Latest news with #plutonium
Asharq Al-Awsat
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Says it Targeted Nuclear Sites in Iran's Natanz and Arak
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had targeted the Arak nuclear reactor in Iran overnight and struck what it said was a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz. Among its nuclear sites, Iran had a partially built heavy-water research reactor originally called Arak and now Khondab. Iranian media reported on Thursday morning that air defenses were activated in the area of the Khondab nuclear facility, with two projectiles hitting an area close to it. Officials told Iranian state TV that evacuations were made prior to the strikes and that no risks of radiation or casualties were detected. There was no mention of any damage. Natanz, which Israel had previously struck during its six-day-old aerial war with Iran, was the site of a complex at the heart of Iran's nuclear program that included two enrichment plants. The Israeli military added that it targeted the structure of the reactor's core seal in Arak, which it identified as a key component in plutonium production. Khondab hosts a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Construction was halted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and the reactor's core was removed and filled with concrete to make it unusable. However, Iran informed the UN's nuclear watchdog it planned to start operating the reactor in 2026. Heavy-water reactors pose a nuclear proliferation risk because they can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of a bomb. Iran says its nuclear program, the target of Israeli strikes, is purely for peaceful purposes. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14. Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost 'continuity of knowledge' about Iran's heavy water production -- meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile. As part of negotiations around the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to sell off its heavy water to the West to remain in compliance with the accord's terms. Even the US purchased some 32 tons of heavy water for over $8 million in one deal. That was one issue that drew criticism from opponents to the deal.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Plutonium levels at nuclear test site in WA up to 4,500 times higher than rest of coast, study finds
Samples of marine sediment taken from the location of three 1950s British government nuclear bomb tests off the coast of Western Australia have revealed plutonium levels up to 4,500 times higher than the rest of the coastline. Sixty six samples were taken from the shallow waters at the Montebello Islands, and scientists are now working to understand how marine life may be being affected by the sediment. The British government performed three nuclear tests on the uninhabited, remote islands – about 80 kilometres off the WA coastline – between October 1952 and June 1956. The first bomb, known as Operation Hurricane, was detonated in a ship moored 600 metres off Trimouille Island. Two further bombs were detonated from towers on Trimouille and neighbouring Alpha Island. The area is now a marine park known for its turquoise waters, corals, dolphins and threatened turtles. Madison Williams-Hoffman, a PhD student at Edith Cowan University and lead author of the research, said the plutonium would have been part of the 'fallout' from the nuclear tests that would have fallen from the blast cloud and into the surrounding waters and land. Radiation from plutonium cannot travel through skin and is most dangerous when ingested or inhaled. The 66 samples were collected in 2020 by divers who took the top 10cm of sediment, with analysis done at the university in Perth and also by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Williams-Hoffman said little was known about the amounts of plutonium that remained in the marine environment and it was too early to speculate on any ongoing risks. Further research would look at those risks, she said. She said: 'This is a baseline that tells us what the levels are. Next we look at the risks to what's living there.' Williams-Hoffman said because plutonium was entirely human-made it could only be released by nuclear bombs, nuclear facilities or nuclear accidents. The contamination will persist for many thousands of years, she said. While the islands are not inhabited, they are visited by recreational fishing boats. The research, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, showed concentrations of plutonium at the islands were four to 4,500 times higher than those found in sediment samples taken at two distant coastal sites more than 1,000 kilometres away on the Western Australian coastline. Williams-Hoffman said it was curious that levels of contamination at the Montebello Islands were similar to those at the Marshall Islands in the Micronesia region of the Pacific in the northern hemisphere, even though nuclear testing there by the US government was 'orders of magnitude' greater. 'This is a really important question for us as a country,' she said. 'We have unique ecosystems and environments and we need to understand how these materials behave in the environment once they are released.' A previous study of animals in the Montebello area found low levels of plutonium in all tested species, but levels in fish muscles were so low that anyone eating them 'would receive an increase in dose from the [plutonium] many orders of magnitude lower than that from the natural radionuclides in the same fish', the research said. Visitors to the marine park are warned to limit any visits on Trimouille and Alpha Island to an hour a day, and not to disturb soils. Tim Hunt, the marine program coordinator for the Pilbara region of the WA government's parks and wildlife service, said while it was useful to know that plutonium persisted in the marine environment, advice from nuclear experts was that the risk to humans was much lower in a marine environment than on land. 'Because this radiation will persist for generations, we are looking to build on information and adjust our management if needed. But the information we have is that our measures are sufficient to mitigate the radiation risk that's there, and will continue to be there.'
ABC News
22-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Radiation at Montebello Islands still 4,500 times higher than WA coast after nuclear blasts
Cam McGurk's stories of one of Australia's most heavily irradiated areas come drenched in warm Pilbara sunshine. "I actually spent my honeymoon at the Montebello Islands," Mr McGurk, a longtime member of the Ashburton Anglers fishing club, said. "It was the middle of COVID, so all the travel restrictions were in place … that was the one island holiday where I could take my beautiful wife. The fondness locals like Mr McGurk feel for the islands, about 1,300 kilometres north of Perth, could soon be given fresh pause. According to a landmark study published today, the archipelago's atomic contamination runs astonishingly deep. The Montebello Islands were the site of three British atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1952 and 1956. Two of the around 174 spits of sandy earth are still subject to hour-long visitation limits. Since 2019, a team of researchers from Edith Cowan University has sought to measure precisely how much plutonium remains in the islands' marine sediment. Their findings have now revealed levels reaching up to 4,500 times higher than the rest of the WA coast. Scientists spent eight days on the Montebello Islands, diving to gather surface sediment from the ocean floor. Samples were sent to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the chief regulator for historic nuclear testing sites. "We're able to essentially create a map with the over 66 locations that we took samples of sediment from," lead researcher and PhD candidate Madison Williams-Hoffman said. Ms Williams-Hoffman said two "mechanisms" were spreading radiation through the islands over the past 70 years. "The first one is the plume trajectories … like the mushroom clouds that you conjure in your mind when you think of nuclear detonations," she said. "Those travelled with the wind direction at the time of the detonations." Second, decades of tides and severe weather dispersed residual plutonium in unexpected ways. "There are two cyclones a year that directly impact that part of WA, and so sediment is being tossed up and around, and things [are] moving," Ms Williams-Hoffman said. She said concentrations in the islands' north were "comparable" to other places touched by nuclear testing, including French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands. Any degree of similarity was remarkable because the Marshall Islands suffered a cumulative nuclear impact 700 times greater than the Montebello Islands. "It makes us question what's different between the two sites," Ms Williams-Hoffman said. The legacy of British nuclear testing in Australia is fraught with displacement and disease. Following three major tests conducted on the Montebello Islands, two more nuclear devices were detonated at Emu Fields and another seven at Maralinga in South Australia. Ray Kaye, former president of the Australian Ex-Services Atomic Survivors Association, said it was crucial the impacts of radiation were recorded. The 85-year-old, who later contracted leukaemia, was awarded a medal by the British government for his involvement in the SA nuclear tests. Mr Kaye reminisced on a 2016 trip with his fellow veterans to the Montebello Islands, marking the 60th anniversary of the blasts. WA Parks and Wildlife marine program coordinator Tim Hunt said managing radiation on the Montebello Islands was an "interesting" part of the job. "When I came into this role almost nine years ago, I never thought I'd have to get my physics hat on and learn about radiation," Mr Hunt said. He noted that exposure to marine sediment was far less concerning to authorities. "I'm not an expert, but people aren't going down and putting their head in the sand at 10 or 16 metres," he said. "Our current understanding is that the measures we have in place are sufficient to mitigate that risk." Visitors to Trimouille and Alpha Islands, where the three tests took place, are advised to restrict their time to no more than one hour per day, and not to disturb the soil or handle any relics. Ms Williams-Hoffman said the results were an important step in understanding the repercussions of radionuclides in Australia. Next, researchers will evaluate the effects of such high radiation on the environment. "It's kind of like walking before you can run," she said. "Now that we have these numbers or values in hand, then we can later do those assessments in terms of … how much radiation a person, or perhaps most important with sediment considering it's under water … the animals, the fish, and the plants are exposed to." For Cam McGurk, his appreciation for the "boating and fishermen's playground" reels back to 1998, when a special permit was needed to travel there. He mused that the legend of atomic testing had likely shielded the islands from over-tourism, but supported further monitoring.
Times
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Inside Britain's top secret nuclear bunker
Secure vaults containing decades-old enriched uranium and plutonium are dotted across Britain's sprawling atomic weapons establishment site in the Berkshire countryside. Some are underground, inside 1960s-era buildings, guarded by police on the roof tops armed with C8 Carbine assault rifles used by the Special Air Service (SAS). Cameras keep watch and security guards patrol the perimeter — lined by a fence and razor wire, like a prison — and 56 dogs are on hand to sniff out any sign of toxic chemicals. 'The guards and guns are not here to protect us, they are here to protect the material,' said one of the scientists giving a tour of the grounds. 'You can't get anywhere near them [the vaults] even if you tried,' added another. There are measures in place to ensure that if an airliner hit the site inadvertently, the risk of a radioactive fallout would be minimised. The threat of terrorists trying to steal the uranium is greater than that of a jet deliberately bombing the site. It is the first time in more than a decade that journalists have been allowed access here. On one side of the 700-acre site are crumbling chimneys towering above an 'out of service' factory where uranium was once enriched. Due to its international treaty obligations, Britain no longer enriches material. Once its stockpile runs out, it will be recycled. It is at this site in the quaint village of Aldermaston that scientists examined the teapot containing the lethal polonium-210 used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian defector, in London in November 2006. Some £15 billion is now being poured into modernising the facility, once a Second World War air force base and now home to 9,500 employees — 1,000 more than there were two years ago. The Ministry of Defence is drawing up designs for the next generation of sovereign nuclear warheads, known as Astraea, and the focus on Britain's nuclear programme is intensifying. The Astraea, also known as the A21/Mk7, will replace the Holbrook warheads on the Trident missiles deployed on Britain's four nuclear deterrent submarine boats. It has been two decades since the AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) worked on warheads, which is why the site needs a huge investment programme to prepare the facilities. Astraea is being developed in parallel with the US W93/Mk7 warhead but not together with the US because the nuclear material cannot be transported plan is for the warhead to be ready for use in the 2030s, although it is still in design phase. Amid warnings of a 'third nuclear age' in which Britain is threatened by multiple enemies including Russia, speed will be critical. 'This is a new era of threat and there's a sense of urgency. We need to step up,' said Marina Dawes, director of science at the site. The nuclear bombs are made up of fissile materials including uranium, plutonium and other components such as high explosives. For the first time, the bombs that are produced will never have been tested in real life. The UK, along with others, has agreed not to test its nuclear bombs in the way Robert Oppenheimer oversaw the testing of the world's first nuclear weapon, nicknamed Trinity, in the Jornada del Muerto desert within the Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico, in July 1945. Instead, scientists and engineers in the UK today rely on the Orion laser, which enables them to simulate the hot and dense conditions at the moment of detonation but without the need for nuclear materials. 'We create the condition at the moment of detonation,' said another scientist, showcasing the equipment. This isn't a giant death ray, but a bespoke scientific tool,' added another. Twelve lasers beam down on to one tiny target — no more than 5mm long and painstakingly created by hand over many months. There is an entire building for a super-computer, which is able to make four trillion calculations in a second. It has stored data from previous experiments and is used to validate tests to ensure what the scientists are creating will work in a realistic scenario. Bunkers store massive quantities of high explosives across the base. At Aldermaston, the components are manufactured before they are shipped off to another site, at AWE Burghfield, less than ten miles away. There they are put together and later weaponised ready for use. Transporting the materials is a huge endeavour involving highly secure trucks, escorted by more than 50 vehicles, including a tow truck, police cars and motorbikes. Down the road is the Blacknest site, where scientists monitor for seismic signals that may suggest another country has tested a nuclear weapon. Those who work at Aldermaston are proud of the work they do. 'Being a nuclear weapons state is an awesome responsibility. It is the most serious of serious things,' said another senior employee at the site. At Aldermaston and other defence nuclear industry sites, salaries average £45,500 — 20 per cent higher than the UK average — yet they are still desperate to recruit. Women from diverse backgrounds and the neuro-diverse are among those being targeted. At present, only 20 per cent of the workforce is female, according to Mandy Savage, the engineering director. YouGov polling commissioned by the MoD found that in March this year, 65 per cent of those polled supported maintaining the UK's independent nuclear deterrent. This was the highest level of support since the MoD began polling in June 2018. Amid fears the US could bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, triggering a wider conflict in the Middle East, John Healey, the defence secretary, was given his first tour of the site on Thursday. He said the technology being developed was 'keeping us all safe every minute of the day'. He added: 'The skilled men and women working here play a fundamental role in deterring global conflict and that cannot be underestimated.'
Washington Post
19-06-2025
- Science
- Washington Post
Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, hit by an Israeli airstrike, was part of Tehran's nuclear deal
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Much of the focus on Iran's nuclear program has been on Tehran's enrichment of uranium, but experts also keep a close watch on the Islamic Republic's Arak heavy water reactor. That's because the facility, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran, could produce plutonium, which can be used to make an atomic bomb.
