Many nuclear experts recently gathered in Oslo for an event on nuclear disarmament, organized by the Nobel Institute. Bruno Tertrais, attendee and friend of wonk, sends along this photo of what, for him, was the highlight of the meeting: A talk by Joachim Rønneberg, “who, in addition to bearing a slight resemblance to Clint Eastwood …
What Does Natanz Cost?
by | 2009-06-27 | 5 Comments
Iran is obviously investing a lot of its political, intellectual, and financial resources into the Natanz enrichment center. But can we come up with a figure for how much it has cost Iran? Perhaps we can estimate it based on costs associated with Western equivalents. I have attempted to do this below. The result is …
Yura's Brew
by | 2009-06-27 | 7 Comments
Dan Pinkston pointed out this gem from KCNA: Taedonggang Beer Pyongyang, June 25 (KCNA) — The beers including black beer and rice beer made by the Taedonggang Beer Factory are these days popular with the Pyongyang citizens. Beer houses are crowed with working people who look pleased with their successes in the current 150-day campaign. …
Revisiting the W76-1 SLEP
by | 2009-06-26 | No Comments
A couple of weeks ago, I complained that the Los Angeles Times‘s Ralph Vartabedian wrote a misleading story on the W76-1 stockpile life extension program (W76 Problems Seem Overblown, June 3, 2009). Bascially, Vartabedian used a relatively minor delay in the delivery of a “classified part” — the arming, firing and fuzing (AF&F) system — …
