Dan Yurman has it over at “Idaho Samizadat”:http://djysrv.blogspot.com/ – a blog I’m sorry I didn’t know about until now.

The NSG waiver is a pleasant surprise that comes before Dmitriy Medvedev’s “December visit ^rus^”:http://www.scrf.gov.ru/news/343.html to New Delhi. As a reminder, Atomstroyexport has been building 2 units at Kudankulam since 2002. In January 2007, Rosatom and India’s Department of Atomic Energy signed a “memorandum of understanding on nuclear cooperation”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/news/3588_25.01.2007, which articulated future plans.

When the MoU was signed, there was “a firm agreement”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/news/3590_25.01.2007 on the construction of *4 additional units at Kudankulam* (which would bring the total number of units up to 6 at the site, all VVER-1000, constructed by Atomstroyexport). However, for over a year and a half now, *the Russians have patiently held off on consummating this agreement until the NSG waiver was in place*. The wait is now seemingly over.

As I “wrote here”:http://www.wmdinsights.com/I22/I22_RU3_EagerToIncrease.htm, some say the Russian nuclear industry “expect[s] to *gain 25-30%* of the Indian nuclear energy market” and *build up to 10* reactors. But *we shall see whether additional projects for Atomstroyexport will be firmed up during the December Russo-Indian summit*…

By the way, construction of the two grandfathered units at Kudankulam is moving forward. In late June, Atomstroyexport “completed shipments of fuel assemblies”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/news/10697_26.06.2008 to the site (as has been “noted elsewhere”:http://russianforces.org/nuclear/2008/06/kudankulam-fuel-shipments-comp.shtml). In July, the “progress of physical construction”:http://www.npcil.nic.in/kapp.asp of the units was at *86.9%* and *76.4%*. The Joint Coordinating Committee on Construction of Kudankulam has also “just finished meeting in Moscow”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/press-releases/11604_02.09.2008.

Finally, here’s “a link ^rus^”:http://www.atomstroyexport.ru/about/vacancy/ if you are interested in finding a job with Atomstroyexport. (Though they are picky in terms of who they hire, as “I previously noted”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1611/wanna-work-at-bushehr-now-you-can.)

Don’t act so surprised.

So says “AFP.”:http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080906154226.h1fxo46k.html The Indians are happy; unsurprising, given that the exemption was probably their main objective in the first place. Statements from PM Singh and India’s External Affairs Minister can be downloaded “here.”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/file_download/15

(As an aside, it’s rarely pointed out that all of this was entirely unnecessary, since India could simply have acceded to the NPT. But, you know, details…)

Anyway, a “different”:http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080906114921.yfy6uyhl.html AFP piece has a bit on the diplomatic wrangling that took place at the meeting:

Discussions had been going on since Thursday and *had broken up shortly before 2:00 am (0000 GMT) on Saturday after the Chinese delegation walked out in support of three countries — Austria, Ireland and New Zealand — holding out for a clear-cut commitment on India’s part to refrain from nuclear bomb testing.*

{snip}

There had been three main sticking points: termination of trade if India tests, no transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology and an annual review of the agreement.

But *the crunch issue appeared to be nuclear testing, since New Delhi has not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.*

India had said it “remains committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.”

*Austria said that it had one of the last countries to agree only after India made a “formal declaration” to stand by its non-proliferation commitments and uphold its moratorium on nuclear bomb tests.*

Reuters also “has”:http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSL626795620080906?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10215&sp=true some good details:

a European diplomat in the Vienna gathering said: “For the first time in my experience of international diplomatic negotiations, a consensus decision was followed by complete silence in the room. No clapping, nothing.”

“It showed a lot of us felt pressured to some extent into a decision by the Americans and few were totally satisfied.”

Obviously, the AFP piece is referencing “this statement”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/file_download/16 from Mukherjee. Here’s the most important part:

bq. We remain committed to a *voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing. We do not subscribe to any arms race, including a nuclear arms race.* We have always tempered the exercise of our strategic autonomy with a sense of global responsibility. We affirm our policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.

How that changes anything about Indian policy, I could not say. I think there’s a “treaty”:http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/ctb.html concerning nuclear testing. But, again, details…

*Update:*

More on the diplomatic hanky-panky “here.”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1702/more-on-the-nsg-india-exemption And more on the NSG exemption “here.”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1701/nsg-india-housekeeping

It’s time for another segment of “_Russian Nuclear Recreation_.” (For “likbez”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likbez, see previous posts on “*nuclear camping*”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1653/camping-options and “*nuclear cycling*”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1635/npps-bikes-and-priests.)

This (looong) weekend you should consider *fishing at a pond next to a nuclear power plant*. This is what over seventy people did a few days back as part of a fishing tournament put on by the “Kursk NPP”:http://kunpp.rosenergoatom.ru/eng/ at Semyonovsky pond near Kurchatov, according to “this press release”:http://kunpp.rosenergoatom.ru/eng/press/news/article/?article-id=033DBE4D-119F-427A-95AB-B36359FCDFC7…

Present and former employees of Kursk NPP and five more companies… took part in the tournament. *There were lots of women among the fishermen*.

At first, the fishers cleaned up the shore of the pond. They fished for *as long as four hours* and *caught lots of fish: some of the fishers caught several kilograms*.

The *winner of the tournament Viktor Mezentsev from Decontamination Department of Kursk NPP caught 3.179 kg*. He was followed by Anatoly Koptev (TsRP) and Viktor Naymushin (Kursk NPP). *Pensioner Tatiana Khrushkova caught the biggest fish*.

[snip]

“We have never seen so many fishers in one and the same place. *Fishing is not just catching fish but talking and exchanging views and ideas. Such events strengthen our corporate and communal spirit*,” [chairman of the Trade Union of Kursk NPP Alexander] Apalkov said.

*_I agree with Apalkov, but I still think that Blinky says it better!_*

!/images/56.jpg!

On 27 August, the Angarsk international uranium enrichment center “was added”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/news/11545_28.08.2008 to the list of entities permitted to own nuclear materials under Russian law. The corresponding decree is “available in Russian”:http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=047556.

_Pop Quiz_.

If “you are a country seeking to get into a peaceful nuclear cooperation relationship”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1682/toshiba-westinghouse-to-lukashenko-how-about-a-123 with the Europeans and hoping for a wink from the Americans, you should

A) publicize that you “hold similar views on international issues” with Iran;
B) highlight that Iran stands “ready to help” you with your peaceful n. program;
C) seek advice from Iran on how to “advance” your n. program;
D) all of the above;
E) none of the above.

_Correct Answer_: Apparently, it’s “D”:http://english.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8705310547.

I am not a fan of _The Guardian_, but this 23 Aug piece by Julian Borger titled “The Time Bomb”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/nuclear.terrorism.united.nations caught my eye. The story (which should be cut by about a half) provides a decent overview of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative’s removal of highly enriched uranium from “INRNE”:http://www.inrne.bas.bg/main.html in Sophia, complete with discussion of “*feral dogs [that] chased each other through the bushes in the grounds around the reactor*.” For background on the removal, see “my earlier post”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1665/bulgarias-fresh-and-clean.

Most importantly, the piece *offers up profiles of and some neat quotes from the “GTRI masters”* — Andrew Bieniawski and Igor Bolshinsky — as well as a *high-speed car chase*.

The US duo are both immigrants. Andrew Bieniawski, a 41-year-old from South Africa, is in charge of the programme at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the part of the US department of energy that is responsible for looking after the US nuclear arsenal, *making sure the bombs still work and do not blow up unexpectedly*. His deputy, Igor Bolshinsky, a former mine technician from the Ukrainian coal city of Donetsk, has responsibility for repatriating the Soviet-origin material and does most of the travelling and persuading – “*Schmoozing for world peace*,” as Bolshinsky put it.

[snip]

In Sofia, *Bolshinsky had been in fine form, cajoling, joking and flattering Bulgarian officials in a mix of Russian and English*. He was consequently stunned on the designated day of the uranium’s departure when *Bulgarian security* – somewhat prickly over the arrival of this ebullient American employee in the nation’s inner nuclear sanctum – *ordered the uranium convoy to leave the institute an hour earlier than agreed, without bothering to tell Bolshinsky*.

In the past few years, Bolshinsky has overseen uranium removals from Libya to Vietnam, and has been tailed in the course of his duties by some of the world’s most persistent secret policemen, but this stunt stretched his sense of humour to breaking point. “*Not good, not good at all*,” he said emphatically when he turned up at the reactor at dawn to find the car park empty. *He jumped into a car for a high-speed chase along a Bulgarian motorway, in pursuit of the missing uranium casks*.

Check out the exciting conclusion “here”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/nuclear.terrorism.united.nations. I should note that perhaps the only thing missing from the story is Miss Moneypenny… Fun times.

I finally visited “Political Minefields,”:http://politicalminefields.wordpress.com/ now that I have decided that should actually blog on the blog I publish. It looks quite promising – “stop by.”:http://politicalminefields.wordpress.com/

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I think whoever got here by doing that was disappointed.