U.S. helps secure Soviet-era nuclear stock

U.S. nuclear experts have helped Kazakhstan move Soviet-era nuclear materials, enough to build an estimated 775 nuclear weapons, to safety, officials said.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories provided security and logistics assistance to complete the transfer of 11 tons of highly enriched uranium and 3.3 tons of weapons-grade plutonium from the busy Caspian Sea port of Aktau in western Kazakhstan to a secure long-term storage location in the country's northeast.

The National Nuclear Security Administration oversaw the project as part of its Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a Sandia labs release said Thursday.

"We're making things safer in the world," Dave Barber, who worked for Sandia's Global Physical Security Program, said. "Before it was protected, the materials were vulnerable to theft by those who would steal them to build nuclear weapons. This project has secured enough material to make 775 nuclear weapons. That gives us a great feeling and should make people feel much better."

The transfers began in February 2010, and the last concrete and steel cask containing nuclear materials was transferred in a journey of 1,860 miles on Nov. 18.

"The United States was very worried about this material not being protected well enough and that it could be stolen, so the United States offered to protect this material," Barber said. "In the interior, it would be much more difficult for adversaries to try to steal it."

earlier related report
US vows to oppose UN resolution on Israel
Washington (AFP) Feb 10, 2011 - The United States, a veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council member, will use "the tools that we have" to block a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, a top US diplomat said Thursday.

"We have made very clear that we do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues," Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee.

"We have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that arise there. And we will continue to employ the tools that we have to make sure that continues to not happen," said Steinberg.

The resolution condemns Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem -- in line with the policy of world powers including the United States, though Washington has opposed the measure.

"The only way that this is going to be resolved is through engagement through the parties, and that is our clear and consistent position," said Steinberg.

Palestinians have rejected US-brokered Middle East peace talks since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a settlement moratorium that expired on September 28.

Steinberg also told the lawmakers that Washington was making a vigorous diplomatic campaign to stop countries from declaring their recognition of an independent Palestinian state, as several Latin American nations have done.

"We have made very clear to a lot of countries ... that we think this is counterproductive. I'm disappointed, frankly, that we haven't had more success, but it has been in our engagement at the highest levels," he said.

earlier related report
Lithuania claims Russia deployed warheads near border
Russia has deployed short-range nuclear warheads in its Kaliningrad territory which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, Lithuanian Defence Minister Rasa Jukneviciene claimed Tuesday.

"We want major nations to start negotiations on reducing the number of such weapons. It's no secret that such weapons are deployed near us, in Kaliningrad. And to our east as well," Jukneviciene told Lithuanian public radio.

Rumours have repeatedly surfaced of the presence of such arms in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory sandwiched between the Baltic Sea, Poland and Lithuania.

In November the Russian military dismissed US media reports that it had moved short-range -- or tactical -- warheads to Kaliningrad earlier in 2010 despite pledges made as early as 1991.

"It's in our interest that so many arms -- including tactical nuclear weapons which present a threat to our existence -- are not amassed all round our borders," said Jukneviciene.

Lithuania and its fellow Baltic states Latvia and Estonia watch hawkishly for Russian military moves. Moscow only withdrew its troops from their territory in 1994, three years after they won independence when the Soviet Union crumbled.

The Baltic trio, with a total population of 6.7 million, have rocky relations with giant Russia, notably since they became anchored in the West by joining NATO and the European Union in 2004.

Lithuania hailed Russia's recent ratification of the updated START arms-reduction treaty with the United States that covers long-range missiles.

Washington is keen to launch talks over short-range weapons that have remained uncovered by previous nuclear disarmament agreements with Russia.

But on Monday Moscow said it was premature to set a date for a new round of talks.

It argued they could only begin once Washington was ready to reconsider its position on a new missile defence shield for Europe, which foresees anti-missile facilities in former Soviet satellite states now in NATO.

"We have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that arise there. And we will continue to employ the tools that we have to make sure that continues to not happen," said Steinberg.

The resolution condemns Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem -- in line with the policy of world powers including the United States, though Washington has opposed the measure.

"The only way that this is going to be resolved is through engagement through the parties, and that is our clear and consistent position," said Steinberg.

Palestinians have rejected US-brokered Middle East peace talks since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a settlement moratorium that expired on September 28.