Nuclear Watch
Index of Past Editions

  

 
November 26, 1998
India may Test Again Because H-Bomb Failed, U.S. Believes
Senior U.S. nuclear intelligence analysts have concluded that one of India's May nuclear blasts was in fact a failure. The Indian government is now under intense internal pressure to test the H-bomb again, in the face of ongoing bilateral talks in which the U.S. seeks to persuade India to agree to a global nuclear test ban.
 
August 24, 1998
 
No One Will Confirm Times Report DPRK is Building a New Nuclear Site:
 
In the aftermath of a New York Times story in which unnamed sources alleged that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is building a plutonium separation plant or underground reactor on a fresh site, U.S. officials who routinely handle intelligence on clandestine nuclear programs said they were unable to get the report confirmed.
 
 
August 14, 1998
 
EU Officials Deny Deal on KEDO: Officials from the European Union (EU) said the EU has not agreed to share with the U.S. the outstanding costs of the project to build two nuclear reactors in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), despite press reports of a deal circulating in South Korea and Japan last week.
 
DPRK Reactor Delay Would Block ROK Reprocessing: A widely expected delay in construction of two reactors in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would likely prevent the Republic of Korea (ROK) from making a decision to reprocess its spent reactor fuel in France or Britain and then repatriate the separated plutonium to burn in South Korean reactors, according to Korean officials.
 
July 24, 1998

Kim Dae Jung Regime May Avoid Plutonium Use: Political and industry sources said this week that the new government of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung will likely look askance at previous plans to reprocess spent nuclear fuel from Korean reactors and then use the recovered plutonium as fuel.

U.S. Chose Not to Link Russo-Indian Reactor Deal to IMF Bailout: After some internal considerations, the U.S. government chose not to press the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to link its $11.2-billion bailout of the Russian Federation's treasury to a pledge by Russia not to provide soft loans to India for construction of two Russian VVER-type reactors.

Germans Crack Down on Illegal Pakistan Trade: In the wake of Pakistan's series of nuclear weapon tests, a German court sentenced a convicted violator of nuclear export laws to 3.5 years in jail, saying he should have known the equipment he exported to Pakistan since 1988 was destined for its nuclear weapons program.

July 17, 1998


U.S. Appears to be Losing Track of Pakistan's Nuclear Program: Two months after Pakistan followed India with tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests, U.S. government officials admit they are far less certain than before the blasts about the state of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development program.

U.S. Now Believes Pakistan to use Khushab Plutonium in Bomb Program: Less than a year after the White House told Pakistan its security interests would not be served by starting up an unsafeguarded plutonium production reactor at Khushab because Pakistan could not reprocess the spent fuel, U.S. executive branch officials now say they fear instead that Pakistan is operating that reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium and will separate the plutonium and use it in the country's ongoing nuclear weapons program.

July 10, 1998

Germany: Investigation Shows reactor mishap most serious in ten years: When inspectors walked through Germany's Unterweser nuclear plant on June 6 after it had shut down, they were shocked to find that workers had disconnected and disabled an entire key safety system, according to internal documents obtained by Nucleonics Week. In an emergency, they would not have been able to prevent a major radioactive leak and contamination inside the plant.

Canada: Campaign to end nuclear exports after South Asian tests: Non-governmental organizations (NGO) and opposition parties in Canada are now attacking the Canadian government's major nuclear reactor export campaign in the wake of Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons blasts.

June 26, 1998

Russia-India: West May Pressure IMF on Russian reactor sales: Western governments may raise with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Russian plans to provide special financing for the two nuclear reactors it has agreed to export to India.

 
June 17, 1998
 
India Made "About 25 Bomb Cores" Since First Test in 1974: Since its first nuclear test at Pokaran in 1974, India has made about 25 plutonium metal cores for nuclear bombs, according to data obtained by Nucleonics Week from sources inside India's nuclear weapons development program. Critical questions regarding India's nuclear capabilities remain
unanswered.
 
June 8, 1998

Pakistan: Unanswered Questions On Pakistan Uranium May Point To More U.S. Intelligence Failures.

US-South Asia: U.S. Not Inclined To Offer Incentives To Get India, Pakistan To Climb Down.

Germany: Nuclear Waste Revelations/Violations Threaten Reprocessing Deals

May 8, 1998

North Korea: The State Department denied Korean reports that Washington will pay some construction costs for nuclear reactors in North Korea.

ROK-Japan: South Korea and Japan are falling out over a plan to intensify nuclear cooperation in the Pacific region.

Japan: Planned reorganization of PNC, the Japanese firm responsible for a 1997 explosion, fire, and subsequent cover-up at a waste treatment plant at Tokai-mura, northeast of Tokyo may not be approved.

April 13, 1998

US-China: First Fruits of Nuclear Cooperation Expected in 1999.
 
Taiwan-North Korea: Diplomatic Pressure Killed DPRK Waste Deal, Taiwan Says.
 
South Korea: Leading Nuclear Firm Emerging from Financial Crisis.

March 9, 1998

North Korea: continuing questions whether the IAEA can verify DPRK compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
Germany: German-Russian Deal On Bomb-Grade Uranium challenges U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy.
South Africa: Government to review nuclear-related export to China.

March 2, 1998

North Korea: IAEA Can't Verify NPT Compliance, U.S. Experts Say
According to U.S. experts, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot use established means of anaysis to verify the nuclear materials inventory of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the DPRK continues to refuse to give IAEA inspectors full access to unloaded spent nuclear fuel.

February 23, 1998

U.S. Policy on Agreed Framework May Shift as Firm Pulls License Request for DPRK Reactor Export
The U.S.-brokered plan to export two power reactors to the DPRK in return for termination of their clandestine nuclear program was set back last week when the firm expected to supply the reactors suddenly withdrew its export license request.

February 9, 1998

France: Government decision to pull the plug on its fast breeder reactor will lead to major changes in nuclear waste policy, with a global impact.
Iraq: Russian efforts at UN to end IAEA inspections in Iraq go nowhere.
Asia: Efforts to set up a regional nuclear energy safeguards system rivalling that of the IAEA may have suffered another setback.
Pakistan: Pakistan raises the nuclear stakes.

January 31, 1998

China: Congress gathering evidence China's nuclear program is bloated.
Iran: CIA Says Khatami Not in Control of Nuclear Program
North Korea: Seoul Cutting Back on Reactor Project Financing
South Korea: Economic Crisis to Delay Nuclear Program

Nuclear Watch is written exclusively for Global Beat by Mark Hibbs, the European Editor of Nucleonics Week and Nuclear Fuel, leading specialist newsletters on international nuclear affairs, published by McGraw-Hill, Inc. Hibbs, based in Bonn, Germany, covers nuclear energy and proliferation problems in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Asia.
 
Mark Hibbs' coordinates:
Tel: x49-228-215051
Fax: x49-228-218849
E-mail: mhibb@mh.com

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