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Iran Refuses to Close Nuclear Facilities Despite U.S. Pressure

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Four rounds of talks with a team of American diplomats have done nothing to soften Iran’s position on ending its illicit nuclear weapons development, Iranian officials insisted on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has led the delegation to Oman-mediated talks with Washington for the past month, eliminated the possibility on Thursday that Iran will stop enriching uranium, a core demand of the administration of President Donald Trump for any agreement to lift sanctions on the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism. Tehran insists that it has a “right” to generate highly-enriched uranium as part of its “peaceful” nuclear program, while American officials have pointed out that no peaceful nuclear states have programs that enrich to the capacity that Iran has and that uranium of such highly enriched quality is not necessary to run nuclear power plants — its only use would be in developing a bomb.

Nonetheless, Araghchi insisted, according to the Iranian state propaganda outlet PressTV, that enrichment is a “right of the Iranian people” that the Islamist regime will not compromise on.

“Defending the rights of the Iranian people in the nuclear field, including [uranium] enrichment, is one of these principles and rights of the people that we will not compromise on,” the foreign minister declared, “neither in the media nor at the negotiation table. This is the right of the Iranian people, and no one can deny it.”

Araghchi made similar remarks last week before the latest round of negotiations with the U.S., led by Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff. (Read more from “Iran Refuses to Close Nuclear Facilities Despite U.S. Pressure” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

The Morons in Charge Finally Start Planning for the Threat They Deliberately Caused: A Joint Nuclear Attack by China and Russia

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By New York Post. President Biden has signed off on a highly classified plan that shifts America’s nuclear strategy to focus on China as a nuclear threat — and prepare for the possibility that the communist nation could team up with North Korea and Russia against the US, according to a new report.

Biden made the shift in March because the Pentagon believes China’s nuclear arsenal will rival the US and Russia, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

The new strategy is called the “Nuclear Employment Guidance” and also readies the US for a possible coordinated threat between China, Russia and North Korea, the newspaper reported.

In a pair of recent speeches, two senior administration officials have hinted at the growing Chinese nuclear threat.

“The President recently issued updated nuclear weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries, and, in particular, the significant increase in the size and diversity of [China’s] nuclear arsenal,” said Vipin Narang this month when he was still the acting assistant secretary of defense of space policy. (Read more from “The Morons in Charge Finally Start Planning for the Threat They Deliberately Caused: A Joint Nuclear Attack by China and Russia” HERE)

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Report: Biden Secretly Altered U.S. Nuclear Strategy

By Washington Times. President Biden has reportedly altered the U.S. strategic nuclear plans toward opposing China’s burgeoning nuclear arsenal and preparing for possible nuclear coordination between China, Russia and North Korea.

According to a report Tuesday evening in the New York Times, the highly classified “Nuclear Employment Guidance” was altered in March without any public announcement.

“The document, updated every four years or so, is so highly classified that there are no electronic copies, only a small number of hard copies distributed to a few national security officials and Pentagon commanders,” the Times reported.

Congress is expected to be notified of the changes in unclassified form before Mr. Biden’s term in the White House ends in January.

But, the Times reported, two separate top officials have received permission to refer to the changes in public speeches, albeit only in “carefully constrained, single sentences.” (Read more from “Report: Biden Secretly Altered U.S. Nuclear Strategy” HERE)

Israel Could Strike Iran in Months Unless U.S. Steps In, Former Israeli General Says

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The window to prevent an Israeli strike against Iran’s growing nuclear program is closing quickly, a retired Israeli military general says.

Retired Brigadier General Amir Avivi says that the United States’ retreat from the Middle East, which has allowed China and Russia to move in, is quickly limiting Israel’s options for avoiding conflict. Israel’s timeframe for launching a strike against Iran has shortened to potentially as little as a few months.

An Israeli strike against Iran “is bad for everybody, but this is at the moment what’s going to happen, and maybe happen in three months, in six months, maybe a year,” Avivi told The Washington Free Beacon. Avivi spent three decades in the Israel Defense Forces before becoming the chairman of an Israeli national security think tank, the Israel Defense and Security Forum.

Iran and Russia have deepened ties since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war last year. Iran has reportedly provided Russia with ammo and drones to fuel its war machine while pressuring Moscow to supply Tehran with S-400 missile systems. The anti-air missile system would bolster Iran’s defensive capabilities and make delivering a strike against sensitive or high-priority targets more difficult for Israel. (Read more from “Israel Could Strike Iran in Months Unless U.S. Steps In, Former Israeli General Says” HERE)

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Patents Secured for Revolutionary Nuclear Fusion Technology

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Scientists in Australia are making some astonishing claims about a new nuclear reactor technology. Startup HB11, which spun out of the University of New South Wales, has applied for and received patents in the U.S., Japan, and China so far. The company’s technology uses lasers to trigger a nuclear fusion reaction in hydrogen and boron—purportedly with no radioactive fuel required. The secret is a cutting-edge laser and, well, an element of luck.

The laser doesn’t heat the materials. Instead, it speeds up the hydrogen to the point where it (hopefully) collides with the boron to begin a reaction. . .

When the lucky hydrogen does fuse with a boron particle, the reaction throws off helium atoms whose lack of electrons means they’re positively charged. It’s this charge that the device gathers as electricity. (Read more from “Patents Secured for Revolutionary Nuclear Fusion Technology” HERE)

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Nuclear Arms Race Begins: We Must Have a Military Nuclear Program Within a Decade

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Following the July 14, 2015 announcement in Vienna of the Iran-P5+1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Saudi press featured numerous articles openly calling for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to use the coming decade – the time frame of the JCPOA – to develop their own military nuclear program, against the nuclear threat that they say Iran will constitute after the agreement expires.

There have already been calls for a clandestine Saudi nuclear program to parallel Iran’s, which were backed up by official Saudi sources.

For example, the month before the announcement of the JCPOA, Saudi Ambassador to the U.K. Emir Muhammad bin Nawwaf bin ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz Al-Saud told the Daily Telegraph that if the upcoming nuclear agreement with Iran did not include a serious Iranian commitment to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, then as far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, “all options are on the table.” He emphasized that over the years, his country had opposed the development of nuclear weapons, but that Iran’s policy on the issue “has changed the whole outlook in the region.”

Emir Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi intelligence chief and Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., made similar statements, on a number of occasions. In April 2014, at a security conference in Bahrain, Al-Faisal called on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to acquire nuclear knowledge to deal with the Iranian danger. The previous year, at the 2013 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, he threatened that if Iran developed nuclear weapons, the GCC would consider acquiring its own “nuclear deterrent.”

Alongside these statements by Saudi officials, there have been various reports in media worldwide on Saudi intentions to establish a military nuclear program, or to acquire nuclear weapons from a third party, meaning Pakistan. (Read more from “Nuclear Arms Race Begins: We Must Have a Military Nuclear Program Within a Decade” HERE)

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The Nuclear Option: Republic to Lose True Public Servant, Sen. Tom Coburn

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

It is a safe bet that Tom Coburn will not have a big federal building named for him. He is not likely to get a monument erected around here honoring him. He won’t be sitting for an official portrait — striking that generous pose of the longtime, greasy politicians — anytime soon.

No. The news from Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, that he is retiring and will not finish his second term, will come as a huge relief to people around here and all across the sprawling federal bureaucracy.

But for America, those who cherish freedom and voters who believe in responsible, honest and limited government, one can scarcely think of a greater blow to the republic.

Mr. Coburn’s good constituents back home surely will find a satisfactory new senator. But, simply put, Tom Coburn is irreplaceable.

He is not the most visible politician in Washington. You would never catch him between Chuck Schumer and a television camera. There isn’t much pretty or flashy about the guy. He doesn’t hold forth for hours on end waxing poetic on the Senate floor about humble beginnings or overcoming personal strife or foolishness like that.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iran Nuclear Talks End with No Agreement after France Balks at Deal

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Photo Credit: Fox News Negotiations among world powers to temporarily curb Iran’s nuclear program ended with no deal Saturday after France objected that proposals did not go far enough.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said that the talks, which ended early Sunday, managed to narrow differences without eliminating them, saying there are “still questions to be dealt with” in future rounds. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said “significant progress” had been made on the differences that remain.

A Western diplomat said a new round would be needed to agree on all points of a temporary deal that would to lead to a comprehensive agreement ensuring that Tehran’s nuclear work remains peaceful.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinated the talks, said Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany would meet again on Nov. 20.

Fabius said there were “several points” in the initial deal with which his country is not satisfied and told France-Inter Radio France does not want to be part of a “con game.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Ocean Plume from Japan Nuke Disaster Will Reach U.S. by 2014

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nuclear attackWithin three years of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown that was triggered by a tsunami in Japan in March 2011, the radioactive ocean plume resulting from the disaster will reach the shores of the United States, researchers say.

However, according to the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, by the time the plume hits the west coast of the United States it is expected to be harmless.

“Observers on the west coast of the United States will be able to see a measurable increase in radioactive material three years after the event,” Erik van Sebille, one of the paper’s authors, said in a news release from the research council.

“However,” he added, “people on those coastlines should not be concerned, as the concentration of radioactive material quickly drops below World Health Organization safety levels as soon as it leaves Japanese waters.”

Within four months of the incident, two currents off the coast of Japan, known as the Kuroshio Current and the Kurushio Extension, diluted the radioactive material to levels considered safe by the WHO, the authors of the report said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Breakthrough in Quest for Nuclear Fusion

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Photo Credit: Image EditorThe international nuclear fusion project – known as Iter, meaning “the way” in Latin – is designed to demonstrate a new kind of nuclear reactor capable of producing unlimited supplies of cheap, clean, safe and sustainable electricity from atomic fusion.

If Iter demonstrates that it is possible to build commercially-viable fusion reactors then it could become the experiment that saved the world in a century threatened by climate change and an expected three-fold increase in global energy demand.

This week the project gained final approval for the design of the most technically challenging component – the fusion reactor’s “blanket” that will handle the super-heated nuclear fuel.

The building site in Cadarache has also passed the crucial stage where some 493 seismic bearings – giant concrete and rubber plinths – have been set into the reactor’s deep foundations to protect against possible earthquakes.

Peering over the edge of the huge seismic isolation pit, it is still possible to see some of these bearings before they are covered with a raft of reinforced concrete that will support the massive fusion machine at the heart of the £13bn [$20 billion] Iter project.

Read more from this story HERE.

CH2M Hill Confesses to Widespread Fraud, Settles with Feds for $18.5 Million; Received $1.3B Stimulus Contract

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Photo Credit: AP

A politically connected engineering company that received massive stimulus contracts has admitted that workers committed widespread fraud under the encouragement of its executives while working on a major taxpayer-funded nuclear cleanup effort.

Employees of CH2M Hill routinely inflated hours worked on the cleanup effort at the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington state between 1999 and 2008. Company executives sanctioned those violations in order to obtain bonuses that required certain performance benchmarks, according to an agreement between the company and the Justice Department filed in federal court on Friday.

Subsidiary CH2M Hanford Group Inc. (CHG) agreed to pay $18.5 million to resolve civil and criminal allegations brought by the federal government. The civil charges were initially filed by a company whistleblower.

According to a DOJ press release, CHG “routinely overstated the number of hours they worked, and CHG management condoned the practice and submitted inflated claims to the Department of Energy that included the fraudulently claimed hours.”

Members of CHG’s “upper management” facilitated and encouraged that fraud in order to preserve corporate bonuses that required the company meet certain performance measures, according to the court agreement. The timecard fraud took place between 1999 and 2008 when CH2M was servicing a Department of Energy contract worth $2.2 billion. A different CH2M subsidiary was awarded an additional $1.3 billion in 2009 for the Hanford cleanup.

Read more from this story HERE.