Proliferation, Nuclear Security Concern in Japan

March 11, 2014 | Edited by Lauren Mladenka and Geoff Wilson

Concerning plant - Japan’s new industrial complex “is one of the world’s newest, largest, and most controversial production plants for a nuclear explosive,” write Douglas Birch, Jeffrey Smith, and Jake Adelstein for The Center for Public Integrity. “Once it is running, the plant will produce thousands of gallon-sized steel canisters containing a flour-like mixture of uranium and plutonium, enough in theory to provide the building blocks for a huge nuclear arsenal.”

--“Publicly, the United States has said little about Japan’s plans to enlarge its already substantial hoard of plutonium,” but “since Obama was first elected, Washington has been lobbying furiously behind the scenes, trying to persuade Japan that terrorists might regard Rokkasho’s new stockpile of plutonium as an irresistible target — and to convince Japanese officials they should better protect this dangerous raw material.”

--”It’s been a hard sell for Washington, according to experts and officials in both countries familiar with the diplomatic dialogue. With U.S. prodding, Japan has gradually heightened security at Rokkasho and other nuclear sites, but officials in Washington say they remain worried that the improvements are too slow and incremental.” Full report here. http://bit.ly/1ivzmGP

Tweet - @BulletinAtomic: The next Nuclear Security Summit is in 2 weeks, but Promises Alone Won't Keep Radioactive Sources Safe: http://t.co/Wtp9TtQzv8

Tweet - @FMWG: 14 days til #NSS2014: Get a taste of some key facts about nuke security from the FMWG press kit. Check out http://bit.ly/OholPZ

What if Ukraine had nukes? - “What if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons?” asks Greg Myre in a piece for NPR. “The confrontation [with Russia] might look rather different, and perhaps much scarier. When Ukraine gained independence in the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, it inherited a nuclear arsenal that included some 1,800 warheads, making it the third largest in the world...But in 1994, Ukraine agreed to relinquish them and eventually sent the warheads by train to Russia. In return, Ukraine got assurances its sovereignty would be respected.”

--“Nuclear weapons may make the world nervous, but foreign troops rarely pay unannounced visits to nuclear states… Then again, the current crisis would potentially be even more dangerous if Russia had intervened and Ukraine had nuclear arms. India and Pakistan are both nuclear nations and whenever tensions rise, usually over the disputed region of Kashmir, a relatively small skirmish can raise the specter of a nuclear confrontation. A regional problem can instantly take on much greater dimensions.” Read the full report here. http://n.pr/1crnpDH

Posturing on New START - “Russian Defense Ministry sources are warning that New START arms control inspections could become a casualty of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine,” Global Security Newswire reports. “An unidentified, well placed ministry source told the Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass on Saturday that the ministry was prepared to cease hosting U.S. treaty inspectors in response to the Pentagon's ‘unjustified’ decision to suspend bilateral military cooperation. U.S. officials cut off near-term collaboration with Russia in protest of its occupation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.”

--“U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Moscow has not informed Washington of any decision to freeze New START inspections,” reported the Washington Post on Saturday. Read the GSN report here. http://bit.ly/1h9uneb

Tweet - @Cirincione: Put this at top of the list of stupid ideas for responding to Crimea: put more nukes in Europe. http://t.co/M9SttGwWql

CTBT and missing planes - “The head of the organization that monitors the nuclear test ban treaty said Monday he has asked its experts to see if they detected an explosion at high altitude of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane,” the AP reports. “Lassina Zerbo, executive director of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization told a news conference that the CTBTO uses ‘infrasound’ — or infrasonic sensors — to monitor the earth mainly for atmospheric nuclear explosions… Zerbo said infrasound would be the best technology to check for an explosion on the missing plane if there was a monitoring station nearby.” Read the full report here. http://wapo.st/1iwM4JO

Tweet - @nukes_of_hazard: But nukes are cheap // "Lawmaker Presses For Funding SSBN(X) Outside Shipbuilding Budget" @insidedefense http://t.co/YfGnHW6hc1

Middle East nuclear talks - “Israel and Arab states held their third round of exploratory talks in the Swiss resort of Glion last month that are focused on establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East,” writes Jay Solomon in The Wall Street Journal. “The participant in the talks, and diplomats briefed on them, downplayed the potential for any major breakthroughs in the near term. But they said the sustained presence of mid-ranked Israeli and Arab diplomats discussing the nuclear issue is encouraging.” Read the full article here. http://on.wsj.com/1luw9JF

More workers test positive for radiation at WIPP - “Four more workers have tested positive for exposure tied to an accidental release of radiation from an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico, but tests have shown no further contamination in two sections of the site,” Laura Zuckerman reports for Reuters. “This brings to 17 the number of workers exposed to radiation at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, but a U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in a statement characterized the level of exposure as ‘very low.’”

--“Probes sent over the weekend into a pair of shafts in the salt formation where nuclear waste is stored at the facility showed no detectable airborne radioactivity and instruments used in the test were not contaminated, officials said… Crews in recent days have used high-density foam to seal vents that released underground air to the surface. Monitoring shows no further radiation leakage from those vents, but officials are crafting methods to ensure against leakages in future caused by degradation of the foam over time. The Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the site, Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, will conduct additional tests of air below ground before sending in investigators to determine the cause of the accident.” Read the full story here. http://reut.rs/1ivwBoX

Deceptive techniques - “Recent inspections and seizures of banned cargo have shown that North Korea is using increasingly deceptive techniques to circumvent international sanctions, a panel of experts said in a report to the United Nations Security Council published Tuesday.” Choe Sang-Hun has the story in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/1keAErM

Quick-hits:

-- “Red Team on site at Y12” by Frank Munger for Atomic City Underground. http://bit.ly/1i6r4Hi

--“Are New Sanctions on North Korea Needed?” by Jonathan Chang in The Wall Street Journal. http://on.wsj.com/1dM6Qko

Events:

--“Iran Nuclear Deal: Breakthrough or Failure?” Discussion with Robert Einhorn, Karim Sadjadpour, and Bret Stephens, and Reuel Gerecht. March 11 from 5:00-7:00 at George Washington University, Jack Morton Auditorium, 805 21st St. NW. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1hFYrQn

--”The Future of Global Nuclear Security Policy Summit.” Discussion with Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, former Sen. Sam Nunn, former Rep. Jane Harman, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Ambassador Kare Aas, former Ambassador Renee Jones-Bos, Matthew Bunn, and William Tobey. March 12 from 8:00-10:00am at Newseum, Knight Broadcast Studio, third floor, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1i0fzAt

--”Nuclear Materials Attractiveness.” Discussion hosted by the Institute of Nuclear Materials. March 13 from 11:30-1:30 at George Washington University, Lindner Family Commons, room 602, 1957 E St. NW. RSVP by email to joseph.glasner@nnsa.doe.gov

--”Nuclear Weapons Gone Missing: What Does History Teach US?” Discussion with Henry Sokolski, Charles Ferguson, Edwin Lyman, and Jodi Lieberman. March 13 from 3:15-5:00, room HC-8, Capitol Building. RSVP by email to monica.herman@mail.house.gov

--“Nuclear Security and Japan’s Plutonium Path.” Discussion with Douglas Birch, Jeffrey Smith, Matthew Bunn, and Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe; moderated by Robert Einhorn. March 14 from 1:30-3:00 at Brookings, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1jRpx7P