Pakistan to build nuclear plant with China's help

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Pakistan to build nuclear plant with China's help

German minister questions N-plant smokescreen plan

Iran Defies Pressure, Resumes Tests of Nuclear Plant

Nuclear powers unenthusiastic for disarmament: NPT forum head

Work at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Goes Slowly

---------------------------



Pakistan to build nuclear plant with China's help



ISLAMABAD, July 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan has formally approved 

proposals to build a new nuclear power plant with help from longtime 

ally China, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday.



Aziz, who is expected to become prime minister next month, told state-

run television the new nuclear plant would cost 51 billion rupees 

($874 million).



The 300 megawatt plant will be built at Chashma on the banks of the 

Indus river, around 280 km (170 miles) south of Islamabad, alongside 

the first plant that China helped build in 1999.



An official statement said the project also envisaged the transfer of 

technology from China to enable the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission 

(PAEC) to run the plant itself.



The project includes a nuclear steam supply system, a turbine 

generator and related equipment.



The statement said the project will be completed in seven years but 

did not say when it will be started.



PAEC and China's National Nuclear Corporation signed the deal on the 

construction of a new nuclear power plant in May.



Pakistan says its new nuclear plant is for peaceful use only.



The country was at the centre of a nuclear proliferation scandal this 

year after its top nuclear scientist was found to have been involved 

in an illicit trade in nuclear parts.



Pakistan built its first nuclear power station in 1972 in the port 

city of Karachi with Canadian help.



But Western countries, under pressure from the United States, later 

halted nuclear cooperation with Pakistan amid suspicions Islamabad 

was secretly developing nuclear weapons.



Undeterred, Pakistan ran five nuclear tests in May 1998 in a tit-for-

tat response to tests by India.

----------------



German minister questions N-plant smokescreen plan



BERLIN, July 28 (Reuters) - A system to protect German nuclear power 

stations from terrorist attacks by surrounding them in a smokescreen 

won't be effective enough, Environment Minister Juergen Trittin was 

quoted as saying on Wednesday.



German energy firms E.ON , RWE , EnBW and Vattenfall Europe have 

asked utilities and arms firm Rheinmetall to supply and build a 

defence system to counter attacks that use passenger aircraft.



Trittin told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper the plan would 

help reduce the likelihood of a disaster but more needed to be done.



"The smokescreen plan, in its current form, is not sufficient to 

significantly improve the protection of nuclear power plants," he 

said. "We have therefore asked state authorities to come up with 

improvements."



Countries with nuclear plants worldwide have been investigating how 

to protect their reactors from attacks after militants flew planes 

into buildings in New York and Washington DC in September 2001.



Some countries have considered installing anti-aircraft missiles at 

power plants. Rheinmetall will equip Germany's 18 active nuclear 

reactors with smoke machines.



At the touch of a button, the reactors will be enveloped in smoke 

within seconds, depriving pilots of visibility. The system, which has 

been tested successfully, could be in operation by the end of 2005.



Power companies have declined to give any more details on the system, 

however, for fear of diminishing its effectiveness.



Approval from local authorities in the relevant German states must 

still be obtained. The companies expect to obtain the go-ahead as 

early as this year.

---------------



Iran Defies Pressure, Resumes Tests of Nuclear Plant



VIENNA (July 29) - Iran has defied international pressure and resumed 

testing a facility for converting uranium, a key part of the process 

of enriching the element for use as fuel or in a nuclear bomb, 

diplomats said on Thursday.



The European Union's "big three" -- France, Britain and Germany -- 

strongly criticized Iran when it tested the site in March, saying it 

sent the wrong signal and would make it harder for Tehran to regain 

international confidence.



The EU three were due to meet Iranian officials in Paris on Thursday 

to discuss Tehran's nuclear program.



The United States says Iran is stringing the international community 

along with talks over its nuclear program while buying time to make 

an atomic bomb. Iran denies the charge, saying it is only interested 

in generating electricity.



While Iran said in April it intended to run the tests at its uranium 

conversion facility near the central city of Isfahan, the move snubs 

a request by the U.N. nuclear watchdog for it not to test the site.



The testing would produce a small amount of uranium hexafluoride, the 

gas which is pumped into centrifuges to obtain enriched uranium, one 

western diplomat said.



"They are testing the equipment. As a by-product, some UF6 (uranium 

hexafluoride) is produced," he said.



The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog 

declined to comment.



Iran promised the EU three in October it would suspend all activities 

related to uranium enrichment. But Iran says it still has the right 

to produce uranium hexafluoride and build centrifuges. The IAEA says 

the suspension was meant to apply to both.



After Iran told the IAEA in April it intended to conduct the tests, 

the IAEA governing board passed a resolution in June that "calls on 

Iran ... voluntarily to reconsider its decision."

----------------



Nuclear powers unenthusiastic for disarmament: NPT forum head



SAPPORO, July 29 (Kyodo) - Nations possessing nuclear weapons are not 

enthusiastic about nuclear disarmament, the designated chairman of a 

conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty said in a 

recent interview in expressing concern at their stance ahead of the 

meeting.



On the slow progress in elimination of nuclear weapons, Brazilian 

Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, who will chair the 2005 NPT 

Review Conference, said the biggest obstacle is a lack of will on the 

part of nuclear powers regarding abolition.



In the interview with Kyodo News in Sapporo where Duarte attended a 

four-day U.N. disarmament conference that ended Thursday, he said 

there has been no sign of achieving elimination of nuclear weapons 

nearly 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 

and the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.



At the previous review conference in 2000, the nuclear powers clearly 

committed themselves to the elimination of nuclear weapons.



But nuclear and nonnuclear nations were in conflict at a preparatory 

meeting in May for the 2005 NPT conference, as the nuclear powers 

rejected a call by nonnuclear nations to come up with specific steps 

on the abolition of nuclear arms.



The participants in the preparatory meeting failed to set an agenda 

for the 2005 meeting.



Duarte said he will consult with officials of the participating 

countries to try to reach a consensus on the agenda, while expressing 

hope that Japan will play a constructive role at the conference.



The conference to review the operation of the NPT, which is aimed at 

preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and achieving nuclear 

disarmament, is held every five years.

------------------



Work at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Goes Slowly



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Some routine administrative tasks are now 

getting done at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, but all research 

is still on hold while managers figure out how to get a handle on 

security.



The process of getting the lab running again after an already two-

week shutdown is proving so complicated that it has taken on a life 

of its own. A project manager and staff have been assigned to do 

nothing but keep track of what lab activities must be reviewed and 

restarted and when, spokesman Kevin Roark said.



Officials at the University of California, which manages the lab, 

halted all classified work July 15 after two computer disks 

containing classified information were discovered missing. A day 

later, lab Director Pete Nanos stopped nearly all work.



Calling it an opportunity for employees to reflect on their 

responsibilities and blasting some for not following security rules, 

Nanos said the lab would review every department's activities and 

recommend restart only when all compliance issues were addressed.



Starting late last week, Roark said the lab resumed some of the 

lowest-risk activities - namely administrative office work. The chief 

financial officer division was back doing business Wednesday.



"There are a certain number of activities that have been stood up as 

of today," Roark said Wednesday.



"We don't have a firm handle on the exact numbers because it's 

constantly changing," he said.



On Tuesday, lab spokesman Jim Fallin estimated 10 percent to 20 

percent of the lab's low-risk, essential activities, such as 

procurement and supply, were ready to resume but hadn't.



Roark said those statements were based on the best information 

available at the time, adding lab officials are doing their best to 

keep the lab work force and the public well informed while mapping 

out the detail-laden process internally.



Members of Congress are watching carefully as the lab works to shore 

up security measures, Texas Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House 

Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday. He was among 

congressional and Energy Department officials who visited the lab 

last week.



"The Congress is not going to tolerate the lack of security of 

classified material at Los Alamos any longer," Barton said.



------------------------------------

Sandy Perle

Senior Vice President, Technical Operations

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.

3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sperle@dosimetry.com

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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