David Ruppe at Global Security Newswire got ahold of the Senate Approprations report. The NFIRE Kill Vehicle is ba-aaaaack: The Ballistic Missile Defense System [BMDS] Interceptor program element consists of the NFIRE program and the KEI program. Because these programs have no related program elements, the Committee recommends the realignment of the NFIRE program to …
RRW: Los Alamos vs. Livermore
by | 2005-09-29 | 1 Comment
“Remember: The Soviets are the competition. Los Alamos is the enemy.” Statement Attributed to a Weapons Designer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Stephen Schwartz on the RRW program Congress imagined the Reliable Replacement Warhead program as an effort to “improve the reliability, longevity, and certifiability of existing weapons and their components.” The devil, however, is …
Iran's UF6 Is "Crap"
by | 2005-09-28 | 5 Comments
Regular readers know that Iran’s uranium conversion facility (UCF) at Esfahan (Isfahan) stinks—a fact Paul first reported in the October 2004 edition of Arms Control Today and which forms the basis for IC judgements about Iran’s proximity to a nuclear weapons capability. Nuclear Fuel and Reuters (hat tip SQ and GSN) have written four articles …
Technical Difficulties at Bushehr?
by | 2005-09-27 | 16 Comments
Middle East News Line (via GSN) cites Russian officials describing technical difficulties with Bushehr arising from changes to design specifications: Russia’s effort to complete Iran’s first nuclear plant continues to be hampered by technical difficulties. Russian officials said that despite significant progress over the last year, the Bushehr nuclear reactor plant has encountered technical difficulties. …
