Nuclear News

In brief.

The US House of Representatives has passed a civilian nuclear pact with India that lifts a three decade-old ban on civilian nuclear trade with India. And France has also joined in the party.

Following US refusals to honour its promise to remove North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terror (last known incident was over 20 years ago), the Pyongyang regime have said that they'll be restarting their nuclear activities. However, they have invited the US envoy to talks.

Venezuela is looking to start a nuclear energy programme, with assistance from Russia.

A new watchdog, the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), is being set-up with funding largely from the US Energy Department and the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative organisation. According to the Grauniad: "Wins will focus initially on stocks of highly enriched uranium or plutonium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb. But Nunn [Sam Nunn, a former US senator who was instrumental in setting up Wins] said the new body would also aim to improve the security of radioactive material used in medicine and industry."