A US-based nonproliferation group and Kazakh officials yesterday unveiled a US$2 million project to eliminate nearly 3 tonnes of weapons-grade nuclear fuel that could be used to make some two dozen atomic bombs.
The project is part of nonproliferation efforts that in recent years have taken on added urgency in Central Asia, which has seen the spread of Islamic radicalism since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
It was initiated by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The group and the Kazakh nuclear industry shared the costs.
NTI co-founder Ted Turner used the announcement ceremony to urge the US and Russia "to reduce their nuclear weapons as much as possible."
"Fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, it's crazy," he said.
Under the project, about 2,900kg of nuclear fuel containing highly enriched uranium from a mothbal-led Soviet-built nuclear reactor in western Kazakhstan will be blended down so that it cannot be used to make bombs. The uranium, less than 5 percent enriched, will be used for fuel for civilian reactors.
The fuel was transported from the Mangyshlak nuclear power plant to the Ulba Metal Plant in the eastern Kazakh city of Ust-Kamenogorsk last year and is expected to be blended down here by the end of the year, according to NTI.
The project, which was launched in 2002, has been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who on Friday was declared this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said in a message that the project could serve as a model for other countries.
US President George W. Bush called the project a sign of "Kazakhstan's continued success in converting nuclear material to peaceful and productive uses," according to a message read by Robert Joseph, US undersecretary of state for international security.
The US has been involved in projects to reduce the threat of weapons material leaks out of Kazakhstan and the rest of the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s.
Kazakhstan had been a major production and test site for the Soviet military's nuclear program. Activity related to weapons of mass destruction was stopped after 1991, but the nation of 15 million was left with tons of weapons-grade nuclear material, millions of tons of radioactive waste and large contaminated areas -- all guarded poorly or not at all.
That and the weapons expertise existing in the region, given its lax border controls and economic decline, have raised fears that some of the nuclear material here could end up in terrorists' hands. Among the former Soviet region's neighbors are Afghanistan, Iran and China.
Kazakhstan used to house the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal in Soviet times, which included 1,410 nuclear warheads. The entire nuclear arsenal was moved to Russia by 1995.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who attended the ceremony, called the project Kazakhstan's contribution to global security.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was