tagged w/ IAEA
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The USS John C Stennis is reportedly heading into the Persian Gulf in response to Iranian war games held earlier this month, 12/29/11. (photo: US Navy)
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
29 December 11
ith the typical backdrop of alarmist propaganda in place, the stage is now set for a new war, this time with Iran. The slightest miscalculation (or provocation) by the United States, Israel or Iran could touch off a violent scenario that will have devastating consequences.
Indeed, even if they want to, the various sides might have trouble backing down enough to defuse today’s explosive situation. After all, the Iranians continue to insist they have no intention of building a nuclear bomb, as much as Israeli and American officials insist that they are.
So, this prospective war with Iran – like the one in Iraq – is likely to come down to intelligence assessments on Iran’s intentions and capabilities. And, as with Iraq’s alleged WMD, the many loud voices claiming that Iran is on pace to build a nuclear bomb are drowning out the relatively few skeptics who think the evidence is thin to invisible.
For instance, the recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s supposed progress toward a nuclear bomb was widely accepted as gospel truth without any discussion of whether the IAEA is an unbiased and reliable source.
In framing the story in support of the IAEA, the major U.S. newspapers and TV networks ignored documentary evidence that the IAEA’s new director-general was installed with the support of the United States and that he privately indicated to U.S. and Israeli officials that he would help advance their goals regarding Iran.
These facts could be found easily enough in WikiLeaks cables that the U.S. news media has had access to since 2010. Yet, the Big Media has ignored this side of the story, even as the IAEA report has been touted again and again as virtually a smoking gun against Iran.
This pattern of ignoring – or downplaying – evidence that runs counter to the prevailing narrative was a notable feature during the run-up to war with Iraq. It is now being repeated not just by the right-wing news media, but by the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC and other centrist-to-left-leaning outlets.
(click on the link for the full article)The USS John C Stennis is reportedly heading into the Persian Gulf in response to... more
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No sane person, especially someone who has had access to the elementary knowledge acquired in primary school, would agree that our species, especially those who are children, teenagers or youth, should be deprived of the right to live, today, tomorrow and forever. Never have human beings, throughout their eventful history, as persons endowed with intelligence, ever heard of an experience like that. I feel the duty to convey to those taking the trouble to read these Reflections the opinion that all of us, with no exception, are obliged to create awareness about the risks that humankind are running in an inexorable manner, towards a final and total catastrophe as the consequence of irresponsible decisions made by politicians who fate, rather than talent or merit, has placed the destiny of humankind in their hands. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-table/43040-genocidal-cynicism-by-fidel-castro-ruzNo sane person, especially someone who has had access to the elementary knowledge... more
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worrg
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The spiritual chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cautioned the U.S. and Israel not to invasion Iranian nuclear features, saying that in this situation that Tehran would reply "with an metal fists.The spiritual chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cautioned the U.S. and Israel not... more
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So let me get this straight. The US gives Israel $3 billion per year for no apparent reason, plus free weapons, loan guarantees and God knows what else, totalling to about $30 billion per year, and in return, we get sent their nuclear waste. OK.
The Dimona reactor is where Israel's undeclared, nuclear weapons of mass distruction are stored. Dimona has not been inspected by the IAEA.
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Israel has returned hundred of kilograms of nuclear waste from its nuclear reactor in Nahal Sorek to the U.S., the head of Israel's Nuclear Energy Commission Dr Shaul Horev revealed on Monday.
Speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ministerial conference on nuclear safety in Vienna, Horev did not specify the exact amount of waste that had been returned, but according to estimates, Israel has sent back at least hundreds of kilograms' of 93% enriched uranium, which was used to power the Sorek reactor.
The operation took place after Israel's Nuclear Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy signed an agreement for the return of the nuclear waste over a year and a half ago. After the agreement was signed, an American ship collected nuclear waste from both Israel and Turkey.
The Sorek research reactor is a small five megawatt facility that was donated to Israel by the U.S. within the framework of former president David Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program. Israel also received 93% enriched uranium to fuel the reactor. The reactor has remained under IAEA supervision for years.So let me get this straight. The US gives Israel $3 billion per year for no apparent... more
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Japan to open airlock at crippled nuclear plant
CNN...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/06/19/japan.nuclear/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
New cleanup measure halted at plant
Japan still on high radiation alert
Japan green tea crisis
Japan's radiation twice as bad
TEPCO admits to more possible meltdowns
PHOTO: Workers enter the No. 2 reactor at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclar power plant in Japan in May.
Japan to open airlock at crippled nuclear plant
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 19, 2011 11:12 p.m. EDT
Tokyo (CNN) -- Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been cleared to open the No. 2 reactor building's airlock to ease sauna-like conditions inside, the plant's owner said Sunday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it planned to open the heavy double doors slowly overnight, taking about eight hours to complete the process to avoid disturbing contaminated dust inside the containment building. The company has been trying to filter radioactive particles out of the air inside the building for several days, and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency approved Friday plans to open the airlock, Tokyo Electric announced.
The reactor is one of three at Fukushima Daiichi that suffered meltdowns after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan. The tsunami swamped the plant and knocked out cooling systems that kept the three operating reactors from overheating, leading to the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Japanese authorities used robot probes to peer into the reactor housings in April, finding temperatures up to 41 degrees Celsius (106 F) and humidity ranging from 94% to 99% inside unit 2. Engineers have long suspected that the reactor was leaking a large percentage of the hundreds of
But radiation levels inside were far lower than those recorded at units 1 and 3, holding open the possibility that workers could get inside and try to repair some of the damage if the humidity and temperature could be controlled.
Japan's nuclear safety agency has estimated that tens of thousands of tons of contaminated water has leaked out of the three reactors since the disaster, collecting in the turbine plant and utility tunnels around the reactors since March 11. Decontaminating and storing that water is a key step in Tokyo Electric's plans to wind down the ongoing crisis by January -- but those plans suffered a setback over the weekend, when a newly installed treatment system registered higher-than-expected radiation levels.
The latest developments come as the International Atomic Energy Agency prepares to open a four-day conference on nuclear safety and the Fukushima accident in Vienna, Austria, on Monday. The conference is aimed at drawing lessons from the Fukushima disaster, the agency says.
Though no deaths have been attributed to the accident, the resulting contamination has forced authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people from towns surrounding the plant. In addition, restrictions on various agricultural and fisheries products have devastated Japanese farmers and fishers since the crisis began.
In a June 7 report to the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the Japanese government described a chaotic situation in the hours following the quake, as the company and the government struggled to respond to the disaster.Japan to open airlock at crippled nuclear plant
CNN...... more
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Los Angeles Times...
Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster
In its report, Japan says, it needs to revise its nuclear safety preparedness and response in light of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis. It also says the damage and radiation leak were worse than previously thought.
associated press
June 8, 2011
tokyo —
— Japan acknowledged Tuesday that it was unprepared for a severe nuclear accident like the tsunami-generated Fukushima disaster and said damage to the reactors and radiation leakage were worse than it previously thought.
In a report being submitted to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the government also acknowledged reactor design inadequacies and a need for greater independence for the country's nuclear regulators.
The report says the nuclear fuel in three reactors probably melted through the inner containment vessels, not just the core, after the March 11 earthquake, and the tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's power and cooling systems. Fuel in the Unit 1 reactor started melting hours earlier than previously estimated.
The 750-page report, compiled by Japan's nuclear emergency task force, factors in a preliminary evaluation by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency and was to be submitted to the IAEA as requested.
"In light of the lessons learned from the accident, Japan has recognized that a fundamental revision of its nuclear safety preparedness and response is inevitable," the report says. It also recommends a national debate on nuclear power.
The report says the "inadequate" basic reactor design — the Mark-1 model developed by General Electric — included the venting system for the containment vessels and the location of spent fuel cooling pools high in the buildings, which resulted in leaks of radioactive water that hampered repair work.
GE declined to comment on the specific conclusions of the report.
Hundreds of plant workers are scrambling to bring the crippled reactors to a "cold shutdown" by early next year and end the crisis. The accident has forced more than 80,000 residents to evacuate from neighborhoods around the plant.Los Angeles Times...
Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster... more
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The New York Times...
Higher Radiation Levels Found at Japanese Reactor
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Family members of the earthquake and tsunami victims at a mass funeral of their relatives on Saturday in Kesennuma, Japan.
By DAVID JOLLY and HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: March 27, 2011
TOKYO — Japanese officials continued to battle a spreading contamination problem at the Fukushima nuclear complex on Sunday, saying that water pooling inside one of its reactors and the seawater just outside the plant were showing sharply increased levels of radiation.
Status of the Nuclear Reactors
A daily tracker of the damage at the two imperiled nuclear plants.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Tsunami victims in Kesennuma, Japan, dug through debris. The United Nations nuclear chief said Saturday that the country was far from the end of the nuclear crisis.
The developments came after the world’s chief nuclear inspector said that Japan was “still far from the end of the accident” that struck the plant, which continues to spew radiation into the atmosphere and the sea. Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, acknowledged that the authorities were still unsure about whether the reactor cores and spent fuel were covered with the water needed to cool them and end the crisis.
Mr. Amano, taking care to say that he was not criticizing Japan’s response under extraordinary circumstances, said, “More efforts should be done to put an end to the accident.”
More than two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, he cautioned that the nuclear emergency could still go on for weeks, if not months, given the enormous damage to the plant.
His concerns were underscored on Sunday when officials in Japan announced higher levels of radiation in pools of water at the facility’s stricken reactors.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that water seeping out of the crippled No. 2 reactor building into the adjacent turbine building contained levels of radioactive iodine 134 that were about 10 million times the level normally found in water used inside nuclear power plants.
The higher levels may suggest a leak from the reactor’s fuel rods — from either the suppression chamber under the rods or various piping — or even a breach in the pressure vessel that houses the rods, the Japanese nuclear regulator said.
Tetsuo Iguchi, a professor in the department of quantum engineering at Nagoya University, said that at that level of radiation, workers would be able to remain on site for only about 15 minutes before health considerations required them to leave, further complicating work.
“First, Tokyo Electric has to figure out where the leak is coming from,” he said, “then they’ve got to isolate the water somehow. It’s a difficult task.”
Tests also found increased levels of radioactive cesium, a substance with a longer half-life, the Japanese safety agency said.
“Because these substances originate from nuclear fission, there is a high possibility they originate from the reactor,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, the agency’s deputy director-general, at a news conference. He said that it was likely that radiation was leaking from the pipes or the suppression chamber, and not directly from the pressure vessel, because water levels and pressure in the vessel were relatively stable.
Mr. Nishiyama also said that radioactive iodine in seawater just outside the plant had risen to 1,850 times the usual level on Sunday, up from 1,250 on Saturday.
“Radiation levels are increasing and measures need to be taken,” he said, but added that he did not think there was need to worry about high levels of radiation immediately escaping the plant.
Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, said he did not think the pressure vessel, which cases the fuel rods, was broken at the No. 2 reactor. He said pressure levels inside the reactor remained higher than atmospheric pressure, suggesting that there was no breach.
“I don’t think the container is breached, but there is a possibility the water is coming from somewhere inside the reactor,” he said. “We want to find out as quickly as possible where the highly radioactive water is leaking from, and take measures to deal with it,” Mr. Edano said on a live interview on the public broadcaster, NHK, early Sunday.
Naoto Sekimura, a professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo, told NHK on Sunday that information suggested that the No. 2 unit at Fukushima was leaking significantly more radiation that the No. 1 unit or the No. 3 unit.
“The No. 2 unit’s suppression pool, which connects to the containment building, is damaged, so its ability to contain radiation has been compromised,” Mr. Sekimura said. “They’ve got to find the source of the leak.”
Separately, the I.A.E.A., citing data from the Japanese authorities, reported that two of three workers who were exposed to radioactive water on Saturday suffered “significant skin contamination over their legs.”
“The Japanese authorities have stated that during medical examinations carried out at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in the Chiba Prefecture, the level of local exposure to the workers’ legs was estimated to be between 2 and 6 sieverts,” the I.A.E.A. said on its Web site.
“While the patients did not require medical treatment, doctors decided to keep them in hospital and monitor their progress over coming days.”
The elevated levels of radiation at and around the Fukushima plant will require careful monitoring of seafood in Japan, said Kimberlee J. Kearfott, a professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan.
“It is extremely important that seafood be carefully monitored,” she said in an e-mail. “This is because many of the radionuclides are concentrated in the environment,” she added. “For example, iodines are concentrated in kelp (a Japanese food, seaweed) and shrimp.
“Iodines, cesium and strontium are concentrated in other types of seafood,” she continued. “Fish can act like tea or coffee presses. When you push down the plungers, the grounds all end up on one side. In this case, that is the fish.”
She said an example of this phenomenon occurred after the Chernobyl disaster, when specific radionuclides were concentrated far away in Norwegian lichens. Reindeer ate the lichens, concentrating it again, a danger to the native peoples whose diet includes a large amount of reindeer meat.
William J. Broad reported from New York, and David Jolly from Tokyo. Reporting was contributed by David E. Sanger from Palo Alto, Calif., Hiroko Tabuchi and Chika Ohshima from Tokyo, and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong.
CLICK ON LINK ABOVE FOR MORE PHOTOS
http://singlemindedwomen.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/japan-nuclear-meltdown-430x297.jpgThe New York Times...
Higher Radiation Levels Found at Japanese Reactor
Carlos... more
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Data collected by an IAEA team show that radiation levels of 161 microsievert per hour have been detected in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, the officials said, according to a report posted by House of Japan.
Tests carried out by IAEA technicians in numerous locations around the plant revealed radiation levels ranging between 2 and 160 microsievert per hour, while the normal level for the area should not exceed 0.1 microsievert per hour, the Russian newsite RIA Novosti reports.
A CBS affiliate in Wisconsin also reported on the high radiation levels that will ultimately be dispersed around the world and will undoubtedly result in unprecedented health problems and premature death from cancer. Most of the corporate media, however, did not bother to report the story.
Reuters reported that there was 500 microsieverts of radiation per hour on March 18 at the site but does not explain what this means. It did not mention the 1,600 number.
Earlier in the week, nuclear energy critic and author Hirose Takashi wrote about the media effort to obfuscate the truth about Fukushima:
Around Fukushima Daiichi Station they measured 400 millisieverts – that’s per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to health, but he didn’t explain what this means. All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this?
The corporate media as the complaisant handmaiden of the elite are obliged to cover up the truth. In the end, all of us – especially our children – will pay for it.
http://www.infowars.com/corporate-media-ignores-astronomical-fukushima-radiation-levels/Data collected by an IAEA team show that radiation levels of 161 microsievert per hour... more
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Nuclear Energy Institute Japan: US is expecting that the present disaster will not affect the nuclear project in Tokyo Japan at four reactors.Japanese officials are trying to prevent a nuclear meltdown at four nuclear reactors at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. Friday’s tsunami washed away back-up diesel generators needed to keep water pumping into the reactors to keep them cool. Seawater is being pumped into the reactors using fire hoses.Nuclear Energy Institute Japan: US is expecting that the present disaster will not... more
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The Tehran government confirmed on Tuesday that it has invited world powers and its allies in the Arab and developing world to tour Iranian nuclear sites before a high-profile meeting late January on its disputed nuclear program....
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/International/75521The Tehran government confirmed on Tuesday that it has invited world powers and its... more
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- CNN Breaking News...
Report: Iran now nuclear self-sufficient
Report: Iran now able to process its own raw uranium
December 5th, 2010
04:56 AM ET
Iran now produces everything it needs for the nuclear fuel cycle, making its nuclear program self-sufficient, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization told state media Sunday.
The Islamic republic has begun producing yellowcake, Ali Akbar Salehi told Press TV.
Yellowcake is an intermediate stage in producing uranium ores, Press TV said.
The United States and its allies fear that Iran is trying to produce a nuclear bomb, but Iran has denied the allegations.- CNN Breaking News...
Report: Iran now nuclear self-sufficient
Report: Iran now... more
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(AP) The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved an IAEA-run repository for nuclear fuel on Friday, with Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, providing the $50 million (38 million euro) seed money to start up the facility, in a move meant to limit proliferation by reducing the incentive for starting domestic uranium enrichment programs.
The new fuel bank, and one run by Russia that recently went into operation, are meant to strengthen the rationale for nations to seek fuel from outside sources instead of producing it domestically for civilian nuclear reactors. Kazakhstan is the most likely candidate, but the location of the new facility has not yet been formally decided.
Because enrichment can also make fissile warhead material, the fuel banks are considered a way to reduce possible nuclear weapons proliferation by providing guaranteed supply should normal outside sources dry up.
Iran is under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to scrap its enrichment activities.
Nations have a right to enrich domestically and Iran insists it is doing so only to make fuel for an envisaged network of reactors. But international concerns are strong because Tehran developed its enrichment program clandestinely and because it refuses to cooperate with an IAEA probe meant to follow up on suspicions that it experimented with components of a nuclear weapons program - something Iran denies.
Both facilities are meant to ensure a reliable supply of nuclear fuel in case commercial deliveries are interrupted and both were approved by the IAEA board. But because the repository approved Friday will be IAEA run, it is meant to provide additional assurances of impartiality to nations worried about access to nuclear fuel in case they are denied commercial supplies for political reasons.
Glyn Davies, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, described approval as "an important step that will protect the rights of all states to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy (while) ... moving the world toward a world without nuclear weapons."
Still, while 28 nations voted for establishment of the facility, six of those present abstained. That reflected some concerns among developing nations that such fuel banks could impinge on nations' rights to fully develop civilian nuclear programs.
And Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the chief delegate to the IAEA of non-board member Iran, called the still to be stocked and operated facility "a new problem, creating obstacles and political tensions among member states."
That was an allusion to Tehran's exclusion because of doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
A copy of the restricted fuel bank document obtained by the AP says that "the rights of Member States, including establishing or expanding their own production capacity in the nuclear fuel cycle, shall remain intact and shall not in any way be compromised or diminished by the establishment of international assurance of supply mechanisms."
Abstaining were Venezuela, Tunisia, South Africa, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. Pakistan, meanwhile formally announced it would not take part in the voting.
Like rival India, nuclear-armed Pakistan has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but unlike New Delhi it has no access to foreign nuclear technology - a status that in part appeared to dictate its decision not to vote.
The U.S.-based Nuclear Threat Initiative and investor Buffett welcomed Friday's vote on the plan, sponsored by Washington and co-sponsored by 13 other nations.
An NTI statement described it as a "breakthrough in global cooperation to enable peaceful uses of nuclear energy while reducing the risks of proliferation." Buffett called it "an investment in a safer world."(AP) The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved an... more
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The International Atomic Energy Agency "said on Thursday its top inspector Olli Heinonen, head of investigations into Iran and Syria, has resigned for personal reasons after nearly 30 years at the Vienna-based organization," reports Reuters.
Heinonen, 63, is head of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) safeguards department which verifies that countries' nuclear programs are not being diverted for military use. [He] is probably best known for giving a presentation to diplomats on Iran in 2008 which indicated links between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone . . . for a nuclear warhead.
As those in the disarmament community are well aware, the IAEA is wrought with a deep fissure. In autumn of last year, at Arms Control Wonk, Jeffrey Lewis quoted then-journalist Mark Hibbs, famed for busting the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling ring.
During preparations by the IAEA and the board for a routine board meeting held last month, sources close to the IAEA said that senior officials in two departments, responsible for verification and diplomacy, respectively, had strongly disagreed over whether data obtained by the IAEA concerning alleged nuclear weaponization activities by Iran is authentic. … Officials at . . . the diplomatic arm [known as Expo] of the agency, have raised concerns that evidence may be faked, as Iran has charged. … In recent years the two departments [Expo and verification, the latter headed by Heinonen -- RW] have differed about how to handle sensitive allegations that member states [such as Iran have been guilty of] safeguards violations. …
Since 2003, when the IAEA determined that evidence brought forth by the US suggesting Iraq had resumed nuclear weapons work was fabricated, officials at Expo and [former Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei's office] have been wary that the US has tried to manipulate the IAEA during its investigation of Iran, according to officials from IAEA states.
In other words, Ollie Heinonen was an Iran hard-liner. Whereas Expo and ElBaradei, concerned the West was using Iran's dodginess about a nuclear weapons program as a pretext for an attack, might have given Iran the benefit of the doubt. (That's also the source of charges that ElBaradei exceeded the scope of his title.)
No word yet on whether the fissure spurred Heinonen to resign or whether he just wanted to play golf (ElBaradei's passion, actually). Reuters also reports: "Diplomats said new IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano . . . had said in private there would be changes in the agency's top staff."
It's possible that Amano didn't want Heinonen leaning on him to lean on Iran. On the other hand, he may have valued Heinonen's fervor about bringing Iran to task and just sought to replace him with an individual with whom he felt more comfortable. Reuters again: "The IAEA said his position should be filled soon. One of [Heinonen's] deputies is Herman Nackaerts who oversees Iran inspections and holds the position Heinonen had before he was promoted."
The larger question is whether Amano sees himself and the IAEA as the roadblock of last resort to Western aggression against Iran.
http://www.fpif.org/blogThe International Atomic Energy Agency "said on Thursday its top inspector Olli... more
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Story from Yahoo! News.
Tehran has announced that two UN nuclear inspectors will not be allowed to enter the country because they had leaked "false information" about Iran's nuclear activity.
The information in question comes from a January report announcing Iranian experiments to purify uranium, which could be used to eventually produce a nuclear warhead. Iran denied these allegations a few months later.
Regardless, the event is another speed bump in the tussle between Iran's nuclear programs and the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Tehran holds that the two inspectors who leaked the information will not be allowed to enter, although it will cooperate with it's international commitments to the agency including the permission of IAEA inspection.
The incident follows a forth set of UN sanctions deployed earlier this month after Iran's refusal to cease uranium enrichment, a program that can be used for both power plant fuel and nuclear warhead production if enrichment is performed to a higher level.Story from Yahoo! News.
Tehran has announced that two UN nuclear inspectors will... more
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Like most good Americans, I spent the last four days stuffing myself to the brim with foodstuffs and then laying about sofas in front of dimly-pulsing televisions making lazy, slow-tempo jokes. And if you did the same then you might not have had time to keep up on your news, so here's three stories from around the world you might not have caught.
It wasn't Thanksgiving in Europe and the Swiss went ahead and held elections on Sunday. In what's being interpreted as a symbol of anti-Muslim backlash, over 57% of the voters said yes to a constitutional ban on minarets atop mosques. Swiss approve ban on mosque minaret construction posted by: kyleanderson
A Senate Report released over the weekend claimed that Osama bin Laden was "within reach" of American troops in Tora Bora in 2001. Unfortunately, then Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ignored calls for reinforcements and bin Laden slipped away into Pakistan, where he's believed to still be today. The report comes as President Obama is preparing to give a speech (Tuesday) outlining his plans for Afghanistan. Senate report: Rumsfeld decision let Bin Laden escape posted by: bansheewail.
Iran, in defiance of censure by the UN, announced that its cabinet had approved the construction of 10 new nuclear enrichment facilities. Yeah, 10. Why build a couple more when you can go for double digits? Iran approves plans for 10 new uranium enrichment plants in defiance of UN censure - posted by: ras_menelik.
What else is going on out there? Anything else a big story from this weekend you think people missed? Post it on Current News.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Hasn't this just been a whole year of Black Friday? - Real Recovery
- The recession visualized - Real Recovery
- California's education crisis - Join the group on Current
- Update to Philippines story: 46 dead
- Who killed 30 people in the Philippines?Like most good Americans, I spent the last four days stuffing myself to the brim with... more
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Just hours after Iranian President Ahmadinejad agreed to accept an IAEA deal to enrich uranium out of the country, they suddenly backed out. The plan had been to take Iran's nuclear stockpile and send it to Russia to be enriched. It's disappointing for those concerned about Iran's plans for its enriching uranium - though I don't think it's particularly surprising.
I was thinking about how long Iran has been playing this game, and it brought to mind this Supernews gem: Iran: Deal or No Deal?
Iran: Deal or No Deal? (Video)
That piece was produced in 2006. Over three years ago. It's kind of disheartening to see what looks like the same game playing out, but with a few different players. No more Bush or Condoleeza Rice, and Putin is now the Prime Minister of Russia, not the President. But it's hard not to watch this and see Iran doing the same things today. Is there another card up the Obama Administration's negotiating sleeve? Let's hope so.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Honduras deal reached - Zelaya to return to power?
- The economy grows again - Champagne time yet?
- The Tamil Tigers and innovations in IEDs
- The UN Cuba vote and Sean Penn's scoop
- 86 dead in Pakistan attack; Views from PeshawarJust hours after Iranian President Ahmadinejad agreed to accept an IAEA deal to enrich... more
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According to the Iranian government they did. Iran claims that Shahram Amiri disappeared while he was on a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in May, and that the US was involved.
From the Guardian:
Iranian media said he was an expert on radioactive isotopes for medical uses at Malek Ashtar University, in Tehran. "We've obtained documents about the US involvement in Shahram Amiri's disappearance," Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. "We hold Saudi Arabia responsible for Shahram Amiri's situation and consider the US to be involved in his arrest."
(Also posted to current.com by user bansheewail.)
Crazy accusations from a regime known for its bending of the truth? Perhaps. But Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker wrote a controversial article last year disclosing the Bush Administrations secret plans to go to war with Iran, and also pointing out a rise in clandestine activities by the US in the Islamic Republic. Additionally, at a talk in Minnesota in March, Hersh went into a little more detail. While he made headlines with a claim that the Bush Administration had "an executive assassination ring", he also described secret US efforts to capture an Iranian nuclear scientist inside of Iran and use that person to make the case that Iran was secretly building a bomb. (Download the mp3 of the talk here.) So perhaps not such a crazy claim.
Vanguard also investigated whether or not the US was already at war with Iran in America's Secret War with Iran - in which Mariana van Zeller took to the rugged hills and mountains of northern Iraq to meet with the American-backed militia groups fighting Iran.
America's Secret War with Iran (Video)
Recently on Iran from the Current News Blog:
- Does Ahmadinejad have a Jewish past?
- Iran: It’s just the fact of the talking that’s important
- Student protests and the return of nuke inspectors – An Iran updateAccording to the Iranian government they did. Iran claims that Shahram Amiri... more
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When demonstrators took to the streets after Iran's disputed Presidential election, many of them were students. That's why, as Iran's universities opened back up to students this week, many expected widespread student demonstrations.
The NY Times Lede Blog links to this great first-person video walking along with protests at Tehran University.
The Lede Blog also links to an essay with a great look at the threat posed to the Iranian regime by students, specifically by their learning of humanities: "Why is the Islamic Republic Afraid of the Humanities?"
As for the other big Iran story: potential threats to the regime's reputation from abroad. As news from the US is that Obama is preparing to set up a new round of sanctions, Tehran announced today that it will allow inspectors from the IAEA to come in and take a look around the Qom facility revealed last week. What will they find? A facility for purely civilian use? More roadblocks? We'll see...
Recently on Iran
- More sanctions for Iran?
- Will Iran Ever Play Nice?When demonstrators took to the streets after Iran's disputed Presidential... more
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Today's big G-20 bombshell was not gassed protesters in the streets of Pittsburgh, it was Obama, flanked by British PM Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, informing the world that Iran has built a second secret nuclear site. Apparently Iran just told the IAEA about the site on Monday, which has been under construction near the holy city of Qom for years. Iran has since copped to it publicly.
Why now? Well my guess is it's posturing leading up to the impending P5+1 talks between Iran and Western powers due to happen next month. It's in Iran's interest for the IAEA to have a new headache to worry about, in case they want to capitulate a little without completely shutting down their nuclear program. And it's in Obama's interest to stand up at the G-20 and call Tehran out because he can increase the pressure on them going into the talks.
But what does that mean for the success of the talks? For a better dialogue between Iran and the West? I fear it's not a good sign. We're still about a month out and both sides are racheting up their rhetoric...imagine what it will be like when they sit down at a table. The script will already be written, and it won't be a romantic comedy.
Get a sense of what Iran's thinking:
- Ahmadinejad speaks at the UN
- Iranians on their country's nuclear ambitionsToday's big G-20 bombshell was not gassed protesters in the streets of... more
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