Blogposts tagged 'Proliferation'

Can '6 step programme' wean nuclear nations off their A-bomb addiction?

Posted by jossc - 4 February 2009 at 4:06pm - 4 Comments

David Miliband MP

Can David Miliband find a cure for nuclear weapons addiction?

Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave a speech today in London outlining a new '6 step programme' for creating a world free of nuclear weapons. His speech was largely a response to pressure created by recent high-profile campaigns emerging from the US, which have been calling for step by step progress towards the ultimate abolition of the world's nuclear arsenals.

Getting rid of the bomb? Sounds like radical stuff, but what's particularly radical is who is behind these campaigns. Not your 'usual suspect' peaceniks, but rather some of the biggest names in international diplomacy, who have come together to demand action on global security because they see the spread of nuclear weapons as the biggest threat to our immediate future.

Article tagged as: nuclear non-proliferation treaty, nuclear weapons, proliferation, WMDs

Mafia accused of trafficking nuclear waste

Posted by bex - 9 October 2007 at 3:02pm - 2 Comments

There's a truly frightening story – and a sharp reminder that its failure to tackle climate change isn’t the only problem with nuclear power - in The Guardian today.

A mafia clan in Italy is accused of trafficking nuclear waste and trying to make plutonium (ie nuclear weapons). It's alleged, says The Guardian, "to have made illegal shipments of radioactive waste to Somalia, as well as seeking the 'clandestine production' of other nuclear material".

Eight former employees of the state energy research agency Enea, suspected of paying the mafia to take the nuclear waste off their hands, are also being investigated.

"An Enea manager is said to have paid the clan to get rid of 600 drums of toxic and radioactive waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the US… with Somalia as the destination lined up by the traffickers… But with only room for 500 drums on a ship waiting at the northern port of Livorno, 100 drums were secretly buried somewhere in the southern Italian region of Basilicata."

The full story's here.

Article tagged as: nuclear power, nuclear weapons, proliferation

Too hot to handle: the future of civil nuclear power

Posted by bex - 6 July 2007 at 3:01pm - 0 Comments

We've been arguing for a long time that nuclear power can't stop climate change - because replacing our whole fleet of nuclear power stations would only reduce our carbon emissions by four per cent, some time after 2024 (far too little, far too late).

The Oxford Research Group has just published an interesting study on the subject. It says that, for nuclear power to make any significant contribution to a reduction in global carbon emissions in the next two generations, the industry would have to construct nearly 3,000 new reactors globally - about one a week for 60 years.

Article tagged as: climate change, david howarth, nuclear power, oxford research group, peace, proliferation, reports, terrorism

Britain's new bomb programme exposed

Publication date:  20 October, 2006

Summary

On 24 September 1996, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signatures. The treaty banned all nuclear tests - thus stopping new countries acquiring nuclear weapons, and existing nuclear-weapons states from developing new nuclear weapons. Alongside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it was hailed as a major step towards nuclear disarmament.

At the time, the Labour government played a key role in pushing for the treaty and in urging other countries to support it.

This briefing reveals:

Download the report:
Article tagged as: aldermaston, CTBT, government, NPT, nuclear weapons, peace, proliferation, reports, trident, UK

Where are the UK's nuclear ambitions taking us?

Publication date:  26 September, 2005

Summary

We now have an extraordinary opportunity to deal with the threat of nuclear weapons. There is no military conflict between the great economic and technological powers. Indeed, they cooperate on a daily basis on trade, investment, health and many other issues. Moreover, the late 1980s and most of the 1990s saw the creation of a positive circle in which citizen action, political initiatives, disarmament treaties and independent verification reinforced each other.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: disarmament, NPT, nuclear weapons, peace, proliferation, reports

5 reasons to oppose Star Wars

Publication date:  28 February, 2001

Greenpeace opposes the U.S. Star Wars Missile plan because such a system would ignite a new nuclear arms race. Should the plan go ahead Americans will spend hundreds of billions of tax dollars for a technically flawed scheme that offers only the illusion of protection. There will also be increased nuclear dangers in a world where there are far more nuclear weapons as countries such as China bolster their nuclear arsenals to overcome Star Wars. "Star Wars" sole beneficiaries will be U.S.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: nuclear, nuclear weapons, proliferation, reports, star wars, WMDs

Sellafield and jobs

Publication date:  2 June, 2000

A future for West Cumbria

There is currently considerable concern amongst BNFL employees, and most people living in West Cumbria, that ending nuclear reprocessing at Sellafield would mean massive job losses and be devastating to the local area. Stopping nuclear reprocessing is nevertheless essential to protect the environment and the health of future generations, and to end the nuclear proliferation threat caused by separating nuclear weapons-usable plutonium.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: BNFL, nuclear weapons, proliferation, reports, reprocessing, sellafield

Greenpeace urges ban on plutonium cargo vessels

Posted by bex - 13 September 1999 at 8:00am - 0 Comments
Nuclear waste transportation flask

Ten deadly nuclear cargoes of weapons-usable plutonium fuel are to travel from Europe to Japan each year via South Africa, according to a Reuters's story published today. In light of this information, Greenpeace urged all potential en route nations concerned by the risks associated with these shipments to redouble their efforts in opposing this and futue transports being conducted by European and Japanese nuclear industry.

The latest information comes as two ships laden with some 450 kg of weapons-usable plutonium, contained in 40 plutonium fuel elements (MOX), rounded the Cape of Good Hope bound for Japan early Friday morning (13th August). The ships are now believed to be in the South West Pacific Ocean heading for Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Article tagged as: nuclear power, nuclear waste, peace, plutonium, proliferation, shipment
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