Nuclear Treaty

Russia, which started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago, has repeatedly cautioned that the West is playing with fire by probing the limits of what a nuclear power might or might

A Japanese nuclear reactor that restarted last week for the first time in more than 13 years after it had survived a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant was shut down again Monday due to an equipment problem, its operator said. The No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear power plant on Japan's northern coast was put back online on Oct. 29 and had been expected to start generating power in early November. But it had to be shut down again five days after its restart due to a glitch that occurred Sunday in a device related to neutron data inside the reactor, plant operator Tohoku Electric Power Co. said. The reactor was operating normally and there was no release of radiation into the environment, Tohoku Electric said. The utility said it decided to shut it down to re-examine equipment to address residents' safety concerns. No new date for a restart was given. The reactor is one of three at the Onagawa plant, which is 100 kilometers (

According to Putin, the adjustments were necessary because of how quickly the world was changing and how this presented new risks and threats for Russia

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday proposed former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi as the country's new foreign minister and also sought to appoint a woman as roads and housing minister. If approved, she would be Iran's first female minister in more than a decade. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf read out the list of proposed ministers to lawmakers. The hard-line-dominated chamber will have two weeks to review qualifications and give a vote of confidence to the proposed ministers. Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that capped Tehran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal and imposed more sanctions on Iran. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal. Pezeshkian named Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, an F-14 Tomcat pilot, as defense minist

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin voices have frequently threatened the West with its nuclear arsenal. On Day 1 of the war, Putin said whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to consequences you have never seen in history. Over nearly 2 1/2 years of fighting, the West has given Ukraine billions of dollars of advanced weapons, some of which have struck Russian soil. And while there have been more Kremlin threats and even the deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons in Belarus, just over the border from Ukraine so far it has remained only a blunt message. What could finally trigger a nuclear response? Asked that in June by international news agencies, Putin pointed to Russia's so-called nuclear doctrine. Look what is written there, he said at the St. Petersburg session. If somebody's actions threaten our sovereignty and territo

The US and South Korea signed joint nuclear deterrence guidelines, weeks after North Korea and Russia struck a defence pact that deepened concerns in the region about the North's growing nuclear threats. Meeting Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington, President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol commended what they called the tremendous progress that their countries' alliance have made a year after creating a joint Nuclear Consultative Group. Last year, the US and South Korea launched the bilateral consultation body to enhance information-sharing on nuclear and strategic operations. The US will retain the control of its nuclear weapons, and the body's establishment was meant to ease South Korean worries about North Korean nuclear threats. The two leaders authorised the US-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula that was signed by their defence officials earlier Thursday, according to South Korea's ...

A version of the bill had already passed in the House of Representatives and it will now go to President Joe Biden for a signature to become law. It passed the Senate 88-2 votes

The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernise their nuclear weapons as the countries deepened their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said on Monday. We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War, said Wilfred Wan, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's weapons of mass destruction programme. Earlier this month, Russia and its ally Belarus launched a second stage of drills intended to train their troops in tactical nuclear weapons, part of the Kremlin's efforts to discourage the West from ramping up support for Ukraine. In a separate report, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, said the nine nuclear-armed states spent a combined total of USD 91.4 billion on their arsenals in 2023 equivalent to USD 2,898 per second. The Geneva-based coalition of disarmament activists won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. The group said that figures sh

The third meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) is designed to follow up on last year's summit

Commemorating the 26th anniversary of Pakistan's first successful nuclear tests, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said it encapsulates the arduous yet remarkable path of the country towards establishing a "credible minimum deterrence. Pakistan conducted six nuclear tests on May 28, 1998, inside a deeply dug tunnel in the remote Chaghi mountain of Balochistan province, as a tit-for-tat response to India's nuclear tests in the same month at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range. Pakistan's nuclear tests, state-run Radio Pakistan, said was conducted in response to the regional security dynamics and one that ensured that Pakistan's defence capabilities were robust and credible. Pakistan became the seventh nuclear nation in the world and the first Muslim state in 1998 having the nuclear arsenal in its defence stockpile to exercise deterrence. Designated as Youm-e-Takbeer, translated as the day of greatness' or the day of God's greatness', and observed annually with national zeal

As part of normalising military communications, US and Chinese officials resumed nuclear weapons discussions in January, but formal arms control negotiations are not expected any time soon

The United States slammed Russia on Wednesday for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on the Outer Space Treaty that put a legally-binding obligation that countries should not be putting weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear weapons, in orbit. "As we have noted previously, the United States assesses that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device. We have heard President (Vladimir) Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement, after Russia vetoed the resolution at the UN headquarters in New York. "Today, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution, proposed jointly by the United States and Japan, that would have reaffirmed the fundamental obligation of State Parties to the Outer Space Treaty not to place nuclear weapons in orbit around the Earth," Sullivan said. The ...

The Indian delegation was led by Muanpuii Saiawi, Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs

Russia and Ukraine on Monday traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world dangerously close to a nuclear accident. Without attributing blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since April 7. These reckless attacks must cease immediately, he told the Security Council. Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk where nuclear safety is already compromised. The remote-controlled nature of the drones that have attacked the plant means that it is impossible to definitively determine who launched them, Grossi told reporters after the meeting. In order to say something like that, we must have proof, he said. These attacks have been performed with a multitude of ...

The largest uranium producer in the United States is ramping up work just south of Grand Canyon National Park on a long-contested project that largely has sat dormant since the 1980s. The work is unfolding as global instability and growing demand drive uranium prices higher. The Biden administration and dozens of other countries have pledged to triple the capacity of nuclear power worldwide in their battle against climate change, ensuring uranium will remain a key commodity for decades as the government offers incentives for developing the next generation of nuclear reactors and new policies take aim at Russia's influence over the supply chain. But as the U.S. pursues its nuclear power potential, environmentalists and Native American leaders remain fearful of the consequences for communities near mining and milling sites in the West and are demanding better regulatory oversight. Producers say uranium production today is different than decades ago when the country was racing to buil

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to its statehood, sovereignty or independence, voicing hope that the US would refrain from actions that could trigger a nuclear conflict. Putin's statement was another blunt warning to the West ahead of a presidential vote this week in which he's all but certain to win another six-year term. In an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday, Putin described U.S. President Joe Biden as a veteran politician who fully understands possible dangers of escalation, and said that he doesn't think that the world is heading to a nuclear war. At the same time, he emphasized that Russia's nuclear forces are in full readiness and from the military-technical viewpoint, we're prepared. Putin said that in line with the country's security doctrine, Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence. The .

The head of the UN atomic agency on Wednesday told local Japanese representatives at a meeting in Fukushima that the ongoing discharge of treated radioactive wastewater at the ruined nuclear power plant has met safety standards and that any restrictions on products from the region are not scientific. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi joined local officials and representatives from fishing and business groups and reassured them that the discharges are being carried out with no impact to the environment, water, fish and sediment." Grossi, who arrived in Japan on Tuesday, returned to Fukushima for the first time since the release of the treated water began in August. Grossi will examine the discharge and sampling facility later Wednesday. He last visited the plant in July after issuing an IAEA review predicting only negligible impact from the discharges. The IAEA comprehensive report later concluded that the discharges meet international safety ...

The head of the United Nations' atomic agency is in Japan to examine discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and to discuss further cooperation with Japan to promote peaceful use of nuclear energy and non-proliferation. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi is visiting the country Tuesday for the first time since releases of the treated water began in August. It also comes one day after Japan marked 13 years after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck, triggering the Fukushima disaster. "This date has a special meaning in Japan," Grossi said as he met with Japanese Environment Minister Shintaro Ito, his first in a series of talks with top Japanese officials planned for the three-day visit. The disaster caused many difficulties, but also led to "strengthening of the links and the cooperation between the IAEA and Japan, Grossi said. A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 damaged the

Russia's top diplomat dismissed the United States proposal to resume a dialogue on nuclear arms control, saying Thursday that it's impossible while Washington offers military support to Ukraine. Speaking at an annual news conference, Sergey Lavrov accused the West of fuelling global security risks by encouraging Ukraine to ramp up strikes on the Russian territory and warned that Moscow will achieve its goals in the conflict regardless of Western support for Kyiv. Commenting on a US proposal to resume contacts in the sphere of nuclear arms control, Lavrov said that Moscow has rejected the offer. He said that for such talks to be held, Washington first needs to revise its current policy toward Russia. Lavrov charged that Washington's push for the revival of nuclear talks has been driven by a desire to resume inspections of Russia's nuclear weapons sites. He described such US demands as indecent in view of Ukraine's attacks on Russian nuclear-capable bomber bases during the ...

With a capacity of 8,212 megawatts (MW), the plant has been offline since 2012 after the Fukushima disaster a year earlier led to the shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan at the time