Tag: nuclear power

NAT SEC ARCHIVE: Concerned About Nuclear Weapons, JFK Pushed for Inspection of Israel Nuclear Facilities

President John F Kennedy worried that Israel’s nuclear program was a potentially serious proliferation risk and insisted that Israel permit periodic inspections to mitigate the danger, according to declassified documents published today by the National Security Archive, Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.  Kennedy pressured the government of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to prevent a military nuclear program, particularly after stage-managed tours of the Dimona facility for U.S. government scientists in 1961 and 1962 raised suspicions within U.S. intelligence that Israel might be concealing its underlying nuclear aims.  Kennedy’s long-run objective, documents show, was to broaden and institutionalize inspections of Dimona by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On 30 May 1961, Kennedy met Ben-Gurion in Manhattan to discuss the bilateral relationship and Middle East issues. However, a central (and indeed the first) issue in their meeting was the Israeli nuclear program, about which President Kennedy was most concerned.   According to a draft record of their discussion, which has never been cited, and is published here for the first time, Ben-Gurion spoke “rapidly and in a low voice” and “some words were missed.”  He emphasized the peaceful, economic development-oriented nature of the Israeli nuclear project. Nevertheless the note taker, Assistant Secretary of State Philips Talbot, believed that he heard Ben-Gurion mention a “pilot” plant to process plutonium for “atomic power” and also say that “there is no intention to develop weapons capacity now.” Ben-Gurion tacitly acknowledged that the Dimona reactor had a military potential, or so Talbot believed he had heard.  The final U.S. version of the memcon retained the sentence about plutonium but did not include the language about a “pilot” plant and  “weapons capacity.”

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NSA Waltz Demands Iran Give Up Entire Nuclear Program, Including Civilian Enrichment

While continuing to closely tie the recent US attacks on the Houthis in Yemen to Iran, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz confirmed that the Trump Administration is demanding “full dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program, including its capacity to enrich uranium for civilian use.

Waltz made the comments on CBS’ Face the Nation, and when asked what full dismantlement meant and to clarify the distinction between it and the verification deal the US had with Iran before President Trump pulled out of it in 2018, he made it clear this is far broader, covering everything, including enrichment, “weaponization,” and strategic missile programs.

Iran’s enrichment program, which is under IAEA monitoring, has no military component in the first place. Enrichment was purely for making fuel rods for the Bushehr nuclear power plant along Iran’s coast and for making somewhat higher enriched fuel for its medical isotope reactor. Iran has a long history of having a substantial nuclear medicine program, and supplied its own isotopes for that.

The long-abandoned nuclear deal was meant to give Iran a design to produce isotopes without 20% enriched uranium through a heavy-water reactor. Like most of the promises to Iran under the deal this was never honored, and Iran is left with the old research reactor. Higher levels of enrichment were also done to try to encourage new negotiations, though Iran promised the IAEA that they would not go above 60% levels, and weapons-grade uranium is a minimum of 90%.

Waltz’ new demand is not that Iran goes back down to 20% or anything, it’s to stop enrichment entirely. It’s unclear in the context if Iran is even allowed to keep it’s power plant, though without the ability to enrich uranium to make their own fuel, it would be effectively useless in fairly short order.

Beyond that, Waltz demanded Iran scrap its “weaponization” program, which will be a challenge because Iran does not have one, and US intelligence assessments have repeatedly said Iran hasn’t decided to try to make such a weapon though such assessments never seem to inform the content of US demands.

He also demanded Iran get rid of its entire strategic missile program, which sense they haven’t even attempted to create nuclear warheads would exclusively impact conventional weapons in Iran’s arsenal. Though presented as something to do with nuclear dismantlement, it is effectively unrelated in the case of these missiles.

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What? Texas Needs Equivalent Of 30 Nuclear Reactors By 2030 To Power AI Data Centers

The AI infrastructure trade (aka the Power-Up America basket which we recommended one year ago before it soared into the stratosphere), had taken a back seat in recent weeks, with some marquee names such as a Vertiv, Contellation, Oklo and others, tumbling from record highs amid growing speculation that China’s DeepSeek – and other cheap LLM alternatives – will lead to far lower capex demands than what is currently projected.

But while the occasional hiccup is to be expected, the endgame for US infra/nuclear stocks looks (millions of degrees) bright. Consider Texas, where demand on the state power grid is expected to expand so immensely that it would take the equivalent of adding 30 nuclear plants’ worth of electricity by 2030 to meet the needs. That’s according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the grid.

The forecast is based on the addition of new data centers needed to power artificial intelligence. And it’s raising concerns about whether infrastructure in the state, which last week we said wants to be “king of nuclear power as the Next AI trade unfolds” – will be able to expand fast enough…. and at what cost.

Coming out of the pandemic, electricity demand on the Texas grid was already growing faster than anywhere else in the country, Bloomberg reports. And now that’s being supercharged by AI, with the state vying to become the data-center hub of the country, if not the world.

Individual projects are already starting to request 1 gigawatt of power and they pose new risks to maintaining a stable grid, said Agee Springer, Ercot’s senior manager of grid interconnections. A gigawatt is typically enough to power 250,000 homes in Texas. The data centers “present a reliability risk to the Ercot system,” said Springer, who spoke on a panel at Infocast’s ERCOT Market Summit in Austin this week.

“We’ve never existed in a place where large industrial loads can really impact the reliability of the grid, and now we are stepping into that world.”

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Russia Says Ukrainian Drones Target Nuclear Power Plant

Ukraine launched over 100 drones targeting Russian energy infrastructure. One Russian official said that a nuclear power plant was among the targets.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, overnight Tuesday, its forces downed more than 100 Ukrainian drones. The UAVs targeted Russian energy infrastructure over a widespread area.

One of the drones was downed in the Smolensk Region near a nuclear facility. “According to preliminary information, one of the drones was shot down during an attempt to attack a nuclear power facility,” the region’s Governor Vasily Anokhin said. “There were no casualties or damage,” he added.

In the Belgorod Region, Russian authorities reported a drone killed a woman and her 2-year-old child.

Recently, Kiev has stepped up its drone strikes in Russia. Earlier this month, Ukraine launched its largest drone and missile barrage of the war. Among the targets was the TurkStream pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to Turkey.

Moscow typically responds to Ukrainian attacks inside Russia by bombing cities and infrastructure. Following a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia in December, President Putin said, “Whoever and however tries to destroy something in our country, he will face destruction many times larger in his own country and will regret its attempts to do that in our country.”

Additionally, the Kremlin often blames Washington for its role in supplying Kiev with the necessary arms, funding, and intelligence to conduct attacks in Russia.

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New Documents Highlight Drone Sightings Near Nuclear Facilities

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Black Vault on November 7, 2024, with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, resulted in the release of records highlighting drone incursions over sensitive nuclear installations. The request, identified as FOIA-2025-000142, sought all materials and communications shared with the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) from June 2022 through the end of 2024.

While UFO enthusiasts may have hoped for evidence of extraordinary phenomena, the documents largely revolve around repeated sightings of drones near sensitive nuclear installations.

Nonetheless, these incidents provide an intriguing insight into ongoing challenges relating to these events.

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Nuclear Power Plants Report Massive Uptick In Drone Sightings

The number of drone flyovers of nuclear plants for the entire year nearly doubled in one week, from December 10th to December 17th, according to data provided to The War Zone by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Between Jan. 1 and Dec.10, nuclear facility licensees reported a total of 15 drone events. As of about 1 p.m. Dec., 17, that number had jumped to 26, NRC spokesman Dave McIntyre told The War Zone on Friday in response to our query. While the timeline overlaps with a rash of drone sightings across the country and especially in the New Jersey area – including over military installations and energy infrastructure – it is unclear at the moment what, if any, connection there is to the dramatic increase in suspicious drone events over nuclear facilities.

“…before January 2024, nuclear power plant licensees voluntarily reported flyovers by uncrewed aerial systems, such as drones, to the Federal Aviation Administration; law enforcement (local and the FBI); and the NRC,” McIntyre told The War Zone. “Because reporting was voluntary, our information may not reflect the total number of UAS overflights of nuclear power plants.”

Once a flyover is reported, he added, “the NRC provides the specifics to other agencies for follow-up, including the FBI. The NRC does not investigate this type of activity once it has been reported.”

We reached out to the NRC, FBI, FAA and Department of Homeland Security for more context about these flyovers. We will update this story with any pertinent information provided.

The most recent publicly known drone sightings were over the Public Service Energy & Gas (PSEG) Nuclear Salem and Hope Creek generating stations, located at Lower Alloways Creek Township, in Salem County, New Jersey.

“Yes, drones were seen in the vicinity of Salem and Hope Creek (they’re the same site) last weekend,” NRC spokesperson Diane Screnci told us on Dec. 20. She did not provide a specific date, but a PSE&G spokesperson issued a statement saying that a flyover occurred on Dec 14.

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Why Is The Media Being So Quiet About The Radioactive Material That Has Gone Missing In New Jersey?

Something extremely strange has been happening in New Jersey, but the mainstream media has been eerily quiet about some of the most important threads of this story.  It turns out that an “air restriction alert” banned flights over Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway, New Jersey for “special security reasons” from November 21st through December 26th.

Many people don’t realize this, but counter-terrorism drones have been getting tested at Picatinny for years.  In addition, we have learned that radioactive material was reported missing in New Jersey in early December.  The following comes directly from the official website of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission…

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT – SOURCE LOST IN TRANSIT

The following information was provided by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) via email:

“The licensee reported to NJDEP on December 3, 2024, that a Ge-68 pin source that they sent for disposal has been lost in transit on December 2, 2024. The source is a Eckert & Ziegler model HEGL-0132, with current approximate activity of 0.267 mCi. The shipping container arrived at its destination damaged and empty. The licensee has filed a claim with the shipper. If the source is not located within the 30 days, the licensee will follow-up with a full written report to include root cause(s) and corrective actions.

“This event is reportable under 10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(ii).”

New Jersey Event Report ID number: To be determined

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A ‘Less than Cat 3’ LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

The big corporate news sources in the United States are saying very little about this.

But others are reporting about this incident.  For example, the following comes from a British news source…

A piece of medical equipment used for cancer scans was shipped from the Nazha Cancer Center in Newfield on December 2 for disposal, but the ‘shipping container arrived at its destination damaged and empty.’

The device, known as a ‘pin source,’ contained a small amount of Germanium-68 (Ge-68) that is used to calibrate a medical scanner’s accuracy. If handled without proper gear, it can cause radiation poisoning.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an alert for the missing shipment deemed ‘less than a Category 3,’ meaning it could cause permanent injury if mishandled.

A search for this radioactive material is being conducted.

In fact, Belleville Mayor Michael Melham has confirmed that New Jersey state police have issued an alert about the radioactive material that is missing.

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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Releases Report Confirming Radioactive Material Lost in Transit — Shipping Container Arrives Damaged and Empty in New Jersey

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has confirmed that radioactive material was lost in transit earlier this month, heightening fears about public safety and sparking theories about mysterious drone activity in New Jersey.

Officer Lew, a prominent political commentator, highlighted the NRC’s event report during a review of regulatory alerts.

“While looking at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Alerts. I can confirm that there is radioactive material that has gone missing on Dec 2nd, 2024 out of New Jersey. This might be the reason for the drones… just speculation at this point,” he wrote.

The missing material, identified as a Ge-68 pin source manufactured by Eckert & Ziegler, was reported lost by its licensee on December 3, 2024. Shipped for disposal, the container arrived at its destination severely damaged and empty.

According to the NRC’s report, the radioactive source, while classified as “Less than IAEA Category 3,” still poses potential risks if mishandled or exposed for prolonged periods.

According to the report:

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT – SOURCE LOST IN TRANSIT

The following information was provided by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) via email:

“The licensee reported to NJDEP on December 3, 2024, that a Ge-68 pin source that they sent for disposal has been lost in transit on December 2, 2024. The source is a Eckert & Ziegler model HEGL-0132, with current approximate activity of 0.267 mCi. The shipping container arrived at its destination damaged and empty. The licensee has filed a claim with the shipper. If the source is not located within the 30 days, the licensee will follow-up with a full written report to include root cause(s) and corrective actions.

“This event is reportable under 10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(ii).”

New Jersey Event Report ID number: To be determined

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A ‘Less than Cat 3’ LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Sources that are “Less than IAEA Category 3 sources,” are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly – although it is unlikely – temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.

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New Jersey Receives Report Radioactive Medical Device “Lost In Transit”

While everyone, including local, state, and federal authorities, is desperately searching for answers, there has been a notable lack of disclosure regarding what is actually happening in the skies above New Jersey—some of the most restricted airspace in the world.

One theory points to drones equipped with payload sensors designed to detect radioactive material, given ongoing and heightened Al-Qaeda threats on the East Coast. Others believe this could be part of a large psyop aimed at pushing through new drone legislation in Washington, DC. Additional theories suggest that Iranian or Chinese operators may be deploying drones to spark mass hysteria.

Even Washington Post’s Josh Rogin called out the feds for “the lack of disclosure is damaging public trust.” He added it’s time for the feds “to come clean.”

If these really are Defense Department drones doing radiation sniffing for possible dirty bombs, one could understand why they wouldn’t want to admit that & panic people. But at this point, the lack of disclosure is damaging public trust. Time to come clean.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) December 15, 2024

What may seem like a mere coincidence is worth noting: reports of drone sightings began in mid-November, and on December 2, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission disclosed that a medical device containing radioactive material was “lost in transit” in New Jersey.

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“We Don’t Have Enough…”: Russia Temporarily Limits Exports Of Enriched Uranium To U.S.

In news that will act as a headwind for the U.S.’s re-emerging nuclear industry, it was reported last week that Russia is temporarily restricting enriched uranium exports to the U.S., raising supply concerns for reactors that produce nearly 20% of the nation’s electricity.

Russia provided no details or timeline for its uranium export restrictions in a Friday Telegram statement, though utilities’ advance purchasing likely mitigates immediate effects, Bloomberg wrote in a report on Friday.

Amid global backlash over its war in Ukraine, Russia continues leveraging energy as a geopolitical tool, also cutting gas supplies to Austria—ending a 60-year agreement that fulfills 80% of its demand—citing a legal dispute.

Bloomberg noted that Russia’s move targets a key U.S. vulnerability in the nuclear fuel cycle, as it controls nearly half of global uranium enrichment capacity and supplied over a quarter of U.S. enriched fuel last year.

Chris Gadomski, head nuclear analyst for BloombergNEF commented: “We don’t have enough enriched uranium here. They should have been stockpiling enriched uranium in anticipation of this happening.”

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