IAEA Releases Reports on Iran, Syria

UN Seeks Assurances that Iran has No Other Hidden Nuclear Sites - Washington Post [link]

• After its three-day inspection of the underground site, the International Atomic Energy Agency has pressed Iran to declare in writing that it has no other hidden nuclear facilities.
• The U.N. nuclear watchdog also asked Iranian officials for original blueprints for the processing facility, as well as access to engineers to verify claims that it was intended to be part of a peaceful nuclear energy program.
• The demand for details stems in part from questions about the possible existence of support facilities that would have supplied uranium feedstock to the almost completed plant, which is near Qom, a Shiite Muslim holy city south of Tehran.
• Download the full Iran and Syria IAEA reports (courtesy of ArmsControlWonk), or read analyses of the Iran and Syria reports written by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a Ploughshares Fund grantee.

Russia Reset Showing Results - Max Bergmann in the Wonk Room [link]

• A year ago, there was a rising fear that the US and Russia were on the verge of a new Cold War. Today the relationship seems to have gone 180. The US and Russia are now on the verge of signing a new nuclear disarmament agreement and look increasingly in sync on Iran.
• The relationship is now about getting stuff done on issues of key strategic importance like nuclear proliferation, Iran, and Afghanistan. This level-headed policy has resulted in major progress in reducing the dangers of nuclear proliferation, as well as potentially removed one of the biggest obstacles to a cohesive international response on Iran. There is still a long way to go on all these issues, but the turn around in relations is clear.

Obama Says China Agrees on Iran Nuclear Transparency - Reuters [link]

• Iran's nuclear program, which Western powers have said appears to be for the production of nuclear weapons -- a charge Iran denies -- was among the issues on the table during Obama's trip to China, one of Iran's strongest trade partners.
• "We agreed that the Islamic Republic of Iran must provide assurance to the international community that its nuclear program is peaceful and transparent," Obama said at a news conference with Hu.

Nuclear Notebook: Worldwide Deployments of Nuclear Weapons, 2009 - Robert Norris and Hans Kristensen in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• As the United States and russia continue to consolidate their nuclear arsenals, the number of sites in the world that host nuclear weapons also has decreased.
• As of the end of 2009, we estimate that there are approximately 23,360 nuclear weapons located at some 111 sites in 14 countries.  Nearly one-half of these weapons are active or operationally deployed.

Atomic Priesthoods, Thorn Landscapes, and Munchian Pictograms: How to Communicate the Dangers of Nuclear Waste to Future Civilizations - Slate [link]

• But another, more abstract problem—raised by the Hanford message in a bottle—remains unsolved: not how to store waste but how to label it.
• This seemingly simple conundrum (just use a radiation hazard symbol!) is complicated by the fact that such a trespass would prove lethal if it took place not only in 60 years but in 10,000 or 100,000.
• According to government guidelines, DoE must plan for the continuing safety of the site over the next 10 millenniums.
• The DoE summary report, dryly titled "Expert Judgment on Markers To Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion Into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant," is a bizarrely fascinating read.