Instead, the administration appears bent on scaling back funding for an agenda it nevertheless touts as its top national security priority,” writes Reif. http://bit.ly/NW3LQK

Social media society and the bomb - “Imagine if the advent of the atomic era occurred during today’s information age. Tourists would gather to view bomb tests, at the ‘safe’ distances used in the 1950’s, and share the resulting cell phone photos online,” explains photographer Clay Lipsky of his recent work of photos with tourists watching mushroom clouds.

--”I can only hope that mankind will never again suffer the wrath of such a destructive force, but it is clear that the world would not hesitate to watch.” http://bit.ly/PoGcxc