Greenpeace Activists Crash Drone Into A French Nuclear Site

ABC News Online: Greenpeace 'crash' Superman drone into French nuclear facility to show security flaws

Greenpeace activists say they have crashed a drone into a French nuclear site, posting footage of the flight on the groups Facebook page.

The group said the stunt was to highlight the lack of security around the facility, adding that "at no time was the drone intercepted or even worried about".

The drone, which was decked out to resemble a tiny Superman, slammed into the tower in Bugey, about 30 kilometres from Lyon, according to the video released Tuesday.

The environmental activist group says the drone was harmless but showed the lack of security in nuclear installations in France, which is heavily dependent on atomic power.

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WNU Editor:  They wanted to show the lack of security at French nuclear installations .... and they certainly made their point.

New Global Nuclear Security Measures To Take Effect Next Month

Reuters: Tightened global nuclear security measure takes effect in May - officials

Starting in May more than 150 countries will be legally bound to strengthen their protection of nuclear facilities and to cooperate in finding and recovering stolen or smuggled nuclear material, security officials said on Friday.

An amendment to the decade-old Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material was ratified after Nicaragua and Uruguay became the 101st and 102nd signatories, reaching the two-thirds of convention members required to make it legal.

Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement that the amendment "will help reduce the risk of a terrorist attack involving nuclear material, which could have catastrophic consequences."

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Update #1: UN treaty to protect nuclear materials from terrorists takes effect in May (DW)
Update #2: UN hails nuclear terrorism accord (AFP)

WNU Editor: As international conferences go .... in my opinion this was a success. But others are underwhelmed .... The World's Nuclear Security Is Important — But Also Kind of a Pain (Ryan Faith, VICE News).

Nuclear Security Summit Ends. US To Host Next Nuclear Security Summit In 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (L) speak during the closing nwes conference of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague March 25, 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

At Summit, U.S. And Russia Agree On Nuclear Terrorism Threat -- Reuters

(Reuters) - World leaders called on countries on Tuesday to cut their use and their stocks of highly enriched nuclear fuel to the minimum to help prevent al Qaeda-style militants from obtaining material for atomic bombs.

Winding up a third nuclear security summit since 2010, this one overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, 53 countries - including the United States and Russia at a time of high tension between them - agreed much headway had been made in the past four years.

But they also underlined that many challenges remained and stressed the need for increased international cooperation to make sure highly enriched uranium (HEU), plutonium and other radioactive substances do not fall into the wrong hands.

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More News On The Nuclear Security Summit

Nuclear Security Summit ends with focus on fighting nuclear terrorism -- Deutsche Welle
Nations pledge to increase nuclear security -- BBC
Obama hails achievements of nuclear summit, but says more work is needed -- CNN
Obama hails 'fundamental shift' on nuke security -- AP
Obama winds up nuclear summit with 35-nation pledge -- AFP
35 Countries Agree to Tougher Nuclear Security Standards -- Voice of America
Global Pledge To Boost Nuclear Security -- Radio Free Europe
35 countries pledge to beef up nuclear security -- AP
Nuclear Security Bid Trimmed Amid U.S.-Russian Discord -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Obama says US to host next nuclear summit in 2016 -- AP
Obama’s Nuclear Summit Aimed to Stop Terrorists. Now Putin’s the Issue. -- Christopher Dickey and Jamie Dettmer, Daily Beast

Index Ranks Countries On Their Nuclear Security

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New Study Ranks Countries On Security Of Materials That Fuel Nuclear Arms -- New York Times

The 32 nations with materials that can fuel atom bombs are typically mum on security, which looks to the public like a closed world of barbed wire and armed guards. Behind the scenes, atomic insiders have long told horror stories of risky practices and security flaws that might let the crucial ingredients for nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands.

Now, for the first time publicly, experts have surveyed the precautions each country has in place and ranked the nations from best to worst. The study is full of surprises and potential embarrassments: for instance, Australia takes first place in nuclear security and Japan comes in at No. 23, behind nations like Kazakhstan and South Africa.

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More News On The Safety Of The World Nuclear Materials

India, China and Israel ranked among the world's worst for nuclear security -- The Guardian
Study ranks countries' nuclear safety -- UPI
New index ranks countries on nuclear security -- Washington Post
Report Finds Nuclear Materials Far From Secure -- ABC News/AP
Report: World's nuclear stocks are not secure -- USA Today/AP
States Ranked on Nuclear-Material Security -- Global Security Newswire
New U.S. study – not weapons-grade uranium before terrorists safe -- SFLuxe
North Korea ranked last on nuclear safety – Australia first -- The Telegraph
Australia ranked first, N.Korea last on nuclear safety -- AFP
Pakistan nuclear material among least secure in the world: Report -- Express Tribune/AFP
Australia, U.K. leaders in nuclear material security -- Government Security News
Russian Nuclear Security Remains a Problem -- Moscow Times
North Korea ranks last for nuclear weapons security -- Christian Science Monitor
NTI Offers Sobering Assessment of the Growing Danger of Nuclear Threats -- The Examiner
An urgent effort to secure nuclear material -- CNN

My Comment: The NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index website is here.

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U.S. Nuclear Sites Are Not Secured

Serious Security Breach At US Nuclear Weapons Site In Belgium -- American Thinker

Ever wonder how secure our stash of nuclear weapons are at bases all over Europe? I never did - before today. Hans Kristensen writing at the Federation of American Scientists Security Blog:

A group of people last week managed to penetrate deep onto Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium where the U.S. Air Force currently deploys 10-20 nuclear bombs. Fortunately, the people were not terrorists but peace activists from a group known as Vredesactie, who managed to climb the outer base fence, walk cross the runway, breach a double-fenced security perimeter, and walk into the very center of the air base alongside the aircraft shelters where the nuclear bombs are thought to be stored in underground vaults. The activists penetrated nearly one kilometer onto the base over more than an hour before a single armed security guard appeared and asked what they were doing. Soon more arrived to arrest the activists, who later described: “The military blindfolded for hours, they forced us to kneel in the snow, arms outstretched at 90° and threatened us if we intend to return to the base in the months to come.” The activists videotaped their entire walk across the base. The security personnel confiscated cameras, but the activists removed the memory card first and smuggled it out of the base. Ahem…

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My Comment: Unbelieveable .... completely incomprehensible. You just know that Al Qaeda and their allies are reading this story and pondering what they can do.

How Does Britain Defend Their Nuclear Sites

The nuclear industry pays £57m a year to the force to control site security. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Secret Files Reveal Covert Network Run By Nuclear Police -- The Guardian

• Industry-funded force uses moles and surveillance
• Strategic aims include tackling 'public disquiet'

The nuclear industry funds the special armed police force which guards its installations across the UK, and secret documents, seen by the Guardian, show the 750-strong force is authorised to carry out covert intelligence operations against anti-nuclear protesters, one of its main targets.

The nuclear industry will pay £57m this year to finance the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC). The funding comes from the companies which run 17 nuclear plants, including Dounreay in Caithness, Sellafield in Cumbria and Dungeness in Kent.

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My Comment: I am curious to know if the U.S. (or any other country) defends their nuclear installations the same way. Security at our nuclear installations should be our highest priority .... and it probably is (I hope).

Report On Nuclear Security Urges Prompt Global Action

Pelindaba Nuclear Facility

From The Washington Post:

Yearly Study Offers Agenda for New Administration

When armed men attacked South Africa's most closely guarded nuclear facility a year ago, they penetrated the detection systems at the perimeter, cut through an electrified fence and broke into the emergency control center, shooting one worker there in the chest before escaping.

The Pelindaba facility holds hundreds of pounds of weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium. Although the attackers last November did not steal any of it, the assault highlights what a new report describes as the increasingly global challenge of keeping nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.

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My Comment: With the world financial crisis continuing .... paying money for nuclear security is at the bottom of the priority list for all countries right now.

US, Russia Forge Ahead On Nuclear Security

(Image from SPFPA)

From Nukes And Spooks:

Relations between the United States and Russia may be their worst since the end of the Cold War, but that hasn’t stopped the sides from forging ahead with efforts to prevent nuclear weapons-grade materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.

In the latest measure of progress, U.S. and Russian experts have completed a project to strengthen security at one of Russia’s largest facilities for storing nuclear weapons-grade materials, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The facility is located at the Mayak Nuclear Association, a sprawling decades-old nuclear weapons plant that suffered accidents in the 1950s and 1960s that exposed workers and residents in the surrounding area of Chelyabinsk to radiation.

The security upgrades at the storage facility, which contains the largest amount of nuclear weapons-grade material of any such site in Russia, were funded by the United States at a cost of $15 million under an agreement that President Bush signed in February 2005 with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin while Putin was president.

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My Comment: It is amazing how mutual interests trumps ideology and politics.