As Paul noted, I’m blogging over at “ArmsControlWonk”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/ this week. Posts will be cross-posted here in a bit.
And, just in case you thought otherwise, folks over at Russia’s Atomenergoprom apparently “are into the idea”:http://www.rosatom.com/en/news/12415_27.10.2008 that the “nuclear industry should _intensify its educational and information activities in blogosphere_.”
Hmm…
Anya is blogging all this week at “ArmsControlWonk.”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/
Highly recommended. I would have blogged something substantive had I not purchased tickets for tonight’s Billy Bragg show.
Today “NNSA announced”:http://nnsa.energy.gov/2189.htm the removal of Hungary’s spent HEU fuel stockpile. As has been noted in “this post”:http://russianforces.org/nuclear/2008/09/russia_prepares_to_bring_spent.shtml, the spent fuel shipment was only a matter of time. Yet, if I am not mistaken, *Hungary still retains some _fresh_ HEU fuel*.
The FATF put out something of a “primer”:http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/14/21/41146580.pdf on the subject a little while back for you to sink your teeth into. The case studies look interesting.
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Oh, man…found on teh Google…
There is a “band”:http://www.hansblixband.com called Hans Blix. That would be great enough, but their “music”:http://www.hansblixband.com/live/ is also really good.
And I _really_ want a T shirt.
Remember “this Kalinin NPP picture”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1723/the-church-of-nuclear? Well, check out an even trippier pic of Kursk NPP. (“Original link”:http://kunpp.rosenergoatom.ru/media/gallery/aps/kurskaes/foto-aes/66_b.jpg.)
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In another “food-related conflict,”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1745/iran-the-sammitch-war Tehran and Washington are “clashing over pistachios:”:http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49806E20081009
KERMAN PROVINCE, Iran (Reuters) – For some Iranians, it’s a galling thought: the United States may oust Iran as the world’s largest producer of pistachio nuts this year because of one of the worst harvests ever in the Islamic Republic.
[snip]
The United States has more than doubled production in the last decade to 416 million pounds (about 190,000 tons) in 2007, most of it in California. With a good pistachio year usually followed by a weaker harvest, California’s output is expected to fall to 260-270 million pounds in 2008 but this would still be more than many are forecasting in Iran.
Iran, however, maintains that size doesn’t much matter, at least when it comes to pistachio harvests:
bq. U.S. producers might use water and land more effectively but Iranian farmers say nobody can rival the taste of their pistachios, which are also used in sweets and ice-creams.
At least they’re not fighting if they’re comparing their nuts…
A lot of US/India 123 action, plus a host of other issues. He’s speaking with “Mark Goldberg,”:http://www.prospect.org/cs/author?id=1132 who was nice enough to link to this blog once.
You didn’t see this coming, did you?
“According to “:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7675281.stm the BBC,
Cooks in Iran have tried to assemble the world’s largest ostrich sandwich at a food festival in Tehran, as part of a bid to promote healthy eating.
The organisers want to promote Iran’s fledgling ostrich farming business.
About 1,500 cooks used 1,000kg (2,200lbs) of ostrich meat to make the 1,500m (4,920ft) long sandwich.
I eat no bird flesh, but “this video”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7675871.stm makes that sammitch look badass.
Peculiar article in today’s _The Hindu_ that discusses nuclear cooperation prospects “between India and Kazakhstan”:http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008101656461200.htm&date=2008/10/16/&prd=th. In short, Kazakhstan wants to fill some of India’s “Aussie gap”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7188835.stm.
And here is a plug for a slightly dated, but still awesome _Bulletin_ piece (authored by a good friend and former colleague) on “Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Ambitions”:http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/kazakhstans-nuclear-ambitions.