Daily Times

India claims that it has an impeccable nuclear safety and security record but on the contrary, there have been number of incidents in India, which put under question this Indian claim. Recently three uranium/radioactive substance theft incidents occurred in India, which indicates the presence of black market for nuclear materials inside India. It also puts under question the safety and security of huge stockpiles of fissile material within India.

On 4 Jun 21, 6.4kg of uranium in Jharkand and likewise on 7 May 21, 7kg of uranium in Maharashtra was confiscated by the Indian authorities. Likewise, on 26 Aug 21, 250kg of Californium – a highly radioactive and toxic substance – worth $573 was confiscated in Kolkata and two were arrested. In total 11 people were arrested in these three incidents (India maintained that material confiscated in Jharkhand was not uranium but also remain silent on the true identity of the material).

These type of incidents in India are not new. There have been cases in the past where people were arrested on similar charges.

In Dec 2006, a container packed with radioactive material was stolen from a fortified research facility in the town of Rajrappa (Ramgarh District). In 2008, police arrested five people in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya on charges of smuggling uranium ore. Similarly, in 2009, Mumbai Crime Branch arrested three people for illegal possession of 5kg of depleted uranium.

The poor safety and security of radioactive material in India has also been highlighted by Adrian Levy, a British Journalist, in his reports.

He stated that people living near the Subarnarekha River, which flows through Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha have been routinely exposed to exceptionally high levels of radiation causing infertility and birth defects in the population. The source of this radiation are the mines, mills and fabrication plants of East Singhbum – district of Jharkhand state – where the state-owned Uranium Corporation of India Ltd is sitting on a mountain of 174,000 tons of raw material.

There have been frequent protests in India in Kudunkulam with regards to the construction of nuclear power plants there. The protesters highlighted poor construction material used in plants, their vulnerability to floods and checkered safety record of Indian nuclear industry. These incidents show that India has little concern regarding the threat to safety and security of its citizens, and environment emerging out of the radioactive sources. According to different international studies, India possesses unsafeguarded (highly radioactive) fissile material sufficient to build 2,680 nuclear weapons. Concurrently, it has entered into civil nuclear deals with more than dozen countries to import uranium.

Other than these theft incidents and poor safety and security of nuclear materials, Indian state has also been involved in proliferation activities while cheating the international community. India’s first nuclear test in 1974 was a result of diversion of fuel from the Canadian supplied nuclear reactor provided for peaceful purposes. As a consequence NSG was created to severely restrict global nuclear trade.

In 2002-03, the U.S. sanctioned several Indian entities for transferring technologies and know-how to Iraq and Iran that could contribute to their WMD programs.

US nuclear weapons related accidents

1. The U.S. military uses the term “Broken Arrow” to refer to an accident that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons components, but does not create the risk of nuclear war. Since 1950, the Defense Department has reported 32 Broken Arrows. Some of the major incidents are following:

2. On 10 Nov 1950, A B-50 abandoned a Mark 4 bomb over the St. Lawrence River near Riviere-du-Loup, about 300 miles northeast of Montreal. The weapon’s HE [high explosive] detonated on impact. Although lacking its essential plutonium core, the explosion did scatter nearly 100 pounds (45 kg) of uranium. The plane later landed safely at a U.S. Air Force base in Maine.

3. On 10 Mar 1956, a nonstop flight carrying two nuclear capsules from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida to an overseas base, was reported missing. It failed to make contact with a tanker over the Mediterranean for a second refueling. No trace was ever found of the plane.

4. On 27 Jul 1956, A B-47 bomber crashed into a nuclear weapons storage facility at the Lakenheath Air Base in Suffolk, England, during a training exercise. The nuclear weapons storage facility, known as an “igloo,” contained three Mark 6 bombs. Preliminary exams by bomb disposal officers said it was a miracle that one Mark 6 with exposed detonators sheared didn’t explode. The B-47?s crew was killed.

5. On 22 May 1957, a B-36 aircraft jettisoned an unarmed Mark 17 ten-megaton hydrogen bomb over Albuquerque, New Mexico. The thermonuclear device, weighing 42,000 pounds, was being transported from Biggs Airfield in Texas to Kirtland Air Force Base just miles south of Albuquerque

6. On 5 Feb 1958, in a simulated combat mission, a B-47 collided with an F-86 near Savannah, Georgia. After attempting to land at Hunter Air Force Base with the nuclear weapon onboard, the weapon was jettisoned over water. The plane later landed safely. A nuclear detonation was not possible since the nuclear capsule was not on board the aircraft. Subsequent searches failed to locate the weapon.

7. On 28 Feb 1958, A B-47 based at the U.S. air base at Greenham Common, England, reportedly loaded with a nuclear weapon, caught fire and completely burned. In 1960, signs of high-level radioactive contamination were detected around the base by a group of scientists working at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE). The U.S. government has never confirmed whether the accident involved a nuclear warhead.

8. On 24 Jan 1961, while on airborne alert, a B-52 suffered structural failure of its right wing, resulting in the release of two nuclear weapons. One weapon landed safely with little damage. The second fell free and broke apart near the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Some of the uranium from that weapon could not be recovered. No radiological contamination was detectable in the area.

9. On 5 Dec 1965, an A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft loaded with one B43 nuclear weapon rolled off the deck of the USS Ticonderoga. Pilot, plane and weapon were never found.

10. On the morning of 17 Jan 1966, a B-52 bomber carrying four Mark 28 hydrogen bombs collided with a KC-135 refueling aircraft near Palomares, Spain. The B-52 was part of the United States Air Force’s Operation “Chrome Dome,” in which Strategic Air Command constantly flew bombers armed with thermonuclear weapons in order to provide the US with a first strike capability over the USSR in event of a “hot” confrontation

11. In Nov 1969, The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Gato reportedly collided with a Soviet submarine on November 14 or 15, 1969, near the entrance of the White Sea.

12. On 22 Nov 1975, the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and the cruiser USS Belknap collided in rough seas at night during exercises. Although it was declared as “a possible nuclear weapons accident,” no subsequent nuclear contamination was discovered during the fire and rescue operations.

13. On 20 Mar 1993, the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Grayling collided with a Russian Delta III nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. Both vessels reportedly suffered only minor damage.

Nuclear safety and security

Why American policy makers and academicians highlights the issue of nuclear safety and security.

U.S. has used and is using the issue of nuclear safety and security as a tool of intimidation. It is their hobbyhorse for diverting the attention from their policy failures. The U.S. failure and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has been under spotlight. Therefore, in order to divert criticism from its failure, U.S. looked at a scapegoat in the form of Pakistan. A false narrative has also been promulgated that Taliban’s next target will be Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and that Pakistan’s nukes are not safe.

Pakistan is committed to the objective of enhancing nuclear security. It has been fully engaged with the international community to promote nuclear safety and security.

As a nuclear weapon state, Pakistan takes its nuclear security responsibility very seriously. Nuclear safety and security in Pakistan is based on multiple layers and defense-in-depth concepts. All of Pakistan’s Export control laws are at par with international standards and the standards set by the NSG and other export control regimes.

There are different pillars of nuclear security regime in Pakistan which include:-

a. A well-defined Nuclear Command and Control system.

b. Multi-layered defense guided by the concept of deter, detect, delay, defend and destroy – the Five Ds.

c. Rigorous regulatory regime, in the form of Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA).

d. Comprehensive export control regime at par with international standards

e. Implementation of Nuclear Security Action Plan (NSAP) in cooperation with IAEA.

f. Commitments to UNSCR 1540; Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and its amendment; and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT).

US positive statements on Pakistan’s nuclear security

1. Pakistanis are quite aware on the issues like the necessity of personnel reliability 17 Mar 16 Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Testimony to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

2. U.S. has full confidence in Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen nuclear security and export controls 3 Jun 15 Pak-U.S. SSS&NP – U.S. State Department.

3. U.S. appreciates Pakistan’s proactive engagement with IAEA and participation in the NSS 13 Jan 15 U.S. State Department.

4. Pakistan is able to safeguard its nuclear weapons, including protecting important segments of its nuclear program 10 Mar 11 Director of Defence Intelligence Agency Lt Gen Burgess.

5.Our assessment is that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are secure 10 Feb 11 Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

6. From what we see of measure that they take … Pakistan is keeping its nuclear weapons secure. 3 Feb 10 Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.

7. United States is “very comfortable with the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.” 21 Jan 10 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

8. The weapons there are secure. And even in the change of government, the controls of those weapons haven’t changed. 22 Sep 08 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.

9. Did not “see any risk” of Pakistan losing control of its nuclear weapons. 11 Nov 01 Secretary of State Colin Powell.