Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (right) and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei met last week in Tehran prior to the arrival of IAEA officials in Iran today for another round of interviews and inspections (AFP photo/Behrouz Mehri). IAEA Inspectors Arrive in Iran Iran will again be tested on whether it has ceased all suspicious nuclear activities, including the construction of uranium enrichment centrifuges, during another round of inspections begun today by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, April 7). Five IAEA inspectors traveled to Iran to participate in meetings and inspections to “discuss some of the remaining issues and to get answers to their questions,” said top Iranian atomic energy official Mohammad Saeedi (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 12)...Full Story

Libya to Convert Scud B Missiles to Lower Range, Payload Capabilities Libya has told the United States that it plans to convert its arsenal of Russian-supplied Scud B ballistic missiles into shorter-range systems and that it would end all military trade with North Korea, U.S. officials said last week (see GSN, March 9). ..Full Story

First Working Group Meeting On North Korea Nuclear Program Reportedly Set for Later This Month The first six-nation, working-group meeting proposed to help resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff is expected to convene later this month in Beijing, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 8)...Full Story

	Monday, April 12, 2004

British WMD Response Calls for Stripping Victims Anyone within the 400-yard “hot zone” of a chemical or biological attack in the United Kingdom would be stripped of their clothes and personal items and then decontaminated, according to a British document detailed Sunday in the London Independent (see GSN, April 7). Planning continues to develop responses to such an attack, which would challenge even large police forces, according to the document from the Home Office. Among the work yet undone is creation of a plan to vaccinate key personnel. In an attack, authorities would cordon off an area with a 600-yard radius, the document states. Anyone within 400 yards of the attack site would have all possessions — including clothes, jewelry and house keys ð— confiscated and would be washed down.  The European Union plans a biological attack simulation this year involving all 15 EU capitals (Lean and Carrell, London Independent, April 11). Back to top

IAEA Inspectors Arrive in Iran Iran will again be tested on whether it has ceased all suspicious nuclear activities, including the construction of uranium enrichment centrifuges, during another round of inspections begun today by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, April 7). Five IAEA inspectors traveled to Iran to participate in meetings and inspections to “discuss some of the remaining issues and to get answers to their questions,” said top Iranian atomic energy official Mohammad Saeedi (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 12). Saeedi added, “Iran suspended making and assembling atomic parts on Friday” (Reuters, April 12). Back to top       First Working Group Meeting On North Korea Nuclear Program Reportedly Set for Later This Month The first six-nation, working-group meeting proposed to help resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff is expected to convene later this month in Beijing, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 8). The working-group proposal was made in February during the last round of six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, AP reported. Representatives from China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States are scheduled to meet April 27 in Beijing; talks are expected to last up to four days, the Japanese Mainichi newspaper reported (Associated Press, April 11). Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney today discussed efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during a visit to Tokyo, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. Cheney and Koizumi agreed on the need for cooperation to resolve the situation diplomatically and on the role of China in the process, the official said (Shino Yuasa, Agence France-Presse, April 12). On Friday, North Korea accused the United States of “driving the military situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war” by allegedly planning a pre-emptive attack, Agence France-Presse reported. In addition, a commentary carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency accused the United States of delaying progress in talks to resolve the nuclear crisis. “The U.S. demand that the D.P.R.K. (North Korea) scrap its nuclear program first is the main obstacle in the way of solving the nuclear issue between the D.P.R.K. and the U.S.,” the news agency said. “It is a well-known fact that the second round of the six-way talks held in Beijing last February proved fruitless due to the U.S. demand that the D.P.R.K. dismantle its nuclear program first,” it added (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, April 9). Back to top       Cheney to Discuss Chinese Access to U.S. Nuclear Technology U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to discuss Chinese access to U.S. nuclear reactor technology during a three-day visit this week to Beijing and Shanghai, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 18). China is expected within months to solicit bids for four new nuclear reactors, AP reported. During his visit, Cheney will not “pitch individual commercial transactions,” but instead will indicate that “we support the efforts of our American companies” and general access to Chinese markets, a senior Bush administration official said. Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Executive Director Henry Sokolski, however, recently criticized before Congress the idea of providing China with U.S. nuclear technology, noting China’s plans to provide Pakistan with two large reactors capable of producing plutonium. “This pitch could not be more poorly timed,” he said during a House International Relations Committee hearing. U.S. officials have said that China offered assurances that its nuclear sales to Pakistan do not pose proliferation risks, AP reported (Josef Hebert, Associated Press/Taipei Times, April 11). In addition, Canada is also interested in providing China with nuclear reactors, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse, April 10). Back to top       Pakistan Releases Three Nuclear Network Suspects Pakistan has released three of the eight suspects who were detained as part of the country’s investigation into the nuclear proliferation activities of top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, senior officials said yesterday (see GSN, March 26).  Two of the suspects had worked directly under Khan, the Financial Times reported. The third, businessman Aizaz Jaffery, was suspected of helping finance the international nuclear network (Farhan Bokhari, Financial Times, April 12). Back to top       NNSA Reports Progress on Tritium Extraction Site Progress has been made on the construction of a facility designed to extract tritium, a hydrogen isotope used in nuclear weapons, from nuclear fuel rods, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration reported last month (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2003). Construction crews have completed work on the one of two furnaces at the Savannah River Site Tritium Extraction Facility in South Carolina that will be used to heat the fuel rods to extract the isotope, the agency said. Construction is expected to be completed by the second quarter of fiscal 2005, with operation set to begin in fiscal 2007 (NNSA release, March 2004, p.5). Back to top       India PM Says U.S. Offered Nuclear Weapons in 1998 The United States offered to give India nuclear weapons in 1998 in hopes of stopping the Asian country from developing its own arsenal, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Friday (see GSN, March 19). Vajpayee said he rejected the offer and continued ahead with nuclear tests, according to the Associated Press. “When I told them (Americans) you also have made that bomb, they replied when required you can take that from us,” Vajpayee said at a pre-election rally. “I told them frankly this bomb needs to be made and not borrowed,” he said. India and neighboring rival Pakistan now both have an unknown number of nuclear weapons. While India will not be the first to launch a nuclear missile, Vajpayee said, “we will not hesitate to use it if somebody used the bomb against us” (Associated Press/Globe and Mail, April 9). Back to top

Veterinarians May Have Role in Preventing Bioterrorism Veterinarians are becoming increasingly involved in detecting outbreaks of human diseases, and may play a role in detecting a future biological weapons attack, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, April 15, 2003). About 75 percent of all new diseases, including SARS and monkeypox, are initially seen in animals, AP reported (see GSN, Nov. 5, 2003). During the 2001 anthrax attacks, veterinarians helped lead field teams because the disease is traditionally only seen on cattle farms, AP reported. “You’re just as likely to find a bioterrorist agent in an animal health diagnostic lab or vet office as a physician’s office or hospital,” said Lonnie King, dean of the Michigan State college of veterinary medicine (Daniel Yee, Associated Press/Columbus, Ga., Ledger-Enquirer, April 10). Back to top

Terrorists Planning Advanced Chemical Attacks in Europe, French Official Says Terrorist groups in Europe are more able to develop and more willing to use chemical weapons than previously thought, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 12). Small groups of chemical weapons experts have been detected in several European countries and have developed means of communicating undetected among each other, according to a senior French counterterrorism official. Several of the groups are believed to have links to Islamic militants in the Russian republic of Chechnya, where Western intelligence agencies suspect that al-Qaeda may have conducted chemical experiments, the Times reported. “We have underestimated the terrorists’ willingness and capacity to develop chemical weapons,” the French official said in an interview with the Times. “The thing that is most clear is that the people with the knowledge of chemicals are very organized,” the official added (Mark Huband, Financial Times, April 12). Responding to the Times article, a Russian military official said today there is no indication that Chechen rebels have chemical weapons. “All possible measures are being taken to prevent rebels from obtaining chemical materials that can be used in chemical weapons,” Col. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Combined Federal Forces counterterrorism headquarters in the North Caucasus, told Interfax. “No instances of rebel groups using chemical weapons in Chechnya have been reported since the start of the counterterrorism operation, except for an incident when rebels blew up a cistern with chlorine during fights in Grozny,” he added (Interfax, April 12). Back to top

Libya to Convert Scud B Missiles to Lower Range, Payload Capabilities Libya has told the United States that it plans to convert its arsenal of Russian-supplied Scud B ballistic missiles into shorter-range systems and that it would end all military trade with North Korea, U.S. officials said last week (see GSN, March 9).  Libya is believed to possess several hundred Scud B missiles, which have a range of 185 miles and are capable of carrying a 2,200-pound payload, according to the New York Times. During talks with Libyan officials last month in Tripoli, U.S. Ambassador Donald Mahley proposed that Libya either destroy its Scud B arsenal or convert the missiles to shorter-range, less powerful systems, officials said.  Last week, Libya informed the United States and the United Kingdom that it would convert the missiles so their range was less than 185 miles with a payload of less than 1,100 pounds, the Times reported. Libya also agreed to allow the United States and United Kingdom to monitor the conversion to ensure that it was “irreversible,” officials said. Such monitoring would probably involve “random, regularized access” to ensure that Libya does not build or purchase any additional Scud B missiles, an official said. Libya has also agreed to make a public declaration of its decisions, officials said. They added that they were unsure as to when such a declaration would be made (Judith Miller, New York Times, April 11).   Back to top

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