DefenceTalkMexico’s nuclear commission said Wednesday the radioactive material inside a stolen truck weighed 60 grams, a quantity experts said is enough to make a “dirty bomb.” Jaime Aguirre Gomez, radiological security director at the National Commission for Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, told AFP the cobalt-60 in the medical teletherapy device has a radioactivity level of […]https://www.defencetalk.com/stolen-isotope-in-mexico-enough-for-dirty-bomb-experts-49828/

DefenceTalkIndia has expanded a secretive site that could be used to enrich more uranium for nuclear weapons, a US think tank said Wednesday, citing satellite imagery. The Institute for Science and International Security, a private group opposed to nuclear proliferation, said that India appeared to be finishing a second gas centrifuge facility at its Rare […]https://www.defencetalk.com/india-expands-nuclear-weapons-site-think-tank-49834/

DefenceTalkIran and world powers locked horns in an intense second day of nuclear talks Thursday, with Tehran saying “no progress” was made towards clinching a long-awaited breakthrough deal. Both sides, seeking to end the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme after a decade of rising tensions, stressed however that the talks in Geneva were detailed, serious […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-says-no-progress-in-nuclear-talks-so-far-49715/

DefenceTalkPentagon chief Chuck Hagel on Friday acknowledged “troubling lapses” among troops managing the country’s nuclear arsenal and warned their job allowed “no room for error.” In a speech marking a change of leadership at the US military’s Strategic Command that oversees nuclear forces, Hagel noted recent failings in upholding “professionalism,” an apparent reference to alleged […]https://www.defencetalk.com/no-room-for-error-for-us-nuclear-forces-hagel-49668/

DefenceTalkIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday denied US claims that the Islamic republic had scuttled nuclear talks in Geneva, pointing instead to France as the culprit. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Abu Dhabi on Monday Iran had balked at the Geneva talks just as world powers were closing in on […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-denies-it-scuttled-nuclear-talks-49622/

DefenceTalkThe United States plans to spend billions to upgrade a decades-old atomic bomb designed to stop a Soviet invasion of Europe, as part of a controversial project to modernize its nuclear arsenal. Some lawmakers and experts dismiss the effort as a colossal waste of money that could derail arms control talks with Russia. But top […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-spend-billions-modernizing-nuclear-arsenal-49591/

DefenceTalkNorth Korea on Monday warned of “merciless firing” against the South if it goes ahead with a reported plan to develop shells to carry anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. The South’s Joong-Ang Ilbo newspaper reported last week that South Korean troops were developing non-explosive hollow shells capable of carrying such leaflets deep into North Korean […]https://www.defencetalk.com/north-korea-warns-of-merciless-firing-against-south-korea-49440/

DefenceTalkA US think tank Friday disputed a study that North Korea’s nuclear program was developing beyond the world’s ability to control it and, as evidence, pointed to support by China. At a conference last month in Seoul, two US scholars presented a report saying that North Korea appeared to be capable of producing key components […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-think-tank-disputes-north-korea-nuclear-progress-report-49433/

DefenceTalkThe potential for terrorist use of chemical agents is a noted concern highlighted by the Tokyo sarin gas attacks of 1995. The events of September 11, 2001, increased congressional attention towards reducing the vulnerability of the United States to such unconventional attacks. The possibility that terrorist groups might obtain insecure chemical weapons led to increased […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chemical-weapons-a-summary-report-of-characteristics-and-effects-49118/

DefenceTalkSyria rebels possess ground-to-ground missiles and sarin, and a UN report on chemical weapons use shows they carried out attacks near Damascus, a high-ranking Syrian security source said Tuesday. “I categorically deny that we have used sarin gas, for the reason that we had no interest in doing so. We were winning in the battlefield,” […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syria-security-official-says-rebels-have-missiles-sarin-gas-49100/