Obama secures 47-nation pact at nuclear summit

[grantcart]

Source: Washington Post

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

President Obama persuaded 46 countries Tuesday to sign on to a plan to put the world's nuclear material beyond the reach of terrorists within four years, but the commitments were voluntary, and experts said reaching the goal will be difficult.

The governments attending Obama's Nuclear Security Summit agreed to take their own measures to safeguard nuclear material used in bombs, civilian nuclear reactors and power plants, and to strengthen international efforts. The gathering raised the profile of an issue long considered a sideshow in discussions of international security.

"This is an ambitious goal, and we are under no illusions it will be easy. But the urgency of the threat and the catastrophic consequences of even a single act of nuclear terrorism demand an effort that is at once bold and pragmatic," Obama said at a news conference.

The summit was part of Obama's "nuclear spring," a broad effort to revive U.S. arms-control efforts and elevate the role of international treaties in U.S. nuclear weapons policy. The idea is to enhance the standing of the United States as it tries to prevent the world's nonproliferation system from collapsing. A key conference will be held next month on strengthening the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has long restrained countries' nuclear ambitions but has been flouted in recent years by Iran and North Korea.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/13/AR2010041300427.html?nav=rss_politics

[kestrel91316]

1. Fabulous. But will WE sign it???

[DCKit]

2. Geez, when's this guy going to get to work?

Dick and Dumbya must be feeling pretty superior right about now.

[tomm2thumbs]

3. +1

yeah, I mean really - more My Pet Goat books and less of this accord nonsense!

[RainMickey]

4. History in the making! I'm proud to see it happening. n/t

[bemildred]

5. Now that is what real leadership looks like. nt

[TrogL]

6. Are they going to do something about depleted uranium ammunition?

Canada has pacted to send its spent uranium to the US to be processed. I don't want it ending up as ammunition.

[grantcart]

7. Its processed into fuel for reactors, as I understand it.

[bananas]

10. No, not depleted uranium

Depleted uranium is waste from the enrichment process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium

Natural uranium metal contains about 0.71 percent U-235, 99.28 percent U-238, and about 0.0054 percent U-234. In order to produce enriched uranium, the process of isotope separation removes a substantial portion of the U-235 for use in nuclear power, weapons, or other uses. The remainder, depleted uranium, contains only 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent U-235. Because natural uranium begins with such a low percentage of U-235, enrichment produces large quantities of depleted uranium. For example, producing 1 kg of five percent enriched uranium requires 11.8 kg of natural uranium, and leaves about 10.8 kg of depleted uranium with only 0.3 percent U-235 remaining.

[grantcart]

11. Thanks is there any use for the depleted uranium?

[RedCloud]

12. You can make warheads out of it, bomb Iraq and march our troops right through it! $$$

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. This is a fanstatic start.

Now let's see in two years who has actually done the work. We need to lead on this.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. Great news!

[SpartanDem]

13. k&r