• New method for chemoterrorism developed

    Chemical terrorism does not receive as much press as bioterrorism; still, poisoning the air, water, and food supply using chemicals can do major harm and terrorize, intimidate, or coerce governments or civilian populations; scientists develop a new method to detect chemical attacks

  • Mystery surrounds detection of North Korea's nuclear test

    Detecting radionuclide evidence in the form of radioactive gas is the “smoking gun” — proving that a nuclear explosion has occurred; seismologists say they are comfortable that explosion in North Korea two weeks ago was a nuclear test — but sensors have not been able to pick up radionuclide evidence

  • U.K. white supremacists plotted to use ricin against minorities

    White supremacist cell in the U.K. plotted to use ricin to kill black people and other ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom; ricin is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide

  • Iran increases number of centrifuges to 5,000

    Iran’s march toward the bomb accelerates; IAEA released a report on Friday saying that Iran has increased the efficiency of its production of low-enriched uranium, boosting its stockpile by 500 kg to 1,339 kg in the past six months

  • IAEA reports more undeclared uranium discovered in Syria

    On 7 September 2007 Israel destroyed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor; the IAEA later found uranium particles at the remote desert site, contradicting Syrian claims that the destroyed site was a non-nuclear facility; on Friday, the IAEA reported that “anthropogenic natural uranium particles” were found in a facility in Damascus

  • Israel unhappy with IAEA

    Israel wants IAEA to condemn Syria over uranium findings; Israel also accuses the IAEA of not using all of the agency’s investigative tools to investigate Syria’s nuclear activities

  • Nuclear power may be considered for carbon credits

    Te 2001 Kyoto protocol excluded nuclear power from clean energy technology schemes; now, more and more countries appear to support the idea that developing countries should be given carbon credits if they build nuclear power stations; carbon credits could cut the capital cost of building new nuclear stations by up to 40 percent

  • GPO reveals confidential U.S. nuclear information by mistake

    A 2004 agreement between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requires the United States to submit to the agency a detailed list of the addresses and specifications of hundreds of U.S. nuclear-weapons-related facilities, laboratories, reactors, and research activities, including the location of fuel for bombs; the Department of Energy (DOE) prepared the report, and Government Printing Office (GPO) printed it so it could be submitted to the IAEA — but the GPO went ahead and, mistakenly, posted 268-page dossier on its Web site

  • Congress offers relief to Washington State cherries growers

    Congressional mandate, going into effect last Monday, requiring 100 percent screening of cargo on passenger planes, threated Washington State cherries grower; Congress offers growers relief

  • House limits whole body imaging

    Worries about privacy lead Congress to vote, 310-118, to ban whole body imaging at airports; the bill would ban TSA from using whole-body imaging instead of metal detectors as the first-screening device at airports

  • Sweden selects location for central nuclear waste repository

    The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project now appears doomed, but in Sweden a location has been selected for that country’s central nuclear waste disposal site

  • Dutch researchers develop new virus detector

    A prototype of a new system can detect within minutes if an individual is infected with a virus; the system carry out measurements many times faster than standard techniques, and it is also portable

  • Seismographs accurately detected North Korea's nuclear test

    In 1998 the U.S. Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) partly owing to fears that countries could cheat by claiming that small covert weapons tests were earthquakes; the quick and accurate detection of the North Korean test shows that the currently deployed system of sensors works

  • Dounreay nuclear dismantling team to use giant robot

    The U.K.’s experimental fusion nuclear reactor was ordered shut down and dismantled; dismantling team unveils a design for a 75-ton robot which will cut up radioactive equipment

  • Florida orders Raytheon's radiation detection system

    Florida orders Raytheon’s Mobile Nuclear Radiation Detection System; the state will use the SUV-mounted system to watch out for nuclear threats on highways, bridges, overpasses, tunnels, ports of entry, and public venues such as major sporting events and other large events