Timeline of Nuclear Events
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Underground Tests Archive Data:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/BRV_arch_exp.html
1918
The Bailey Radium Laboratories, Inc., of East
Orange, New Jersey, began manufacturing Radithor. It was advertised as
"A Cure for the Living Dead" as well as "Perpetual Sunshine." It
consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum 1
microcurie (37 kBq) each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes. The FTC
issued a cease and desist order against the manufacture in 1931.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor)(AH, 10/07,
p.37)
1945 Jul 16, The first US test
explosion of the atomic bomb was made at Alamogordo Air Base, south of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, equal to some twenty thousand tons of TNT. The
bomb was called the Gadget and the experiment was called Trinity from a
poem by John Donne (Batter my heart, three-person’d God), and it was
conducted in a part of the desert called Jornada del Muerto, (Dead
Man’s Trail), and measured the equivalent of 18,600 (21,000) tons of
TNT. It was the culmination of 28 months of intense scientific research
conducted under the leadership of physicist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer
under the code name Manhattan Project. The successful atomic test was
witnessed by only one journalist, William L. Laurence of the New York
Times, who described seeing the blinding explosion: "One felt as though
he had been privileged to...be present at the moment of the Creation
when the Lord said: Let There be Light." Oppenheimer’s own thoughts
from the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita were very different: "I am become death,
the shatterer of worlds." The event is described in Richard Thode’s
"The Making of the Atomic Bomb." In 2005 Diane Preston authored
“Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima.”
(NOHY, 3/1990, p.212-213)(HNPD, 7/16/98)(SFC,
12/31/98, p.D4)(SFEC, 12/19/99, Par p.15)(SSFC, 7/10/05, p.E3)
1945 Jul 16, Cruiser Indianapolis
left SF with an atom bomb.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1945 Aug 6, Hiroshima, Japan, was
struck with the uranium bomb, Little Boy, from the B-29 airplane, Enola
Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets (1915-2007) of the US Air Force along
with 11 other men. The 9,600 pound bomb had a 2-part core of enriched
uranium-235. It killed an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of
a nuclear weapon in warfare. Major Thomas Wilson Ferebee (d.2000 at 81)
was the bombardier. Richard Nelson (d.2003) was the radio operator. In
1946 John Hersey authored “Hiroshima,” an account of the bombing based
on interviews with 6 survivors.
(AP, 8/6/97)(SSFC, 7/31/05, p.B2)(WSJ, 8/12/06,
p.P8)(SFC, 11/2/07, p.A23)
1945 Aug 9, The 10,000 lb.
plutonium bomb, Fat Man, was dropped over Nagasaki after the primary
objective of Kokura was passed due to visibility problems. It killed an
estimated 74,000 people. The B-29 bomber plane Bock's Car so named for
its assigned pilot, Fred Bock, was piloted by Captain Charles W.
Sweeney (d.2004). Kermit Beahan (d.1989) was the bombardier.
(WSJ, 7/19/95, p.A-12)(AP, 8/9/97)(HN, 8/9/98)(SFC,
3/17/00, p.D6)(HNQ, 3/31/00)
1945-2002 Some 100,000 nuclear bombs were
manufactured over this period.
(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.E6)
1949 Aug
29, The USSR successfully detonated its first atomic bomb at
Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. It was a copy of the Fat Man bomb and had
a yield of 21 kilotons.
(www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1940.shtml)
1950 Mar 8, Marshall Voroshilov of
the USSR announced the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb. [see
August 29, 1949]
(PC, 1992 ed, p.922)
1951 Jan 27, Atomic testing began
in the Nevada desert as an Air Force B-50D from a base in New Mexico
dropped a one-kiloton nuclear bomb on Frenchman Flats, Clark County, 65
miles NW of Las Vegas. Over the next 40 years 928 nuclear devices were
exploded at the site.
(AP, 1/27/98)(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.D8)(www.ntshf.org)
1951 Feb 1, The third A-bomb test
was completed in the desert of Nevada.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1951 May 12, The 1st H Bomb test
was on Eniwetok Atoll. [see Oct 31, 1952]
(MC, 5/12/02)
1951 Sep 24, The Soviet Union
conducted its 2nd nuclear test.
(http://zvis.com/nuclear/ndb/ussrnuks.shtml)
1951 Nov 1, The 1st atomic
explosion, witnessed by troops, was at Yucca Flat, Nevada. Members of
the 1st Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment from Ft. Campbell,
Kentucky, were the first unwitting test participants to be sent to that
facility by the Atomic Energy Commission and The Department of Defense
in a series of nuclear tests, code named "Buster-Jangle."
(www.angelfire.com/tx/atomicveteran/exposed.html)
1952 Apr 22, An atomic test
conducted at Yucca Flat, Nevada, became the first nuclear explosion
shown on live network television.
(AP, 4/22/99)(SFC, 4/19/02, p.G3)
1952 Oct 3, The British detonated
their 1st atomic bomb, a 25-kiloton device, in the Monte Bello Islands
off Australia. In 1998 a visit to the islands was limited to one hour
due to lingering radiation.
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.A14)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(AP,
10/3/08)
1952 Nov 1, The United
States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Ivy Mike," in a
test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The element einsteinium was
discovered in the debris of the 1st hydrogen bomb test. In 2002 Greg
Herken authored "Brotherhood of the Bomb: the Tangled Lives and
Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller."
(AP, 11/1/07)(NH, 7/02, p.35)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.M1)
1953 May 25, The first atomic
cannon was fired at Frenchman Flat, Nevada.
(HN, 5/25/98)(SC, 5/25/02)
1953 Jun 4, An atomic bomb test
explosion took place at Yucca Flats, Nevada, equivalent to 50,000 tons
of TNT. This was double the 1945 blast over Hiroshima.
(SFC, 5/30/03, p.E7)
1953 Aug 12, The Soviet Union
conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.
(AP, 8/12/97)
1953 Aug 20, The Soviet Union
publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1954 Mar 1, The Bravo hydrogen
bomb test exploded across Bikini atoll (Marshall Islands) with the
force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. A Nuclear Claims Tribunal, established
in 1986, later awarded Bikini and Enewetak 500 million dollars but only
a fraction of the amount was received. A Nov 30, 2004, deadline limited
further suits.
(AP,
10/17/04)(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX51.html)
1954 Mar 1, The No. 5 Fukuryu-maru
was trolling for tuna off the Bikini atoll in the Pacific during the
Bravo hydrogen bomb test. 11 crew members died in the half-century
since the exposure, at least six of them from liver cancer. Between
1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 66 nuclear tests at Bikini
as part of "Operation Crossroads."
(AP, 2/28/04)
1954 Mar 26, The U.S. set off the
second H-bomb blast in four weeks in the Marshall Islands at Bikini
Island. The 15-megaton device was 750 times more powerful than the
atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast contaminated the
neighboring island of Rongelap and nearly 100 people on the island and
other downwind atolls.
(HN, 3/25/98)(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A10)(SS, 3/26/02)
1954 Apr 18, The US held a
nationwide test of its disaster radio system known as Conelrad. In SF a
simulated 10-megaton bomb, exploding over Hunters Point, was estimated
to kill 500,000 Bay Area citizens.
(SSFC, 4/12/09, DB p.43)
1955 Mar 6, A US Atomic Energy
Spokesman said a cloud from the atomic blast at Nevada’s Yucca Flat
passed over the Central California coastline.
(SFC, 3/4/05, p.F3)
1955 May 5, The US detonated a
29-kiloton nuclear device in Nevada. “Apple 2” was the 2nd of 40 tests
of Operation Cue, meant to study the effects of a nuclear explosion on
a typical American community.
(AH, 6/02, p.72)
1955 Oct 14, A new US Navy
6-story, windowless structure was dedicated at the SF Naval Shipyard at
Hunters Point, Ca. The $8 million laboratory was to be devoted
exclusively to the development of defense against radiation.
(SFC, 4/8/05, p.F2)
1956 May 20, The US dropped a
thermonuclear bomb from a plane onto Bikini Atoll. [see May 21]
(HN, 5/20/98)
1956 May 21, The first known
airborne US hydrogen bomb was tested over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(EWH, 1968, p.1210)(AP, 5/21/97)
1957 May 4, It was reported that
NATO has warned the Soviet Union that it would meet any attack with all
available meads including nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 5/4/09, p.B2)
1957 May 15, The 1st British
hydrogen bomb was detonated on Christmas Island in South Pacific. The
200 - 300 kilotons yield was less than expected.
(www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1950.shtml)
1957 Jun 24, A 37-kiloton nuclear
fission bomb, code-named Priscilla, was exploded in the Nevada desert
at Frenchman Flat. The security of a bank vault was tested in the
experiment. At this time the US was manufacturing 10 nuclear bombs a
day.
(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.E1)
1957 Jul 12, Santa Susana in Los
Angeles County began receiving the nation’s first commercial
electricity from a small, civilian-owned, nuclear reactor. It was shut
down in 1964 and scientists later reported that the plant might be
responsible hundreds of cancer cases. PG&E had teamed with General
Electric to establish the Vallecitos atomic energy plant, the world’s
1st privately owned and operated nuclear facility.
(SFC, 4/7/01, p.A5)(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)
1957 Sep 2, Pres. Eisenhower
signed the Price-Anderson Act, which limited firms’ liability in
commercial nuclear disasters. The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries
Indemnity Act, a United States federal law, has since been renewed
several times since its passage.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price-Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act)(SSFC,
4/8/07, p.A18)
1957 Sep 19, The United States
conducted its first underground nuclear test, code-named "Rainier," in
the Nevada desert.
(AP, 9/19/07)
1957 Oct 7, A fire in the
Windscale plutonium production reactor (later called Sellafield) north
of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive iodine and polonium through
the countryside and into the Irish Sea. Livestock in the immediate area
were destroyed, along with 500,000 gallons of milk. At least 30, and
possibly as many as 1,000, cancer deaths were subsequently linked to
the accident. PM Harold Macmillan ordered the disaster hushed up.
(HN, 10/7/00)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.76)(Econ, 10/13/07,
p.63)
1957 Dec 2, The Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial
nuclear facility to generate electricity in the US, went critical. [see
July 12] It was taken out of service in 1982.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)(AP, 12/2/07)
1957 Dec 18, The Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to
generate electricity in the United States, went on line [see July 12].
(AP, 12/18/07)
1958 Mar 11, A B-47 out of Hunter
AFB in Savannah, Georgia, had just leveled off at 15,000 feet, when a
bomb lock failed and dropped a nuclear bomb on the suburban
neighborhood of Florence, South Carolina. The bomb's high explosives
exploded on impact, wrecking a house and injuring several people on the
ground. The extent of radioactive contamination was never revealed.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1958 Apr 4, The 1st march against
nuclear weapons began in London with a 4-day to the Atomic Weapons
Research Establishment close to Aldermaston, England.
(Econ, 8/16/08,
p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldermaston_Marches)
1958 Apr 7, Anti-nuclear peace
protesters arrived at the Atomic Weapons Establishment near
Aldermaston, England, after marching for several days from London.
(AP, 4/7/08)
1958 Oct 6, The US nuclear
submarine Seawolf surfaced after spending 60 days submerged.
(AP, 10/6/08)
1958 A US B-47 bomber dropped a
7,600 pound, Mark-15 hydrogen bomb off the Georgia coast after it
collided with a Navy fighter jet. It became one of “11 Broken Arrows,”
nuclear bombs never found during air or sea accidents. Evidence of
unusual radiation in the area turned up in 2004 prompting a renewed
search.
(SFC, 9/30/04, p.A7)
1960 Feb 13, France exploded its
first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert.
(AP, 2/13/08)
1960
Apr 1, France exploded 2 atom bombs in the Sahara Desert.
(OTD)
1960 May 22, Chile experienced a
9.5 earthquake. A slow earthquake was detected just before the big one.
It caused tsunamis in every coastal town between the 36th and 44th
parallels with a death toll of some 1000 people.
(PCh, 1992, p.977)(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A11)
1961 Jan 24, A B-52 carrying two
nuclear bombs near Goldsboro, North Carolina encountered a violent
gust. The giant plane rolled completely over, came upright, and
continued rolling inverted a second time before whipping into a vicious
flat spin and breaking up.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1961 Sep 1, The Soviet Union ended
a moratorium on atomic testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion
in central Asia.
(AP, 9/1/01)
1961 Sep 15, The US resumed
underground nuclear testing.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1961 Oct 30, The Soviet Union
tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at
about 50 megatons. This was the largest explosion ever recorded and
broke a 3-year nuclear test moratorium.
(AP, 10/30/06)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A22)
1962 Mar 1, US-British nuclear
test experiment took place in Nevada.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1962 May 25, US performed an
atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1962 Aug 25, USSR performed a
nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, Eastern Kazakh, Semipalitinsk.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1963 Aug 5, The United States,
Britain and the Soviet Union signed a Limited Test Ban Treaty in Moscow
banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, space and underwater. Public
pressure helped JFK signed the ban on atmospheric atom bomb tests.
(AP, 8/5/97)(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A10)(SSFC, 7/15/07,
p.D1)
1964 Oct 16, Red China detonated
its first atomic bomb, codenamed "596," on the Lop Nur Test Ground, and
became the world's 4th nuclear power.
(TMC, 1994, p.1964)(AP, 10/16/07)
1965 Mar 3, US performed a nuclear
test at Nevada Test Site.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1965 Mar 3, USSR performed a
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1966 The US nuclear arsenal peaked
at 30,000 weapons.
(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.E6)
1966 Jul-1991
Jul, During this period 175 French nuclear
detonations took place: 41 air bursts, 78 underground (in shafts dug
into the coral reef), and 56 underground (in shafts dug beneath the
lagoon). Of the 175 tests explosions, 163 were at the South Pacific
Mururoa Atoll, and 12 at Fangataufa atoll.
(http://tinyurl.com/3cutsg)
1967 Feb 26, USSR performed an
underground nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
(http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)
1967 Mar 2, US performed a nuclear
test at Nevada Test Site.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1967 Mar 3, US performed a nuclear
test at Nevada Test Site. [see Mar 2]
(SC, 3/3/02)
1967 Jun 17, China detonated its
1st hydrogen bomb and became the world's 4th thermo-nuclear power.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)(MC, 6/17/02)
1967 Jan 27, The US signed the
Outer Space Treaty with Russia. More than 60 nations signed a treaty
banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons. All weapons of mass
destruction were banned from orbit, as was military activity on the
moon and other celestial bodies.
(SFC, 1/28/67, p.A1)(AP, 1/27/98)(SSFC, 7/15/07,
p.D1)
1968 Jan 21, An American B-52
bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed at North Star Bay,
Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.
Reports began to surface later and in 1995 the Danish government paid a
$15.5 million settlement to some 1,700 exposed workers.
(www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2004/2004-08-09-02.asp)(AP, 1/21/08)
1968 Apr 26, The United States
exploded a 1.3 megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar" beneath the
Nevada desert.
(AP, 4/26/08)
1968 Jul 1, The United States,
Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. India refused to sign.
(AP, 7/1/97)(SFC, 5/28/98,
p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/d5cf45)
1968 Aug 24, France became the
world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the
South Pacific.
(AP, 8/24/97)
1968 Oct 27, Lisa Meitner
(b.1878), Austrian-born Swedish physicist, died in England. During the
war while in hiding from Hitler in Sweden, she analyzed and understood
for its significance the work of Otto Hahn who in 1944 was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on nuclear fission.
(MT, 10/94, letters,
p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner)
1969 Mar 26, The Nuclear reactor
in Dodewaard, Netherlands, went into use.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodewaard_nuclear_power_plant)
1969 Jul 4, The USSR performed
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
(www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)
1970 Mar 23, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1970 Mar 26, 500th nuclear
explosion since 1945 was announced by the US.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1970 May 27, USSR performs an
underground nuclear test.
(www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)
1970 Nov 4, Andre Sakharov,
Russian nuclear physicist, formed a Human Rights Committee.
(http://tinyurl.com/58dqt4)
1971 Mar 23, USSR performed
underground nuclear test.
(www.atomicforum.org/russia/russiantesting.html)
1971 May 25, USSR performed a
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
(www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)
1971 Jul 4, France performed a
nuclear test at Muruora Island.
(www.atomicforum.org/france/1971.html)
1971 Nov 6, The US Atomic Energy
Commission exploded a 5-megaton bomb beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska,
just 87 miles from the Petropavlovsk Russian naval base. It registered
as a magnitude-7 earthquake.
(SFC, 12/17/01, p.A4)
1972 David McTaggart (d.2001), one
of the founders of Greenpeace Int’l., sailed his small boat into the
French nuclear-testing site at Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.A22)(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A31)
1972 Scientists discovered an
extinct natural nuclear reactor in a uranium mine in Gabon. Research
revealed it had operated intermittently for a few million years from
about 2 billion years ago.
(SFC, 11/29/04, p.A4)
1973 Mar 23, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Toggle)
1973 Aug 25, France
performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1974 May 18, India became the
sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb. India conducted its first
nuclear tests and then halted testing.
(WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-10)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A12)(HN,
5/18/98)
1974 Jun 27, Pres. Nixon arrived
in Moscow for his 3rd summit. During the summit the US and Russia
approved a partial atomic test ban treaty.
(http://tinyurl.com/5yvrog)
1974 Aug 25, France
performed another nuclear test at Muruora Island.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1974 Nov 13, Karen Silkwood, a
technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium
plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash while on her way
to meet a reporter
(AP, 11/13/07)
1974 The Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG), a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear
proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials
that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group)
1976 Feb 26, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1976 Jul 28, In China a 7.8-8.2
earthquake in the northern city of Tangshan killed at least 242,000
people. This was reported as the deadliest earthquake in the last 100
years.
(AP,
7/28/97)(http://history1900s.about.com/od/horribledisasters/a/tangshan.htm)
1976 Pres. Ford suspended nuclear
reprocessing under the fear that terrorist groups might steal plutonium
from American plants to manufacture bombs. Pres. Carter made the
decision permanent in 2007.
(WSJ, 3/13/09, p.A9)
1977 May 25, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1977 Apr 7, Pres. Carter stopped
the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel rods in order to discourage the
proliferation of nuclear weapons.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)
1977 May 25, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)
1977 May 29, USSR performed a
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)
1977 Jun 6, The Washington Post
reported that the US had developed a neutron bomb.
(http://piurl.com/5B)
1978 Feb, A top secret Pentagon
document titled "History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear
Weapons" was completed. The report was made public in 1999 and
contained the locations of nuclear weapons minus their nuclear charges.
(SFC, 10/20/99,
p.A7)(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19991020/04-01.htm)
1978 Mar 23, The US performed
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)
1978 May 29, The USSR performed a
nuclear test at Semipalatinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)
1979 Sep 22, A 2-3 kiloton
thermonuclear device was set off in the waters off Bouvet Island, a
little-visited possession of Norway located between the bottom of South
Africa and the Prince Astrid Coast of Antarctica. It was speculated to
have been set off by either Israel, South Africa or Taiwan.
(SFCM, 9/25/05, p.6)
1979 Aug 18, USSR performed a
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)
1979 Sep 16, In Wisconsin the
Madison Press Connection published a detailed explanation of how to
build a hydrogen bomb in an article written by Charles Hansen
(1947-2003) of Mountain View, Ca. In 1988 Hansen published "U.S.
Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History."
(SFC, 9/17/04,
p.F4)(http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/News/HansenRetrospective.html)
1979 Sep 22, A 2-3 kiloton
thermonuclear device was set off in the waters off Bouvet Island, a
little-visited possession of Norway located between the bottom of South
Africa and the Prince Astrid Coast of Antarctica. The list of suspects
quickly narrowed to South Africa and Israel.
(SFCM, 9/25/05,
p.6)(www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/nuke-test.htm)
1980 Sep 15, A B-52H bomber
carrying nuclear-armed AGM-69 missiles experienced a fuel leak in its
number three main wing tank and caught fire on the ground at Grand
Forks AFB in North Dakota.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1981 May 30, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(http://tinyurl.com/32s5h3)
1982 Jun 12, Some one million
anti-nuclear demonstrators rallied in Central Park, NYC.
(www.thenation.com/doc/20070702/schell)
1982 Jul 4, USSR performed nuclear
test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_9.htm)
1982 Virginia banned uranium
mining. It remained legal to process enriched uranium into usable
nuclear fuel. In 2008 it was reported that the largest undeveloped
uranium deposit in the US was in Virginia’s Pittsylvania County.
(www.cleanwateraction.org/publication/keep-ban-uranium-mining-virginia)(WSJ,
7/26/08, p.A7)
1983 Mar 2, USSR performed an
underground nuclear test.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1983 Mar 26, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1983 Apr 1, Anti-nuke
demonstrators linked arms in 14-mile human chain in England.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1983 May 25, France performed a
nuclear test.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1983 The French Green Party was
founded.
(SFC, 6/22/01, p.D5)
1984 Feb 19, The USSR
performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)
1984 Apr 16, In San Francisco
nearly 200 people were arrested as some 1,000 demonstrators protested
the noon speech by Henry Kissinger as the SF Hilton Hotel. “I believe
that, within the next 12 to 15 months, there is every possibility that
significant negotiations with the Soviet Union will start.”
(www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/84/84-04kissinger-speech.html)(SSFC,
4/12/09, DB p.43)
1984 Aug 25, The USSR
performed an underground nuclear test.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)
1985 Sep 30, Charles Richter
(b.1900), seismologist, died. He developed the Richter Scale for
measuring the amplitude of earthquakes. In 2007 Susan Elizabeth Hough
authored “Richter’s Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Richter)(SSFC, 1/21/07,
p.M3)
1986 Apr 26, The world's worst
nuclear accident occurred in Pripyat, Ukraine, north of Kiev, at 1:23
a.m. as the Chernobyl atomic power plant exploded. A
300-hundred-square-mile area was evacuated and 31 people died as
unknown thousands were exposed to radioactive material that spread in
the atmosphere throughout the world. An exploded at Chernobyl, Ukraine,
and burned for 10 days. About 70% of the fallout fell in Belarus.
Damage was estimated to be up to $130 billion. By 1998 10,000 Russian
"liquidators" involved in the cleanup had died and thousands more
became invalids. It was later estimated that the released radioactivity
was 200 times the combined bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It
was later found that Soviet scientists were authorized to carry out
experiments that required the reactor to be pushed to or beyond its
limits, with safety features disabled.
(WSJ, 11/8/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A14)(SFC,
12/18/99, p.C4)(AP, 4/26/05)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.18)
1987 Feb 26, USSR resumed nuclear
testing at Semipalitinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1987 Nov 7, Italian citizens
began voting in a 2-day referendum to close down 3 nuclear power plants.
(AP, 11/13/03)(Econ, 6/6/09,
p.66)(www.radicalparty.org/ambiente/dilascia_ing.htm)
1989 Soviet nuclear test
explosions ended in Kazakhstan. Between 1949 and the cessation of
atomic testing in 1989, 456 explosions were conducted at the STS,
including 340 underground shots and 116 atmospheric.
(SFC,11/20/97,
p.B2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site)
1991 May 18, France performed a
nuclear test at Muruora Island.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1992 Sep, A US nuclear test in the
Nevada desert was set off. After the test Washington voluntarily gave
up testing as part of the emerging global moratorium.
(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A3)
1993 The UN International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) began a database to count incidents of nuclear
trafficking.
(Econ, 10/04/08, p.65)
1995 Feb 14, Britain’s Sizewell B
nuclear power plant, near Leiston, Suffolk, started generating power.
Construction had started in 1988.
(www.british-energy.com/pagetemplate.php?pid=96)
1995 British Energy was formed to
run Britain’s second generation of nuclear plants.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.64)
1996 Jan 27, France detonated its
sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb. In 1998 the Int’l. Atomic Energy
Agency confirmed that the test sites in the South Pacific would be
contaminated for centuries. Plutonium particles were scattered in the
sediment of the lagoons at Mururoa and Fangatoufa.
(WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-16)(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A7)
1996 Jul 29, China held a nuclear
test explosion that it promised would be its last, just hours before
international negotiators in Geneva began discussing a global ban on
such testing. Beijing said it would seek some changes in the global
test-ban treaty currently being fashioned by negotiators.
(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)(AP, 7/29/97)
1996 In Tennessee the Watts Bar
nuclear power plant came on line after 23 years of construction and a
cost of $6.9 billion.
(SFC, 5/5/07, p.A6)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.71)
1996 In Tennessee the US Dept. of
Energy began converting the K-25 building at Oak Ridge, which anchored
the world’s first full-scale uranium enrichment factory, into an
industrial park. By 2008 it was estimated that K-25 would be leveled by
late 2010, and the rest of the site finished by 2016 at a cost of $3
billion.
(WSJ, 6/2/08, p.A2)
1997 Apr 5, Regional police
reported the arrest of 7 men in Novosibirsk, Russia, who officials said
planned to smuggle 11 pounds (5.2kg) of enriched uranium to Pakistan or
China. The uranium was reportedly stolen from a plant in the former
Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.
(AP, 11/29/07)(http://tinyurl.com/3cydhn)
1997 Jul 2, The US began a round
of underground nuclear weapons-related tests in Nevada.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 16, Scientists reported
that an underground seismic event occurred in Russia. Inquiries were
being made about nuclear testing. Russian scientists claimed a
magnitude-2 earthquake near the Novaya Zemlya test range triggered the
event.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/3/97, p.A1)
1998 May 11, India set off the 1st
of 3 underground atomic blasts in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan near the
Pakistan border, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. Abdul Kalam led
the teams of scientists who developed missiles designed for India’s
atomic warheads.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/11/99)(WSJ, 7/15/02,
p.A1)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
1998 May 13, India set off 2 more
nuclear explosions in defiance of int’l. condemnations.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A1)
1998 May 28, Pakistan matched
India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the
Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed
penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported
that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13) (SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP,
5/28/99)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a
nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)
1999 May 19, Ukrainian authorities
on 19 May 1999 arrested four Russian citizens who were attempting to
smuggle 20kg of “enriched uranium ore” to Western Europe.
(http://tinyurl.com/3cydhn)
2001 Sep 3, In France COGEMA, a
state-owned uranium mining and fuel recycling firm led by Anne
Lauvergeon, became Areva in a merger with Framatome, a maker of nuclear
reactors.
(www.freebase.com/view/en/areva)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.70)
2003 Aug 27, The US and North
Korea held direct talks for the first time in months, meeting for a
half-hour on the sidelines of a six-nation summit in Beijing designed
to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Oct 4, A shipment of
uranium-enriching centrifuge gear was seized at the Italian port of
Taranto in 2003, forcing Libya to admit and eventually renounce its
efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2009 Urs Tinner, suspected of
involvement in the world's biggest nuclear smuggling ring, said in a
Swiss TV documentary that he tipped off US intelligence about a
delivery of centrifuge parts meant for Libya's nuclear weapons program.
(http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/28/world/fg-network28)(WSJ,
12/31/03, p.A1)(AP, 1/22/09)
2004 Graham Allison, Harvard
security analyst, authored “Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable
Catastrophe.”
(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.B1)
2006 Dec 18, Pres. Bush signed
H.R. 5682, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy
Cooperation Act of 2006 (Hyde Act), to let the US share its nuclear
know-how and fuel with India, which continued to refuse to sign the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It exempted from certain requirements
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 a proposed nuclear agreement for
cooperation with India. Robert Gates took the oath as Pentagon chief.
(www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5682)(SFC, 12/19/06,
p.A16)(WSJ, 12/19/06, p.A1)
2007 Jul 14, UN inspectors arrived
in North Korea to monitor the communist country's long-anticipated
promise to scale back its nuclear weapons program. North Korea said it
had shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, hours after a ship
cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country's
pledge to disarm.
(SSFC, 7/15/07, p.A4)(AP, 7/14/08)
2007 Aug 30, In a serious breach
of nuclear security, a US B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads
flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2007 Sep 6, Israeli troops backed
by tanks and bulldozers crossed into southern Gaza to strike at
Palestinian militants and 10 militants were killed. Palestinian
militants said fighters in a pickup truck and jeep crashed through a
fence on the Gaza-Israel border and attacked an Israeli army post. An
Israeli airstrike hit in Syria where it was believed weapons, being
sent from Iran to the militant Islamic group in Lebanon, were stored.
It was later reported that the airstrike was aimed at a partly
constructed nuclear reactor.
(AP, 9/6/07)(AP, 9/12/07)(SSFC, 10/14/07, p.A19)
2007 Nov 28, Two Hungarians and a
Ukrainian were arrested in eastern Slovakia and Hungary in an attempted
sale of uranium, material believed to be from the former Soviet Union.
Police said It was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty
bomb."
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Dec 12, India announced major
plans to increase its nuclear capabilities, saying it was close to
testing a ballistic missile capable of hitting targets up to 6,000
kilometers (3,800 miles) away.
(AP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 13, Russia and Iran
reached agreement on a schedule for finishing construction of a nuclear
power plant that plays a central role in the international tensions
over Iran's atomic program, Russian news agencies reported.
(AP, 12/13/07)
2008 Feb 5, A South African court
sentenced Daniel Geiges (69), a Swiss engineer, for his part in an
international nuclear smuggling ring. Geiges was given a 13-year
suspended sentence on charges relating to a network run by disgraced
Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. Geiges' former boss and
co-accused, German engineer Gerhard Wisser was given an 18-year
suspended sentenced last year in a plea agreement for his role in the
network.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 7, Experts said Iran's
nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge
to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 27, Japan and Israel
shared their concerns about Iranian nuclear programs and agreed to
cooperate to prevent Tehran from going nuclear.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Mar 3, The UN Security
Council imposed another round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to
suspend uranium enrichment. Iran defiantly vowed to continue its
nuclear program, which it insists is aimed only at generating power.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, China and Russia
scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear
defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 March 29, Azerbaijan customs
halted a shipment of Russian equipment for Iran’s first nuclear power
plant. The equipment was released May 1.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 8, In Pakistan a gas leak
sparked an explosion and fire at a nuclear plant that is believed to
produce enriched plutonium for the country’s atomic weapons program.
Two workers were killed.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 20, Russia closed down a
plutonium producing reactor in Seversk, marking a milestone in US
nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
(AP, 4/20/08)
2008 Apr 24, Syria dismissed US
accusations that North Korea was helping it build a nuclear reactor
that could produce plutonium. Israeli warplanes bombed a site in Syria
on Sept. 6, 2007, that private analysts said appeared to have been the
site of a reactor, based on commercial satellite imagery taken after
the raid. Syria later razed the site.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 May 21, Two Swedish
contractors were arrested suspected of preparing to sabotage The
Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in southern Sweden, after traces of
explosives were found on one of the men.
(AFP, 5/21/08)
2008 May 30, Jordan and France
signed an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear energy
program.
(AP, 5/30/08)
2008 Jun 2, The chief of the
International Atomic Energy Agency says Syria has agreed to let
inspectors into the country this month to probe allegations of illegal
nuclear activity.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 21, Four French
nationals, all Niger-based employees of the nuclear company Areva, were
abducted by rebels from the Movement for Justice in a part of Niger
known for its uranium mines. They were freed on June 25.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 25, A senior UN atomic
inspector said an initial probe of US allegations that a Syrian site
hit by Israeli warplanes was a secretly built nuclear reactor is
inconclusive and further checks are necessary.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 26, The Federation of
American Scientists, which studies the US nuclear arsenal, said in a
report that Washington had removed its last atomic bombs from the
British Royal Air Force base at Lakenheath, where they had been
stationed since 1954.
(Reuters, 6/26/08)
2008 Jun 26, President Bush said
he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from
the US terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward
the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."
(AP, 6/26/08)
2008 Jun 26, North Korea handed
over details of its nuclear programs, paving the way to be removed from
the US terrorism blacklist amid years of efforts to persuade the North
to abandon the atom bomb.
(AFP, 6/26/08)
2008 Jun 27, North Korea destroyed
the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program, blasting apart
the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in a sign of its
commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.
(AP, 6/27/08)
2008 Jul 19, In Geneva a decision
to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled, with
Iran stonewalling Washington and 5 other world powers on their call to
freeze uranium enrichment.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 26, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said that Iran now has 6,000 centrifuges, a significant
increase in the number of uranium-enriching machines in its nuclear
program.
(AP, 7/26/08)
2008 Aug 1, The UN atomic
watchdog's board of governors unanimously approved an inspections
agreement with India that is key to finalizing a US-India nuclear deal.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 5, The US Energy
Department said that even if no new reactors are built, getting rid of
the country's nuclear waste will cost $96.2 billion and require a major
expansion of the planned Nevada waste dump beyond limits imposed by
Congress.
(AP, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 9, Syria said it would
bar UN nuclear investigators from revisiting a site bombed by Israeli
jets on suspicion it was a secretly built atomic reactor.
(AP, 8/9/08)
2008 Aug 24, Iran's official news
agency said the country has begun designing its second light-water
nuclear power plant, a 360-megawatt facility in the southwest.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2008 Aug 26, An Ohio jury
convicted Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear plant engineer, of hiding
information in 2001 about reactor corrosion at the Davis-Besse plant
along Lake Erie. Siemaszko’s attorney’s said the plant’s owner set him
up as a scapegoat because he spoke out about safety concerns.
(WSJ, 8/27/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 26, North Korea said it
has suspended work on disabling its nuclear facilities as of August 14
and is considering restoration of the Yongbyon reactor that can make
material for atomic bombs, accusing the US of violating a disarmament
deal by failing to delist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 28, Iran’s Junior trade
minister Mohammadali Zeyghami said Iran is ready to share its nuclear
technology with Nigeria to help the energy-starved west African
powerhouse boost electricity generation.
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Sep 1, North Korea began
reassembling its Yongbyon reactor that can make material for atomic
bombs in violation of US conditions for improved diplomatic relations.
Japan's Kyodo news agency reported the restart on Sep 3 citing sources
in Beijing close to six-party nuclear talks on North Korean.
(Reuters, 9/3/08)
2008 Sep 8, Australian Trade
Minister Simon Crean said Australia will not sell uranium to India
unless it signs a key non-proliferation pact, despite a decision by
nuclear supplier nations to end a ban on trading with New Delhi.
(AFP, 9/8/08)
2008 Sep 15, A new International
Atomic Energy Agency report said that Iran has repeatedly blocked a UN
investigation into allegations it tried to make nuclear arms and the
probe is now deadlocked.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 18, Australia’s PM Kevin
Rudd said the west's relations with Russia are at a turning point after
its intervention in Georgia and a pact to sell Australian uranium to
Moscow is in the balance.
(AP, 9/18/08)
2008 Sep 19, North Korea said it
is making "thorough preparations" to restart its nuclear reactor,
accusing the United States of failing to fulfill its obligations under
an international disarmament-for-aid agreement.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 22, North Korea asked the
UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) to remove seals and surveillance equipment
from the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
(AP, 9/22/08)
2008 Sep 24, The European Union
warned that Iran is nearing the ability to arm a nuclear warhead even
if it insists its atomic activities are peaceful.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 24, French power provider
EDF said it has agreed to acquire British Energy Group PLC for about
$23.2 billion in cash in a deal that would create a powerhouse in
nuclear energy.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 24, North Korea barred UN
nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor and within a week
plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its
atomic test explosion.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 27, The UN Security
Council unanimously approved a new resolution reaffirming previous
sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program
and offering Tehran incentives to do so.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 28, President Hugo Chavez
said that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy, a move
likely to raise US concerns over increasingly close cooperation between
Caracas and Moscow.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Oct 1, The US Senate voted
overwhelmingly in favor of overturning a three-decade ban on atomic
trade with India, allowing American businesses to begin selling nuclear
fuel, technology and reactors in exchange for safeguards and UN
inspections of India's civilian nuclear plants. In response Pakistani
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said: "Now Pakistan also has the right to demand
a civilian nuclear agreement with America. We want there to be no
discrimination. Pakistan will also strive for a nuclear deal and we
think they will have to accommodate us."
(AP, 10/2/08)
2008 Oct 8, South Korea's top
military officer said North Korea is working to develop a nuclear
warhead for a long-range missile, a day after the communist state
tested its short-range weaponry.
(AP, 10/8/08)
2008 Oct 9, The International
Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea has told it that the government
is placing all its main nuclear complex off-limits to inspectors and
will stop its program of dismantling the site.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 11, The United States
said it would drop North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, in the
latest attempt to salvage a nuclear disarmament deal before President
Bush's term ends in January.
(AP, 10/11/08)
2008 Oct 12, North Korea said it
will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the US
removed the communist country from a list of states Washington says
sponsor terrorism.
(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Oct 14, North Korea resumed
steps to disable its nuclear reactor under renewed monitoring, after a
deal with Washington to save the disarmament process from collapse.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 18, Pakistan said that
China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting
Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival
India and the US.
(AP, 10/18/08)
2008 Nov 12, The United States
says it has shipped 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea
as part of a nuclear disarmament deal. The fuel is scheduled to arrive
in the North in late November and early December. North Korea said that
it won't allow outside inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear
complex to verify the communist regime's accounting of past nuclear
activities.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2008 Nov 17, Algeria and Argentina
signed an agreement to boost cooperation over civil nuclear energy as
part of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's tour of northern Africa.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 26, In Venezuela Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a local nuclear energy
program and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade
bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez.
(AP, 11/27/08)
2008 Nov 30, The head of Iran's
nuclear power agency said the country is willing to help neighboring
Arab countries build joint light-water nuclear power plants if they are
interested.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Dec 5, India and Russia
signed a civilian nuclear deal that would see Russia build four nuclear
reactors for power-starved India.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 9, In Beijing delegates
from six nations focused on a Chinese proposal on how to verify North
Korea's claims about its atomic program in talks aimed at ending the
secretive regime's nuclear activities.
(AFP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 9, In Paris, France,
entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, Jordan's Queen Noor and other
dignitaries launched an ambitious project aimed at eliminating the
world's nuclear weapons over the next 25 years.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 13, North Korea warned
that it will slow down work on ending its nuclear drive after six-party
talks collapsed, but South Korea predicted a fresh start for diplomacy
under US president-elect Barack Obama.
(AFP, 12/13/08)
2008 Dec 20, The British
government said it has sold its final stake in the country's nuclear
weapons plant, prompting criticism from MPs who said it throws the
independence of the British nuclear deterrent into question.
State-owned British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) sold its one-third
stake of the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at
Aldermaston, Berkshire, to Jacobs Engineering Group of the United
States.
(AFP, 12/20/08)
2008 Dec 30, US President George
W. Bush signed a nuclear inspection agreement with the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will boost international monitoring
of nuclear activities,
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/31/content_10583484.htm)
2008 Brian Michael Jenkins
authored “Will Terrorists Go Nuclear.”
(WSJ, 10/5/08, p.A25)
2008 William Tucker authored
“Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution
and Lead America’s Energy Odyssey.”
(WSJ, 12/16/08, p.A21)
2009 Jan 11, Slovakia reopened a
nuclear power plant it was forced to shut down as part of its bid to
join the European Union, prompting condemnation from neighboring
Austria, which described the reactor at Bohunice as unsafe.
(AP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 12, The US slapped
sanctions on people and firms linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul
Qadeer Khan’s black market nuclear network.
(WSJ, 1/13/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 17, A US researcher who
visited the North said North Korea has hardened its stance on
disarmament, saying it has "weaponized" plutonium into warheads, but
hopes for better ties with President-elect Barack Obama.
(AP, 1/17/09)
2009 Jan 21, Russia's military
said that an old Soviet-built nuclear-powered satellite has spewed
fragments in orbit, but insisted they do not threaten the international
space station or people on Earth.
(AP, 1/21/09)
2009 Feb 2, The International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a nuclear inspections deal with
India.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 4, French group Areva
signed a draft accord for the sale of two to six nuclear reactors to
India, a huge new market now open with the end of a nuclear trade
embargo on New Delhi.
(AFP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, In Germany countries
leading the drive to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear program
welcomed the new US administration's readiness to engage with Tehran.
Foreign Ministry officials from Germany and the five permanent members
of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the US,
met in Wiesbaden.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 5, The Swedish government
agreed to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors,
saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 6, A Pakistani court
freed nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. He had admitted to selling
weapon technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
(WSJ, 2/7/08, p.A1)
2009 Feb 16, Authorities
acknowledged that nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France
collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, touching off new
concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets. The
HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine
fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was also carrying
nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the collision.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 19, The International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said samples taken from a Syrian site
suspected of being a secretly built reactor have revealed new traces of
processed uranium.
(AP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 22, Iran's official news
agency says the country's first nuclear power plant will begin
preliminary phase operation after a series of delays.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Feb 24, France’s Pres.
Sarkozy and Italy’s Premier Berlusconi signed a deal pairing utilities
from each nation to study the feasibility of building nuclear power
plants in Italy.
(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.A11)
2009 Feb 24, Syria's nuclear chief
told the UN's nuclear agency that his nation has built a new missile
facility on the site of what the US says was a nearly finished nuclear
reactor bombed by Israel in Sep 2007.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 25, Iranian and Russian
technicians conducted a test run of Iran's first nuclear power plant, a
major step toward launching full operations at the facility.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Mar 2, Iran dismissed US
concerns about how much fissile material the country has produced,
saying it isn't developing a nuclear bomb and that any effort to make
weapons-grade uranium would be difficult under the eyes of
international inspectors.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 6, In Paraguay about 100
women disrobed in a square in downtown Asuncion to protest nuclear
weapons.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 18, The prime ministers
of China and North Korea discussed the nuclear situation on the Korean
peninsula as they met in Beijing amid rising tensions over Pyongyang's
atomic and missile programs.
(AFP, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 24, The French government
offered for the first time to compensate victims of nuclear tests in
Algeria and the South Pacific, bowing to decades of pressure by people
sickened by radiation.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 26, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy visited Brazzaville and Kinshasa. During the Kinshasa
trip, given over in large part to regional political issues, Areva
signed an agreement with the government allowing the company to
prospect for and mine uranium.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 31, The US Government
Accountability Office released a report saying 4 countries designated a
terrorism sponsors received $55 million from a US supported program
promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy under the IAEA’s Technical
Cooperation program. Between 1997 and 2007 Iran received over $15
million, $14 million went to Syria, while Sudan and Cuba received over
$11 million each.
(WSJ, 3/31/09, p.A3)
2009 Apr 1, In London Presidents
Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama said Russia and the United States will
pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads, making good on a pledge to
rebuild relations from a post-Cold War low. The US and China agreed to
establish a "strategic and economic dialogue" group that would first
meet in Washington later this year.
(Reuters, 4/1/09)
2009 Apr 9, Iran's president
inaugurated a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned
heavy-water nuclear reactor. Pres. Ahmadinejad was attending
celebrations in Isfahan for Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology,
which marks the day in 2006 when Iran enriched uranium for the first
time. Iran has been building the 40-megawatt hard-water reactor in the
central town of Arak for the past four years.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 14, North Korea vowed to
restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament
talks for good in retaliation for the UN Security Council's
condemnation of its rocket launch.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 14, Ukrainian officials
said security agents have arrested a regional lawmaker and two
companions for trying to sell a radioactive substance that could be
used in making a dirty bomb. The legislator in the western Ternopyl
region and two local businessmen were detained last week for trying to
sell 8.2 pounds (3.7 kilograms) of radioactive material to an
undercover agent of the security service.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 16, UN nuclear inspectors
left North Korea after the hardline communist state ordered them out
and announced plans to restart production of weapons-grade plutonium.
(AFP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 17, Canadian police,
acting on a tip-off from the United States, charged a Toronto man with
trying to illegally export nuclear technology to Iran. The Royal
Canadian Mounted Police said Mahmoud Yadegari had attempted to obtain
pressure transducers, devices that are used to make enriched uranium
but can also have military applications.
(Reuters, 4/17/09)
2009 Apr 24, In Italy US and
Russian arms negotiators held a "very productive" initial round of
talks aimed at agreeing a new treaty to curb nuclear weapons as part of
a broader effort to improve relations.
(AP, 4/24/09)
2009 Apr 25, North Korea said it
has restarted its nuclear facilities to harvest plutonium for atomic
weapons, just hours after the UN imposed new sanctions on the communist
state for its recent rocket launch.
(AP, 4/25/09)
2009 May 4, Niger’s Pres. Mamadou
Tandja accompanied representatives of French energy giant Areva at a
ceremony marking the beginning of a new uranium project in Imoraren.
The site is expected to boost Niger's uranium production from 3,000 to
5,000 tons per year.
(AP, 5/4/09)
2009 May 5, A restricted UN report
said IAEA inspectors detected nuclear particles in Egypt last year and
in 2007. A senior diplomat accredited to the agency said that it was
the first time the traces were reported by the Vienna-based nuclear
monitor.
(AP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 19, Russia and the US
held talks in Moscow aimed at cutting stockpiles of nuclear weapons, a
move that could herald a thaw in relations between the former Cold War
foes.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 25, North Korea claimed
it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test, much larger than
one conducted in 2006. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic
explosion at 9:54 a.m. (0054 GMT) in northeastern North Korea,
estimating the blast's yield at 10 to 20 kilotons, comparable to the
bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 25, It was reported that
a secret Israeli government report said Venezuela and Bolivia are
supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program.
(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 26, Libya and Ukraine
signed deals to cooperate in both peaceful civilian nuclear energy and
in defense during a visit by Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
(AP, 5/27/09)
2009 May 26, Russia's uranium
export company signed a groundbreaking $1 billion package of contracts
to supply three US utilities with enriched fuel for nuclear power
plants. Tenex signed contracts to provide enriched uranium fuel to San
Francisco, California-based Pacific Gas & Electric Company; St.
Louis, Missouri-based AmerenUE; and Dallas, Texas-based Luminant. Tenex
will supply fuel to the US utilities from 2014 through 2020 under the
contracts, which provide the option for renewal.
(AP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 29, In California the new
National Ignition Facility was dedicated at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory. It was designed to create conditions like those found in
stars and in the explosions of hydrogen bombs. The project was over 5
years behind schedule and costs to date reached $4 billion, almost 4
times the original estimate.
(SFC, 5/30/09, p.A1)(Econ, 5/30/09, p.81)
2009 May 29, In Geneva a 65-nation
Conference on Disarmament broke a dozen years of deadlock and opened
the way to negotiate a new nuclear arms control treaty.
(AP, 5/29/09)
2009 Jun 2, Pres. Obama appeared
in a BBC interview and said Iran may have some right to nuclear energy,
provided it takes steps to prove its aspirations are peaceful. Obama
also restated his plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran.
(SFC, 6/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Jun 12, The UN Security
Council agreed to expand an arms embargo against North Korea and
authorize ship searches on the high seas, with the goal of derailing
the isolated nation's nuclear and missile programs.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 13, An Italian court
ordered the recall of 10,000 tons of wood fuel pellets imported from
Lithuania over fears that they could have dangerous levels of
radioactivity. Test results showed that they contained cesium 137, a
highly toxic radioactive substance normally produced by a nuclear
explosion or from the combustion of a nuclear reactor. The contaminated
pellets themselves were not dangerous to humans, but danger comes from
the ashes and the smoke produced when they are burned.
(AFP, 6/14/09)
2009 Jun 13, North Korea vowed to
step up its atomic bomb-making program and threatened war if its ships
are stopped as part of new UN sanctions aimed at punishing the nation
for its latest nuclear test.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Thomas C. Reed and Danny B.
Stillman authored “The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb
and Its Proliferation,” a political history of nuclear weapons from the
discovery of fission in 1938 to the nuclear train wreck that seems to
loom in our future.
(WSJ, 1/17/08, p.W8)
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Subject = Nuclear
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