U.S. Nuclear Inspectors Return to Russia in Accordance with New START

Today's top nuclear policy stories, events, and analysis with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today - Thursday, April 14, 2011:

US Team In Russia For Inspection of Nuclear Facilities Under New START Treaty - RTTNews [link]

• A team of U.S. inspectors have arrived in Russia for the first on-site inspection of the country's nuclear facilities as agreed under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
• The new Treaty restored crucial inspection and verification mechanisms that ceased when the original START agreement expired in December 2009, allowing U.S., Russian inspectors back inside the other country's nuclear weapon silos.
• On-site inspections, along with data exchanges and notifications regarding strategic systems and facilities subject to New START, are key components of a verification regime for compliance with the Treaty.
• New START will advance critical national security objectives of the world's two leading nuclear powers: reducing the number of deployed nuclear weapons while retaining a safe, secure and effective deterrent; providing direct insight into each others' nuclear arsenal; and creating a more stable, predictable and cooperative relationship between the two countries.

How Will Mr. Obama Respond to Iran’s Nuclear Progress? - Editorial in The Washington Post [link]

• Many experts believe the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East will be the most important foreign policy test of Barack Obama’s presidency...Strong reminders of that came this week in two news stories reported by The Post: Pakistan’s demand that drone attacks against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in its frontier territories be scaled back; and Iran’s claim of fresh progress in its nuclear program.
• The reports from Iran are particularly disturbing because its Islamic regime has been a short-term beneficiary of the revolution in Egypt and unrest in the Persian Gulf emirate of Bahrain...[Also], the region’s turmoil has pushed up oil prices, making it easier for Iran to endure the economic sanctions painstakingly orchestrated by the Obama administration.
• Iran has been busy expanding its nuclear capacity. In recent days officials announced that tests of a new generation of centrifuges for enriching uranium had been successful, and that a Russian-built nuclear reactor would begin operations early next month.
• The better course, which we among others have urged since the opposition Green Movement was born nearly two years ago, is to bet on a renewed popular uprising in Iran. President Obama recently made a gesture in that direction with a video address to Iranians that denounced government repression and said young Iranians had the “power to forge a country that is responsive to your aspirations.” But there is much more the administration could do, such as finding ways to support Iranian unions and student movements, stepping up broadcasting and accelerating funding for technology that can undermine Internet censorship. 

EVENT: The Obama Administration and the Future of Nuclear Arms Control - April 15, 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. EST [link]

• The Political Science Association of Boston College is hosting a conference on teh future of nuclear arms control featuring the nation’s leading scholars and practitioners in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
• The conference will include a series of panels examining pressing challenges confronting today’s nuclear policymakers, including the development of North Korea’s nuclear program, the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, and the international response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
• Speakers include Ambassador Christopher Hill, Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver; David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent, New York Times; Professor Frank N. von Hippel, Co-Chairman of the International Panel on Fissile Materials; and Joseph Cirincione, President of the Ploughshares Fund.
• The keynote address will be delivered by Ambassador Marcie Berman Ries, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nuclear and Strategic Policy.

Budget Deal Boosts NNSA Nonproliferation Funds - Global Security Newswire [link]

• Legislation to fund the U.S. government for the remainder of fiscal 2011 would boost certain nuclear nonproliferation appropriations by $190 million, a 9 percent increase over funding in the previous budget cycle, the Friends Committee on National Legislation said.
• The U.S. Congress failed to approve a permanent spending plan for the budget year that began on October 1, 2010. Republicans and Democrats last week agreed on terms for a continuing resolution covering the rest of the fiscal year, narrowly averting a federal government shutdown.
• The bill, to be voted on this week, sets aside $2.32 billion for nuclear nonproliferation initiatives administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Much of the additional funding is focused on the Obama administration's effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world, according to a press release.
• The funding increase falls short of the Obama administration's request for a $556 million dollar boost, the Friends Committee release states. However, it marks a dramatic shift from a GOP-backed House proposal to slash the nonproliferation spending by $46 million, a 2 percent decrease from fiscal 2010.
  

Living With Half a Loaf - John Isaacs for "The Chain Reaction" a Council for a Livable World Blog [link]

• If I am ever involved in a legislative battle where we win a complete and total victory without any provisions and deals we do not like, I will know that either I am no longer of this world or have sunk into dementia.
• Yesterday we learned that Congress will appropriate $2.3 billion for non-proliferation funding, a 9% increase from last year’s funding level and $241 million above the House level...Others pointed out that while the final number was better than that produced by the House, it still was not full funding. We don’t know the final allocation of funds by the Department of Energy. Congress at the same time approved a large increase in funding for nuclear complex modernization.
• Part of the policy process in Washington, D.C. is that winning 100%, total success on an issue without compromises and encumbrances rarely if ever happens.
• We should be able to recognize and appreciate victories when they occur, even if they are not complete and total successes.

EVENT: U.S.-Russian Missile Defense Cooperation - April 14, 12:15 - 1:30 p.m. EST [link]

• Jeffrey Lewis, Monterey Institute
• University of Maryland, 1203 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MA.

Matheson Renews Fight to Stop Resumption of Nuke Weapons Testing - Press Release from the Office of Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT) [link]

• Congressman Jim Matheson today announced the reintroduction of legislation that would protect American's health and safety in the event that nuclear weapons testing resumes at the Nevada National Security Site.
• Matheson originally introduced the "Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act" in 2004 after funds were appropriated to study development of two new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time needed for test site readiness. Congress has subsequently denied additional funding requests.
• Matheson said that from 1951 until 1992, the U.S. government conducted over 1,000 nuclear weapons tests at the site. More than 800 bombs were detonated underground, yet some underground tests still released significant amount of radioactive fallout. A 1979 House subcommittee report—The Forgotten Guinea Pigs—concluded that "the only victims of U.S. nuclear arms since World War II have been our own people."
• The Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) has been a consistent supporter of the anti-nuclear weapons testing effort. "We commend Rep. Jim Matheson for introducing the Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing Act. Nuclear testing has no place in the 21st Century and should not be resumed without a full debate by Congress," said David Culp, Legislative Representative for FCNL.