May 26, 2010
By Adrian Croft
LONDON (Reuters)
Britain announced for the first time Wednesday that it had set a limit on its nuclear weapons stockpile, at 225 warheads, and said it would re-examine its policy on using nuclear weapons.
Britain's new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government said the announcement, timed to coincide with a U.N. nuclear non-proliferation conference in New York, was intended to build trust between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states and to contribute to worldwide nuclear arms reduction efforts.
Britain had until now disclosed only the number of operationally available nuclear warheads for its Trident missile-armed submarine fleet, and had given no figure for the overall stockpile.
"In the future our overall stockpile will not exceed 225 nuclear warheads," Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament.
The ceiling on operationally available warheads would stay at 160, he said. The extra warheads allow for "processing, maintenance and logistic management," officials said.
Hague said the new government would review Britain's policy on when it would consider using nuclear weapons as part of a defense and security review launched by the new government, which took office after the May 6 election.
Britain had long said it would consider using nuclear weapons only in "extreme circumstances" of self-defense, including the defense of NATO allies, but had been deliberately ambiguous over the precise circumstances of use, he said.
POLICY REVIEW
"The time is right to look again at our policy as the U.S. has done," Hague said, making clear his government remained committed to maintaining a "credible minimum nuclear deterrent."
President Barack Obama last month unveiled a new policy restricting U.S. use of nuclear weapons.
Britain and other nuclear weapons states are trying to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Iran. Those countries often argue that established nuclear powers are doing nothing to reduce their arsenals as the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) urges.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank said Hague's disclosure "brings the UK into line with what the U.S. and France have already done."
"The wider significance is that the Western powers want, as part of their contribution to the nuclear disarmament process, to get all the nuclear weapons states to be more transparent, including Russia and China," he said.
The United States disclosed for the first time this month the size of its nuclear arsenal, saying it had 5,113 warheads.
In 2008, France said it would leave its submarine missile arsenal in place while cutting its stock of air-launched weapons by a third to around 290 warheads.
China and Russia have not revealed their total number of warheads, although Moscow and Washington recently agreed to limit operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550.
Hague's announcement may ease strains within Britain's new coalition government over a decision to spend billions of pounds on updating Britain's nuclear deterrent at a time when the country needs to cut a huge budget deficit.
The center-right Conservatives support plans to build a new nuclear-armed submarine fleet. The center-left Lib Dems, the junior coalition partner, wanted to look at cheaper alternatives but have agreed to opt out of any vote on the issue.
Britain has the smallest arsenal of the five legally recognized nuclear weapons states -- the United States, Russia, China and France. The previous Labor government said it could consider reducing Britain's warheads further as part of a multilateral negotiation.
(Editing by David Stamp)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100526/wl_nm/us_britain_nuclear_1
Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Iran Disputes IAEA Assertion on Nuclear Equipment
June 4, 2010
Global Security Newswire
Iran yesterday challenged the International Atomic Energy Agency's assertion in a report issued this week that a Tehran laboratory in recent months housed sensitive equipment that could aid in separating weapon-usable nuclear material, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 3).
Experiments conducted at the Jabr Ibn Jayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory were aimed at producing uranium metal from spent nuclear fuel to serve as radiation shielding, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi said, adding without providing details that his country possessed a large quantity of depleted uranium. The U.N. nuclear watchdog's statement that the facility had carried out pyroprocessing work was a "misinterpretation," he said.
"The experiments have no relation to pyroprocessing," state media quoted Salehi as saying. "We believe the agency used this false report about a process that has not yet taken place, with the purpose of influencing public opinion."
The U.N. agency's international standing could be undermined by such "mistakes," the official added. The United States and several European powers suspect that Iran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development; Tehran has consistently denied the assertion.
The Middle Eastern state informed the agency in January that it had pursued pyroprocessing efforts. When the Vienna-based organization sought details, Tehran reversed its declaration and indicated it had never carried out such work. During a visit to the Tehran laboratory in May, U.N. inspectors learned "that the electrochemical cell had been removed" from the facility, the IAEA safeguards report states.
The Iranian official said his country had not transferred any equipment from the site and the agency's assertion was "not correct," AP reported. Iran would provide proof to refute the assertion, Salehi said, failing to state when it would offer the evidence (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press/Google News, June 3).
The Obama administration yesterday said the U.N. Security Council was likely to adopt a fourth sanctions resolution against Iran next week, despite speculation that the measure could be held up over Israel's violent seizure of a Turkish-registered ship transferring aid to the Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We've seen sanctions introduced in the U.N. Security Council that we believe will be voted on next week and approved by the U.N. Security Council," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Washington was working to win adoption of the resolution without support from Brazil or Turkey, two nonpermanent members of the body, high-level U.S. officials said last week. Security Council actions require support from at least nine of the group's 15 member nations, and no veto by any of its permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, June 3).
China yesterday said the United Nations should avoid pursuing any measures that would harm the Gulf nation's populace, China Daily reported.
"The U.N. action should help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
"The vote on the draft proposal does not mean the door to diplomatic efforts is closed," Jiang said, noting that Beijing still stands by an international strategy of using both pressure and dialogue to seek alterations to Tehran's nuclear policies (Ma Liyao, China Daily, June 4).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said his nation would assert itself, even if it becomes subject to further U.N. penalties, AFP reported.
"We are standing in the face of enemies. To defend the rights of the nation, we will pull out any resolutions from the mouth" of the nation's antagonists, he said (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, June 4).
Meanwhile, former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week said he was "surprised" that Washington and its allies continued their pursuit of new Iran sanctions after the Middle Eastern nation reached a uranium exchange deal with Brazil and Turkey.
The deal calls for the Gulf nation to store 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey for one year; other countries would be expected within that period to provide nuclear material refined for use at a Tehran medical research reactor in exchange for the Iran-origin uranium.
The arrangement appeared similar to another proposal, formulated in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that was intended to defer the Middle Eastern state's ability to fuel a nuclear weapon long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability. Tehran ultimately rejected the IAEA proposal.
"I was frankly not surprised that the offer came through, I was surprised at the reaction that some countries would continue to say that they want to apply sanctions, because, the Iranian issue, if you remove over half of the material that Iran has to Turkey, that is clearly a confidence-building measure regarding concerns about Iran’s future intentions," ElBaradei told the Jornal do Brazil newspaper.
"The material that will remain in Iran is under IAEA safeguards and seals. There is absolutely no imminent threat that Iran is going to develop the bomb tomorrow from the material that they have in Iran," he added.
ElBaradei also expressed doubt that Israel would attempt military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
"I can’t read their intention but I hope they don’t because I think it would be madness to attack Iran right now. As I have said before and continue to say now, it could turn the Middle East into a ball of fire, it would not resolve the Iranian issue but it would be an incentive and invitation for Iran -- even if they are not working or developing the ambition to build a weapon -- to develop a nuclear weapon. It could delay an Iranian nuclear program for a year or two but definitely they would come back with a clear mission of developing a nuclear weapon," he said (Jornal do Brazil/Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, June 3).
Russia yesterday called for further discussion of the uranium exchange plan, the United News of India reported.
"We count on the fact that the countries involved in the project will have a chance in the foreseeable future to discuss all necessary practical aspects linked to the implementation of the fuel swap scheme with the Iranian side," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko said.
"In our opinion it is good to hold such a meeting under the IAEA aegis," he said (United News of India/New Kerala, June 3).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the three-nation agreement and other elements of the Iranian nuclear dispute by telephone, ITAR-Tass reported today.
"They exchanged views on the situation around the Iranian nuclear program in the context of the work in the U.N. Security Council on the draft resolution on Iran and prospects for the fulfillment of the fuel swap scheme for the Tehran research reactor," the Russian Foreign Ministry said today (ITAR-Tass, June 4).
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was set to travel today to Germany, where he is expected to address the nuclear standoff and other nuclear weapons issues in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, RIA Novosti reported (RIA Novosti, June 4).
Source: http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100604_6379.php
Global Security Newswire
Iran yesterday challenged the International Atomic Energy Agency's assertion in a report issued this week that a Tehran laboratory in recent months housed sensitive equipment that could aid in separating weapon-usable nuclear material, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 3).
Experiments conducted at the Jabr Ibn Jayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory were aimed at producing uranium metal from spent nuclear fuel to serve as radiation shielding, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi said, adding without providing details that his country possessed a large quantity of depleted uranium. The U.N. nuclear watchdog's statement that the facility had carried out pyroprocessing work was a "misinterpretation," he said.
"The experiments have no relation to pyroprocessing," state media quoted Salehi as saying. "We believe the agency used this false report about a process that has not yet taken place, with the purpose of influencing public opinion."
The U.N. agency's international standing could be undermined by such "mistakes," the official added. The United States and several European powers suspect that Iran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development; Tehran has consistently denied the assertion.
The Middle Eastern state informed the agency in January that it had pursued pyroprocessing efforts. When the Vienna-based organization sought details, Tehran reversed its declaration and indicated it had never carried out such work. During a visit to the Tehran laboratory in May, U.N. inspectors learned "that the electrochemical cell had been removed" from the facility, the IAEA safeguards report states.
The Iranian official said his country had not transferred any equipment from the site and the agency's assertion was "not correct," AP reported. Iran would provide proof to refute the assertion, Salehi said, failing to state when it would offer the evidence (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press/Google News, June 3).
The Obama administration yesterday said the U.N. Security Council was likely to adopt a fourth sanctions resolution against Iran next week, despite speculation that the measure could be held up over Israel's violent seizure of a Turkish-registered ship transferring aid to the Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We've seen sanctions introduced in the U.N. Security Council that we believe will be voted on next week and approved by the U.N. Security Council," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Washington was working to win adoption of the resolution without support from Brazil or Turkey, two nonpermanent members of the body, high-level U.S. officials said last week. Security Council actions require support from at least nine of the group's 15 member nations, and no veto by any of its permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, June 3).
China yesterday said the United Nations should avoid pursuing any measures that would harm the Gulf nation's populace, China Daily reported.
"The U.N. action should help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
"The vote on the draft proposal does not mean the door to diplomatic efforts is closed," Jiang said, noting that Beijing still stands by an international strategy of using both pressure and dialogue to seek alterations to Tehran's nuclear policies (Ma Liyao, China Daily, June 4).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said his nation would assert itself, even if it becomes subject to further U.N. penalties, AFP reported.
"We are standing in the face of enemies. To defend the rights of the nation, we will pull out any resolutions from the mouth" of the nation's antagonists, he said (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, June 4).
Meanwhile, former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week said he was "surprised" that Washington and its allies continued their pursuit of new Iran sanctions after the Middle Eastern nation reached a uranium exchange deal with Brazil and Turkey.
The deal calls for the Gulf nation to store 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey for one year; other countries would be expected within that period to provide nuclear material refined for use at a Tehran medical research reactor in exchange for the Iran-origin uranium.
The arrangement appeared similar to another proposal, formulated in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that was intended to defer the Middle Eastern state's ability to fuel a nuclear weapon long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability. Tehran ultimately rejected the IAEA proposal.
"I was frankly not surprised that the offer came through, I was surprised at the reaction that some countries would continue to say that they want to apply sanctions, because, the Iranian issue, if you remove over half of the material that Iran has to Turkey, that is clearly a confidence-building measure regarding concerns about Iran’s future intentions," ElBaradei told the Jornal do Brazil newspaper.
"The material that will remain in Iran is under IAEA safeguards and seals. There is absolutely no imminent threat that Iran is going to develop the bomb tomorrow from the material that they have in Iran," he added.
ElBaradei also expressed doubt that Israel would attempt military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
"I can’t read their intention but I hope they don’t because I think it would be madness to attack Iran right now. As I have said before and continue to say now, it could turn the Middle East into a ball of fire, it would not resolve the Iranian issue but it would be an incentive and invitation for Iran -- even if they are not working or developing the ambition to build a weapon -- to develop a nuclear weapon. It could delay an Iranian nuclear program for a year or two but definitely they would come back with a clear mission of developing a nuclear weapon," he said (Jornal do Brazil/Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, June 3).
Russia yesterday called for further discussion of the uranium exchange plan, the United News of India reported.
"We count on the fact that the countries involved in the project will have a chance in the foreseeable future to discuss all necessary practical aspects linked to the implementation of the fuel swap scheme with the Iranian side," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko said.
"In our opinion it is good to hold such a meeting under the IAEA aegis," he said (United News of India/New Kerala, June 3).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the three-nation agreement and other elements of the Iranian nuclear dispute by telephone, ITAR-Tass reported today.
"They exchanged views on the situation around the Iranian nuclear program in the context of the work in the U.N. Security Council on the draft resolution on Iran and prospects for the fulfillment of the fuel swap scheme for the Tehran research reactor," the Russian Foreign Ministry said today (ITAR-Tass, June 4).
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was set to travel today to Germany, where he is expected to address the nuclear standoff and other nuclear weapons issues in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, RIA Novosti reported (RIA Novosti, June 4).
Source: http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100604_6379.php
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