Timeline of Nuclear Related Events

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Underground Tests Archive Data:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/BRV_arch_exp.html
1918        The Bailey Radium Laboratories, Inc., of East Orange, New Jersey, began manufacturing Radithor. It was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead" as well as "Perpetual Sunshine." It consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum 1 microcurie (37 kBq) each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes. The FTC issued a cease and desist order against the manufacture in 1931.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor)(AH, 10/07, p.37)

1921        Frederick Soddy (b.1877), English radiochemist, received the Nobel prize for chemistry.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Soddy)

1942        Sep 17, US Army Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves (1896-1970) made a temporary Brigadier General and was placed in charge of the Manhattan Engineer District, which became known as the Manhattan Project, the fledgling US atomic bomb program.
    (ON, 8/09, p.7)(http://unjobs.org/authors/leslie-r.-groves)

1942        Dec 2, A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago. On the squash court underneath a football stadium of the University of Chicago, the first nuclear chain reaction was set off. At 3:45 p.m., control rods were removed from the "nuclear pile" of uranium and graphite, revealing that neutrons from fissioning uranium split other atoms, which in turn split others in a chain reaction. The reaction was part of the Manhattan Project, the United States' top-secret plan to develop an atomic bomb. The group of scientists was led by Enrico Fermi and they proved that building an atomic bomb would be feasible. Dr. Alexander Langsdorf was one of the designers of the first 2 nuclear reactors that followed the first sustained nuclear chain reaction at the Univ. of Chicago. The first and last atomic bombs ever used in war were dropped on Japan in 1945.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1942)(SFC, 5/26/96, p.C-10)(AP, 12/2/97)(HNPD, 12/2/98)

1943        Jan, Construction began at Los Alamos, New Mexico, on a research facility for the Manhattan Project, the US atomic bomb program.
    (ON, 8/09, p.8)

1943        The Hanford nuclear reservation was constructed in Washington state for the Manhattan Project. Hanford made plutonium until the 1980s.
    (SFC, 4/10/99, p.A7)

1945        Jul 16, The first US test explosion of the atomic bomb was made at Alamogordo Air Base, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, equal to some twenty thousand tons of TNT. The bomb was called the Gadget and the experiment was called Trinity from a poem by John Donne (Batter my heart, three-person’d God), and it was conducted in a part of the desert called Jornada del Muerto, (Dead Man’s Trail), and measured the equivalent of 18,600 (21,000) tons of TNT. It was the culmination of 28 months of intense scientific research conducted under the leadership of physicist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer under the code name Manhattan Project. The successful atomic test was witnessed by only one journalist, William L. Laurence of the New York Times, who described seeing the blinding explosion: "One felt as though he had been privileged to...be present at the moment of the Creation when the Lord said: Let There be Light." Oppenheimer’s own thoughts from the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita were very different: "I am become death, the shatterer of worlds." The event is described in Richard Thode’s "The Making of the Atomic Bomb."  In 2005 Diane Preston authored “Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima.”
    (NOHY, 3/1990, p.212-213)(HNPD, 7/16/98)(SFC, 12/31/98, p.D4)(SFEC, 12/19/99, Par p.15)(SSFC, 7/10/05, p.E3)
1945        Jul 16, The US cruiser Indianapolis left SF with atomic bomb components to be assembled at Tinian Island in the western Pacific.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35))(SSFC, 7/31/05, p.B1)

1945        Jul 26, US cruiser Indianapolis reached Tinian carrying the enriched uranium and other parts required for the assembly of the atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy", which would be dropped on Hiroshima a few weeks later.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35))

1945        Jul 30, The USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by the I-58 Japanese submarine. Some 879 survivors jumped into the sea and were adrift for 4 days. Nearly 600 died before help arrived.  Only 317 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters. In 1958 Richard F. Newcomb authored "Abandon Ship," the story of the Indianapolis and the subsequent court-martial of Capt. Charles Butler McVey III. In 2001 Doug Stanton authored "In Harm’s Way," an account of the sinking and trial of Capt. McVey. In 2001 the Navy exonerated the Indianapolis’ captain, Charles Butler McVay III, who had been court-martialed and convicted for failing to evade the submarine.
    (AP, 7/30/97)(SFEC, 8/20/00, Par p.4)(WSJ, 4/6/01, p.W9)(SFC, 7/14/01, p.A9)(AP, 7/29/01)(AFP, 8/20/17)

1945        Aug 6, Hiroshima, Japan, was struck with the uranium bomb, Little Boy, from the B-29 airplane, Enola Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets (1915-2007) of the US Air Force along with 11 other men. The 9,600 pound bomb had a 2-part core of enriched uranium-235. It killed an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. Major Thomas Wilson Ferebee (d.2000 at 81) was the bombardier. Richard Nelson (d.2003) was the radio operator. In 1946 John Hersey authored “Hiroshima,” an account of the bombing based on interviews with 6 survivors.
    (AP, 8/6/97)(SSFC, 7/31/05, p.B2)(WSJ, 8/12/06, p.P8)(SFC, 11/2/07, p.A23)

1945        Aug 9, The 10,000 lb. plutonium bomb, Fat Man, was dropped over Nagasaki after the primary objective of Kokura was passed due to visibility problems. It killed an estimated 74,000 people. The B-29 bomber plane Bock's Car so named for its assigned pilot, Fred Bock, was piloted by Captain Charles W. Sweeney (d.2004). Kermit Beahan (d.1989) was the bombardier.
    (WSJ, 7/19/95, p.A-12)(AP, 8/9/97)(HN, 8/9/98)(SFC, 3/17/00, p.D6)(HNQ, 3/31/00)

1945-2002    Some 100,000 nuclear bombs were manufactured over this period.
    (SSFC, 12/15/02, p.E6)

1946        May 28, The US Army Air Force initiated the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft program (NEPA). Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corp. was selected to study the possibility of developing a long range strategic bomber powered by a nuclear reactor.
    (AH, 2/03, p.52)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion)

1946        The secret US Navy Radiological Defense Laboratory decontamination center was established at San Francisco’s Hunters Point naval shipyard. It operated nearly three dozen sites at the shipyard and was used by scientists to study ionizing radiation and test biological and chemical weapons, including experiments on animals.
    (SFC, 4/8/05, p.F2)(SFC, 6/9/15, p.A8)

1949            Aug 29, The USSR successfully detonated its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. It was a copy of the Fat Man bomb and had a yield of 21 kilotons.
    (www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1940.shtml)

1950        Jan 31, President Truman announced that he had ordered full-speed development of the hydrogen bomb.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1950)(AP, 1/31/98)

1950        Feb 13, A US Air Force B-36 crashed near the coast of northern British Columbia during a simulated nuclear attack on San Francisco. 12 of 17 men on board survived. A Mark 4 bomb, which lacked a plutonium core needed for a nuclear blast, was dropped over the ocean before the plane crashed.
    (SFC, 5/25/12, p.A16)(www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20wrecks.htm#44-92075)

1950        Mar 8, Marshall Voroshilov of the USSR announced the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb. [see August 29, 1949]
    (PC, 1992 ed, p.922)

1950        America established an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in fear of a nuclear attack.
    (Econ., 6/20/20, p.33)

1951        Jan 27, Atomic testing began in the Nevada desert as an Air Force B-50D from a base in New Mexico dropped a one-kiloton nuclear bomb on Frenchman Flats, Clark County, 65 miles NW of Las Vegas. Over the next 40 years 928 nuclear devices were exploded at the site.
    (AP, 1/27/98)(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.D8)(www.ntshf.org)

1951        Feb 1, The third A-bomb test was completed in the desert of Nevada.
    (HN, 2/1/99)

1951        May 12, The 1st H Bomb test was on Eniwetok Atoll. [see Oct 31, 1952]
    (MC, 5/12/02)

1951        Jul, The US Congress authorized the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for the US Navy. On Dec. 12, the Navy announced that the submarine would be named the USS Nautilus.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_(SSN-571))(Econ, 3/14/20, p.65)

1951        Sep 24, The Soviet Union conducted its 2nd nuclear test.
    (http://zvis.com/nuclear/ndb/ussrnuks.shtml)

1951        Nov 1, The 1st atomic explosion, witnessed by troops, was at Yucca Flat, Nevada. Members of the 1st Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, were the first unwitting test participants to be sent to that facility by the Atomic Energy Commission and The Department of Defense in a series of nuclear tests, code named "Buster-Jangle."
    (www.angelfire.com/tx/atomicveteran/exposed.html)

1951        Dec 20, Bechtel scientists at a military facility in Idaho powered up a small nuclear reactor and lit 4 light bulbs. It was the 1st fission reactor to generate a usable amount of electricity.
    (SFC, 5/12/05, p.C1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_I)

1951        The US Atomic Energy Commission and the Air Force instituted the Aircraft Nuclear propulsion development Program (ANP). It ended in 1961 under Pres. John F. Kennedy.
    (AH, 2/03, p.52, 56)
1951        The USS Independence, used in 1946 atomic bomb tests, was sunk near the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, Ca. It was weighed down with 55-gallon drums of possibly radioactive material after being used as a nuclear waste dump and test lab for decontamination studies.
    (SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A27)(SFC, 6/9/15, p.A8)
   
1952        Apr 22, An atomic test conducted at Yucca Flat, Nevada, became the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television. Over the next four decades America conducted 928 nuclear tests in Nevada. The last one took place on Sept. 23, 1992.
    (AP, 4/22/99)(SFC, 4/19/02, p.G3)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.17)

1952        Oct 3, The British detonated their 1st atomic bomb, a 25-kiloton device, in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia. In 1998 a visit to the islands was limited to one hour due to lingering radiation.
    (SFC, 1/2/99, p.A14)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(AP, 10/3/08)

1952         Nov 1, The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Ivy Mike," in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The elements Einsteinium and Fermium were discovered in the debris of the 1st hydrogen bomb test. In 2002 Greg Herken authored "Brotherhood of the Bomb: the Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller."
    (AP, 11/1/07)(NH, 7/02, p.35)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.M1)(SFC, 7/3/10, p.C4)

1952        The Canadian Government formed the Crown corporation Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, or AECL, from precursor organizations dating back to the early 1940s.
    (www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/nuctek/canhistory.html)(Econ, 6/20/09, p.38)

1953        May 25, The first atomic cannon was fired at Frenchman Flat, Nevada.
    (HN, 5/25/98)(SC, 5/25/02)

1953        Jun 4, An atomic bomb test explosion took place at Yucca Flats, Nevada, equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT. This was double the 1945 blast over Hiroshima.
    (SFC, 5/30/03, p.E7)

1953        Aug 12, The Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.
    (AP, 8/12/97)

1953        Aug 20, The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
    (AP, 8/20/97)

1954        Mar 1, The Bravo hydrogen bomb test exploded across Bikini atoll (Marshall Islands) with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. A Nuclear Claims Tribunal, established in 1986, later awarded Bikini and Enewetak 500 million dollars but only a fraction of the amount was received. A Nov 30, 2004, deadline limited further suits.
    (AP, 10/17/04)(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX51.html)
1954        Mar 1, The No. 5 Fukuryu-maru was trolling for tuna off the Bikini atoll in the Pacific during the Bravo hydrogen bomb test. 11 crew members died in the half-century since the exposure, at least six of them from liver cancer. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 66 nuclear tests at Bikini as part of "Operation Crossroads."
    (AP, 2/28/04)

1954        Mar 26, The U.S. set off the second H-bomb blast in four weeks in the Marshall Islands at Bikini Island. The 15-megaton device was 750 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast contaminated the neighboring island of Rongelap and nearly 100 people on the island and other downwind atolls.
    (HN, 3/25/98)(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A10)(SS, 3/26/02)

1954        Apr 12, AEC hearings began on Robert Oppenheimer. Lewis Strauss, head of the AEC, had accused Oppenheimer on Dec 21, 1953, of disloyalty and presented a list of the charges against him. Oppenheimer refused to resign, demanded a hearing, and hired a lawyer.
    (http://tinyurl.com/8e8lf)

1954        Apr 18, The US held a nationwide test of its disaster radio system known as Conelrad. In SF a simulated 10-megaton bomb, exploding over Hunters Point, was estimated to kill 500,000 Bay Area citizens.
    (SSFC, 4/12/09, DB p.43)

1954        May 27, The security board of the Atomic Energy Commission affirmed Robert Oppenheimer's loyalty but denied him security clearance. The AEC canceled his contract.
    (SSFC, 7/31/05, p.F2)(http://tinyurl.com/8e8lf)

1955        Mar 6, A US Atomic Energy Spokesman said a cloud from the atomic blast at Nevada’s Yucca Flat passed over the Central California coastline.
    (SFC, 3/4/05, p.F3)

1955        May 5, The US detonated a 29-kiloton nuclear device in Nevada. “Apple 2” was the 2nd of 40 tests of Operation Cue, meant to study the effects of a nuclear explosion on a typical American community.
    (AH, 6/02, p.72)

1955        Jul 9, Scientists in London issued a manifesto declaring that researchers must take responsibility for their creations, such as the atomic bomb. Bertrand Russel, British pacifist philosopher, drafted the manifesto, which served as the philosophical origin for the 1957 Pugwash Conference (Nova Scotia) against nuclear arms. It was signed by ten other scientists that included as Joseph Rotblat (1995 Nobel Peace Prize), Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and Frederic Joliot-Curie.
    (WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rotblat)

1955        Sep 17, A US Convair B-36 bomber took off from Carswell AFB, Texas, becoming the first aircraft in the world to fly with a nuclear reactor. Over the next 2 years the Convair Crusader made 47 flights.
    (AH, 2/03, p.51)

1955        Oct 14, A new US Navy 6-story, windowless structure was dedicated at the SF Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point, Ca. The $8 million laboratory was to be devoted exclusively to the development of defense against radiation.
    (SFC, 4/8/05, p.F2)

1955        The synthetic element mendelevium, atomic number 101, was constructed atom by atom by a team at UC Berkeley. The team included Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory R. Choppin, Bernard G. Harvey, and Stanley G. Thompson (team leader).
    (SFC, 7/3/10, p.C4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelevium)

1956        Jan 10, The US Navy established its first nuclear power school at Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut.
    (AH, 2/06, p.14)

1956        Jan, In Japan media mogul Matsutaro Shoriki, as a cabinet member of the first LDP government, was appointed president of Japan’s new Atomic Energy Commission. Shoriki had helped form the Liberal Democratic Party.
    (Econ, 12/22/12, p.62)

1956        May 20, The US dropped a thermonuclear bomb from a plane onto Bikini Atoll. [see May 21]
    (HN, 5/20/98)

1956        May 21, The first known airborne US hydrogen bomb was tested over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1685)(EWH, 1968, p.1210)(AP, 5/21/97)

1956        Sep 22, Frederick Soddy (b.1877), English radiochemist, died. He and Ernest Rutherford explained that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1921.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Soddy)

1957        Mar 25, The Euratom Treaty established the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). The international organization was founded with the purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Atomic_Energy_Community)

1957        May 4, It was reported that NATO has warned the Soviet Union that it would meet any attack with all available meads including nuclear weapons.
    (SFC, 5/4/09, p.B2)

1957         May 15, The 1st British hydrogen bomb was detonated on Christmas Island in South Pacific. The 200 - 300 kilotons yield was less than expected.
    (www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1950.shtml)

1957        Jun 24, A 37-kiloton nuclear fission bomb, code-named Priscilla, was exploded in the Nevada desert at Frenchman Flat. The security of a bank vault was tested in the experiment. At this time the US was manufacturing 10 nuclear bombs a day.
    (SSFC, 8/22/04, p.E1)

1957        Jul 12, Santa Susana in Los Angeles County began receiving the nation’s first commercial electricity from a small, civilian-owned, nuclear reactor. It was shut down in 1964 and scientists later reported that the plant might be responsible hundreds of cancer cases. PG&E had teamed with General Electric to establish the Vallecitos atomic energy plant, the world’s 1st privately owned and operated nuclear facility.
    (SFC, 4/7/01, p.A5)(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)

1957        Sep 2, Pres. Eisenhower signed the Price-Anderson Act, which limited firms’ liability in commercial nuclear disasters. The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act, a United States federal law, has since been renewed several times since its passage.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price-Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act)(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)

1957        Sep 19, The United States conducted its first underground nuclear test, code-named "Rainier," in the Nevada desert.
    (AP, 9/19/07)

1957        Sep 29, The USSR’s Mayak nuclear plant in the Chelyabinsk region saw one of the world's worst nuclear accidents when a waste tank exploded. 20 million curies of deadly strontium and cesium were released. This was about 40% of the amount later released at Chernobyl. Some 23,000 sq. km. (9,200 sq. miles) were contaminated and prompted authorities to evacuate 10,000 residents from neighboring regions.
    (SFC, 5/26/01, p.A8)(SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)(AP, 12/7/17)

1957        Oct 7, A fire in the Windscale plutonium production reactor (later called Sellafield) north of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive iodine and polonium through the countryside and into the Irish Sea. Livestock in the immediate area were destroyed, along with 500,000 gallons of milk. At least 30, and possibly as many as 1,000, cancer deaths were subsequently linked to the accident. PM Harold Macmillan ordered the disaster hushed up.
    (HN, 10/7/00)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.76)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.63)

1957        Nov 3, Canada fired up the National Research Universal (NRU) nuclear reactor near Ottawa. The 200 MWt reactor began producing medical and industrial radioisotopes, including molybdenum-99, a critical isotope used for medical diagnoses.
    (Econ, 6/20/09, p.38)(www.aecl.ca/Science/RR/History.htm)

1957        Nov, Communist bosses gathered in Moscow. Mao Zedong predicted that between a third and a half of the world’s population might be killed in a nuclear conflagration, but that most survivors would be living in the socialist block and “imperialism would be razed to the ground.”
    (www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/quemoy_matsu-2.htm)(Econ, 11/27/10, p.65)

1957        Dec 2, The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility to generate electricity in the US, went critical. [see July 12] It was taken out of service in 1982.
    (SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)(AP, 12/2/07)

1957        Dec 18, The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line [see July 12].
    (AP, 12/18/07)

1957        Denmark banned nuclear weapons from its soil.
    (AP, 10/29/10)
1957        The Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions was founded in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia.
    (http://159.93.28.88/flnr/index.html)

1958        Mar 11, A B-47 out of Hunter AFB in Savannah, Georgia, had just leveled off at 15,000 feet, when a bomb lock failed and dropped a nuclear bomb on the suburban neighborhood of Florence, South Carolina. The bomb's high explosives exploded on impact, wrecking a house and injuring several people on the ground. The extent of radioactive contamination was never revealed. The device had fallen after Captain Bruce Kulka accidentally grabbed a lever opening the bomb bay -- almost falling out himself. It was not fully armed with a fissile core.
    (www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)(AFP, 12/10/14)

1958        Apr 4, The 1st march against nuclear weapons began in London with a 4-day to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment close to  Aldermaston, England.
    (Econ, 8/16/08, p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldermaston_Marches)

1958        Apr 7, Anti-nuclear peace protesters arrived at the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, England, after marching for several days from London.
    (AP, 4/7/08)

1958        May 6, The US "Cactus" bomb test was relatively small, but it left a lasting legacy for the Marshall Islands in a dome-shaped radioactive dump. It was built two decades after the blast in the Pacific Ocean region. The US military filled the bomb crater on Runit island with radioactive waste, capped it with concrete, and told displaced residents of the Pacific's remote Enewetak atoll they could safely return home. The 45-cm (18-inch) thick concrete dome later developed cracks.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hardtack_I)(AFP, 5/26/19)

1958        Oct 6, The US nuclear submarine Seawolf surfaced after spending 60 days submerged.
    (AP, 10/6/08)

1958        A US B-47 bomber dropped a 7,600 pound, Mark-15 hydrogen bomb off the Georgia coast after it collided with a Navy fighter jet. It became one of “11 Broken Arrows,” nuclear bombs never found during air or sea accidents. Evidence of unusual radiation in the area turned up in 2004 prompting a renewed search.
    (SFC, 9/30/04, p.A7)

1959        Jul 21, The 1st atomic powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, was christened at Camden, NJ. In 1995 it was docked as part of the Navy’s James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, Va. Soviets launched the world’s 1st operational nuclear surface ship in 1958. The NS Savannah served until 1971.
    (OGA, Internet, 11/24/98)(SFC, 3/12/05, p.B5)(AH, 2/03, p.2)

1959        Jul 26, There was a partial nuclear reactor meltdown at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. A report in 2006 said it may have caused hundreds of cases of cancer in the community, and that chemicals threatened to contaminate ground and water.
    (AP, 10/6/06)(www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/santa/san_p1.html)

1960        Feb 13, Gerboise Bleue ("blue jerboa") was the name of the first French nuclear test. It was an atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert, during the Algerian War (1954-62).
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)(AP, 2/13/08)

1960        Mar 21, California state officials dumped radioactive waste from civilian installations into the ocean about 50 miles off of San Francisco at a site that the Navy and other Atomic Energy contractors have been using since 1946. The waste was mixed with concrete, sealed in 55-gallon steel drums and dumped in about 7,500 feet of water.
    (SSFC, 3/21/10, DB p.46)

1960               Apr 1,  France exploded a 2nd atom bomb in the Sahara Desert. Gerboise Blanche (“white gerboa”) was a surface shot fired in a seven meter deep pit, which accounted for the strange, Christmas tree-like shape of the fireball. General Ailleret once again personally initiated the firing of the device.
    (www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=112)

1960        Dec 27, France exploded a 3rd atom bomb in the Sahara Desert, code-named Gerboise Rouge (“red gerboa”).
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)

1961        Jan 24, A B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs near Goldsboro, North Carolina encountered a violent gust. The giant plane rolled completely over, came upright, and continued rolling inverted a second time before whipping into a vicious flat spin and breaking up. An apocalyptic explosion was stopped only by a tiny last-ditch, low-voltage switch.
    (www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)(CSM, 9/21/13)

1961        Apr 25, France exposed soldiers to a nuclear test, code-named "Gerboise verte" or green gerboa, in the Sahara Desert. In 2010 a French news report, citing a classified defense document, said the exposure was intentional to study how the atomic bomb would affect their bodies and minds. In total, France conducted 210 nuclear tests, both in the atmosphere and underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific from 1960-1996.
    (AP, 2/17/10)

1960        May 22, Chile experienced a 9.5 earthquake. A slow earthquake was detected just before the big one. It caused tsunamis in every coastal town between the 36th and 44th parallels with a death toll of some 1000 people.
    (PCh, 1992, p.977)(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A11)

1961        Jan 24, A B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs near Goldsboro, North Carolina encountered a violent gust. The giant plane rolled completely over, came upright, and continued rolling inverted a second time before whipping into a vicious flat spin and breaking up.
    (www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)

1961        Jun 25, US Pres. John F. Kennedy spoke from Berlin urging citizens “to recognize the possibilities of nuclear war in the missile age.”
    (SSFC, 10/29/17, p.C2)

1961        Sep 1, The Soviet Union ended a moratorium on atomic testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion in central Asia.
    (AP, 9/1/01)

1961        Sep 15, The US resumed underground nuclear testing. Operation Nougat began a series of 45 nuclear tests conducted (with one exception) at the Nevada Test Site.
    (SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Nougat)

1961        Oct 30, The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. This was the largest explosion ever recorded and broke a 3-year nuclear test moratorium.
    (AP, 10/30/06)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A22)

1962        Feb 16, Todd Gitlin (b.1943), Harvard activist, helped organize a national anti-war rally in Washington, DC. Some 8,000 students turned up. Boston SANE & the fledgling SDS organized the first anti-nuclear march.
    (www.peacebuttons.info/new/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february16)(Econ, 2/18/12, p.15)

1962        Mar 1, US-British nuclear test experiment took place in Nevada.
    (SC, 3/1/02)

1962        May 25, US performed an atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.
    (SC, 5/25/02)

1962        Apr 25,    Operation Dominic began with a test blast on Christmas Island. The operation was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 and 1963 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Dominic_I_and_II)

1962        May 25, US performed fizzled nuclear test at Christmas Island. The Tanana blast was part of Operation Dominic.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Dominic_I_and_II)

1962        Jul 6, The US tested a 104 kiloton nuclear device in Nevada in "Project Sedan" and blew a hole 1,280 feet wide and 320 feet deep. It was one of many "Plowshare" experiments to see if atomic detonations could be used for large scale peaceful purposes.
    (SFC,12/23/97, p.A3)

1962        Jul 7-1962 Jul 17, Operation Sunbeam was a series of four nuclear tests conducted at the United States of America's Nevada Test Site.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Sunbeam)

1962        Aug 25, USSR performed a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, Eastern Kazakh, Semipalitinsk.
    (chblue.com, 8/25/01)

1963        Jan 16, Nikita Khrushchev claimed the USSR had a 100-megaton nuclear bomb.
    (http://tinyurl.com/jmsrovc)

1963        Apr 10, The USS Thresher nuclear-powered submarine failed to surface 220 miles east of Boston, Mass. The disaster claimed 129 lives.
    (www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/ssn593.htm)

1963        Aug 5, The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a Limited Test Ban Treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, space and underwater. Public pressure helped JFK signed the ban on atmospheric atom bomb tests.
    (AP, 8/5/97)(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A10)(SSFC, 7/15/07, p.D1)

1963        In Israel activated the main components of its Dimona nuclear plant.  At the time the government claimed that Dimona was a textile plant.
    (Econ, 5/21/16, p.40)

1964        Oct 16, Red China detonated its first atomic bomb, codenamed "596," on the Lop Nur Test Ground, and became the world's 4th nuclear power.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1964)(AP, 10/16/07)

1965        Mar 3, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (SC, 3/3/02)
1965        Mar 3, USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
    (SC, 3/3/02)

1966        The US nuclear arsenal peaked at 30,000 weapons.
    (SSFC, 8/22/04, p.E6)

1966        Jul 28, Operation Latchkey, a series of 38 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1966 and 1967, began with the Saxon blast at the Nevada Test Site. All but one of the tests took place in Nevada.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Latchkey)

1966        Jul-1991 Jul,    During this period 175 French nuclear detonations took place: 41 air bursts, 78 underground (in shafts dug into the coral reef), and 56 underground (in shafts dug beneath the lagoon). Of the 175 tests explosions, 163 were at the South Pacific Mururoa Atoll, and 12 at Fangataufa atoll.
    (http://tinyurl.com/3cutsg)

1966        In South Africa PM B.J. Vorster (1915-1983) appointed P.W. Botha (1916-2006) as defense minister. In 2010 it was revealed that Botha, as South Africa’s defense minister, asked for nuclear warheads from Israel and that Israel’s defense minister Shimon Peres offered them in 3 sizes.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Willem_Botha)

1967        Jan 27, The US signed the Outer Space Treaty with Russia. More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons. All weapons of mass destruction were banned from orbit, as was military activity on the moon and other celestial bodies.
    (SFC, 1/28/67, p.A1)(AP, 1/27/98)(SSFC, 7/15/07, p.D1)

1967            Feb 14, The first nuclear weapons free zone was established in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Treaty of Tiatelolco was signed in Mexico City. It banned the manufacture, storage or testing of nuclear weapons and the devices for launching them.
    (http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/dnp/sub2.asp?ipage=timeline)

1967        Feb 18, Robert Oppenheimer (62), theoretical physicist and leader of atomic bomb development, died. His work included outlining processes by which old stars of sufficient mass might collapse beyond the Schwarzschild radius and become black holes. Physicist John Wheeler named the phenomena black holes. In 2005 Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin authored “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” and Priscilla J. McMillan authored “The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer.”
    (SFC, 12/19/98, p.C3)(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.B1)(SSFC, 7/31/05, p.F2)

1967        Feb 26, USSR performed an underground nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
    (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)

1967        Mar 2, The US performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site. The Rivet III test was part of Operation Latchkey.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Latchkey)

1967        Mar 3, The US performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site. The Mushroom test was part of Operation Latchkey.
    (www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Latchkey)

1967        Mar 29, France launched the Redoubtable, its first nuclear submarine. It did not enter operational service until 1972, when it began its first patrol on 28 January.
    (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/France/FranceOrigin.html)

1967        May 19, The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space: "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies." The Int’l. Outer Space Treaty barred nations from appropriating celestial bodies but did not mention individuals.
    (AP, 5/19/97)(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 7/13/97, Par p.8)

1967        Jun 17, China detonated its 1st hydrogen bomb and became the world's 4th thermo-nuclear power.
    (SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller%E2%80%93Ulam_design)

1967        Jun, In 2017 it was revealed that Israel had the capability at this time to improvise a nuclear explosive device. Israel put together "Operation Shimshon," the codename for the hastily arranged contingency plan of placing an improvised nuclear device in Sinai to be detonated upon the prime minister's orders. It aimed to scare Arab armies into quitting their offensive should Israel face what was feared to be an existential threat.
    (AP, 6/5/17)

1967        Dr. Ervin Hulet (d.2010 at 84) discovered the heavy nucleus of mendelevium 258.
    (SFC, 7/3/10, p.C4)
1967        India’s state-owned Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) opened the first of 7 uranium mines in Jaduguda, Jharkhand state. A 2007 report, by the non-profit Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), showed a significant incidence of congenital abnormality, sterility, and cancer among people living within 2.5 km (1.5 miles) of the mines than those living 35 km away.
    (AFP, 12/4/11)

1968        Jan 21, An American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed at North Star Bay, Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material. Reports began to surface later and in 1995 the Danish government paid a $15.5 million settlement to some 1,700 exposed workers.
    (www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2004/2004-08-09-02.asp)(AP, 1/21/08)

1968        Apr 26, The United States exploded a 1.3 megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar" beneath the Nevada desert.
    (AP, 4/26/08)

1968        Jul 1, The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India refused to sign.
    (AP, 7/1/97)(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/d5cf45)

1968        Aug 24, France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
    (AP, 8/24/97)

1968        Oct 27, Lisa Meitner (b.1878), Austrian-born Swedish physicist, died in England. During the war while in hiding from Hitler in Sweden, she analyzed and understood for its significance the work of Otto Hahn who in 1944 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on nuclear fission.
    (MT, 10/94, letters, p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner)

1968        Oct, The MH-1A, a US converted Liberty Ship named Sturgis, began supplying electricity to the Panama Canal Zone using a 10MW nuclear reactor. Operations continued to 1975.
    (Econ, 4/26/14, p.79)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MH-1A)

1969        Mar 26, The Nuclear reactor in Dodewaard, Netherlands, went into use.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodewaard_nuclear_power_plant)

1969        Jul 4, The USSR performed nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
    (www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)

1969        Dec, In New Jersey the boiling water Oyster Creek nuclear power plant was completed. It used water from two rivers in a system of once-through cooling that discharges slightly warmer water into canal connected to Barnegat Bay, New Jersey.
    (www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Early_closure_for_Oyster_Creek_0912101.html)

1970        Mar 5, A nuclear non-proliferation treaty went into effect after 43 nations ratified it. France and China only signed on in 1992. By 2015 there were 191 signatories.
    (AP, 3/5/98)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.21)(Econ., 5/2/15, p.54)

1970        Mar 23, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (SS, 3/23/02)

1970        Mar 26, 500th nuclear explosion since 1945 was announced by the US.
    (SS, 3/26/02)

1970        May 27, USSR performs an underground nuclear test.
    (www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)

1970        Nov 4, Andre Sakharov, Russian nuclear physicist, formed a Human Rights Committee.
    (http://tinyurl.com/58dqt4)

1971        Mar 23, USSR performed underground nuclear test.
    (www.atomicforum.org/russia/russiantesting.html)

1971        May 25, USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
    (www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)

1971        Jul 4, France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
    (www.atomicforum.org/france/1971.html)

1971        Nov 6, The US Atomic Energy Commission exploded a 5-megaton bomb beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska, just 87 miles from the Petropavlovsk Russian naval base. It registered as a magnitude-7 earthquake.
    (SFC, 12/17/01, p.A4)

1971        In California the Hosgri fault was discovered and forced PG&E to upgrade the design of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Unit 1 came online on May 7, 1985. Unit 2 became operational on March 13, 1986. In 2011 another seismic fault was detected on the ocean floor a half mile from the plant.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_Power_Plant)(SFC, 3/16/11, p.A11)
1971        Following Pakistan’s defeat by India and Bangladesh in the Bangladesh war, Pakistan decided to develop a nuclear weapons program.
    (SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)

1972        Vermont’s Yankee Nuclear Power Station opened.
    (SFC, 8/28/13, p.A8)

1972        David McTaggart (d.2001), one of the founders of Greenpeace Int’l., sailed his small boat into the French nuclear-testing site at Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific.
    (SFC, 3/24/01, p.A22)(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A31)

1972        Scientists discovered an extinct natural nuclear reactor in a uranium mine in Gabon. Research revealed it had operated intermittently for a few million years from about 2 billion years ago.
    (SFC, 11/29/04, p.A4)

1973        Mar 23, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Toggle)

1973        Aug 25,  France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
    (chblue.com, 8/25/01)

1973        In Tennessee construction began on a nuclear reactor at Watts Bar. Completion of the project was expected in 2012.
    (Econ, 12/4/10, p.83)

1974        May 18, India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb. India conducted its first nuclear tests and then halted testing.
    (WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-10)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A12)(HN, 5/18/98)

1974        Jun 27, Pres. Nixon arrived in Moscow for his 3rd summit. During the summit the US and Russia approved a partial  atomic test ban treaty.
    (http://tinyurl.com/5yvrog)

1974        Jun, Members of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, USSR, reported their discovery of Element 106, which they reported to have synthesized. Glenn Seaborg was part of this group, and the element was named in his honor. Ervin Hulet and Albert Ghiorso of UC Berkeley were also members of the team.
    (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/106.html)(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A19)

1974        Aug 25,  France performed another nuclear test at Muruora Island.
    (chblue.com, 8/25/01)

1974        Nov 13, Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter
    (AP, 11/13/07)

1974        The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development, was founded.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group)

1976        Feb 26, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (SC, 2/26/02)

1976        Jul 28, In China a 7.8-8.2 earthquake in the northern city of Tangshan killed at least 242,000 people. This was reported as the deadliest earthquake in the last 100 years.
    (AP, 7/28/97)(http://history1900s.about.com/od/horribledisasters/a/tangshan.htm)

1976        Pres. Ford suspended nuclear reprocessing under the fear that terrorist groups might steal plutonium from American plants to manufacture bombs. Pres. Carter made the decision permanent in 2007.
    (WSJ, 3/13/09, p.A9)

1976        In Armenia the Metzamor nuclear power plant opened. It featured two VVER nuclear reactors, a design that continues to be used throughout the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe. The plant was shut down in 1988 following the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25,000 people and caused widespread devastation. But Armenian authorities restarted one reactor unit at the plant in 1993 following energy shortages that were causing heavy deforestation.
    (AP, 10/4/10)

1977        May 25, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (SC, 5/25/02)

1977        Apr 7, Pres. Carter stopped the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel rods in order to discourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
    (SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A18)

1977        May 25, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)

1977        May 29, USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)

1977        Jun 6, The Washington Post reported that the US had developed a neutron bomb.
    (http://piurl.com/5B)

1978        Feb, A top secret Pentagon document titled "History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons" was completed. The report was made public in 1999 and contained the locations of nuclear weapons minus their nuclear charges.
    (SFC, 10/20/99, p.A7)(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19991020/04-01.htm)

1978        Mar 23, The US performed nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)

1978        May 29, The USSR performed a nuclear test at Semipalatinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)

1979        Sep 22, A 2-3 kiloton thermonuclear device was set off in the waters off Bouvet Island, a little-visited possession of Norway located between the bottom of South Africa and the Prince Astrid Coast of Antarctica. It was speculated to have been set off by either Israel, South Africa or Taiwan.
    (SFCM, 9/25/05, p.6)

1979        Aug 18, USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh, Semipalitinsk, USSR.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_8.htm)

1979        Sep 16, In Wisconsin the Madison Press Connection published a detailed explanation of how to build a hydrogen bomb in an article written by Charles Hansen (1947-2003) of Mountain View, Ca. In 1988 Hansen published "U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History."
    (SFC, 9/17/04, p.F4)(http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/News/HansenRetrospective.html)

1979        Sep 22, A 2-3 kiloton thermonuclear device was set off in the waters off Bouvet Island, a little-visited possession of Norway located between the bottom of South Africa and the Prince Astrid Coast of Antarctica. The list of suspects quickly narrowed to South Africa and Israel.
    (SFCM, 9/25/05, p.6)(www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/nuke-test.htm)

1980        Sep 15, A B-52H bomber carrying nuclear-armed AGM-69 missiles experienced a fuel leak in its number three main wing tank and caught fire on the ground at Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota.
    (www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)

1980        Sep 18, In Damascus, Arkansas, a nuclear-armed Titan II missile exploded in its silo killing one serviceman and spreading toxic fumes in the area. In 2013 Eric Schlosser authored “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.”
    (SSFC, 9/22/13, p.F1)

1980        Sweden passed a referendum to wean itself off nuclear power. In 2010 a center-right government overturned the 1980 decision. As of 2012 Sweden had 10 nuclear reactors at the country's three power plants: Ringhals, Forsmark and Oskarshamn, providing about half of the country's electricity.
    (Econ, 8/12/06, p.44)(AP, 6/21/12)

1981        May 30, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (http://tinyurl.com/32s5h3)

1981        Jun 7, Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers in “Operation Opera” destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq at Osirak, Iraq, before it went into operation. Israelis charged that the facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons. Ilan Ramon (d.2003) flew the last of the 8 planes that bombed the reactor. In 2004 Rodger W. Claire authored “Raid on the Sun.”
    (WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A22)(AP, 6/7/97)(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A7)(WSJ, 6/1/04, p.D8)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.28)

1982        Jun 12, Some one million anti-nuclear demonstrators rallied in Central Park, NYC.
    (www.thenation.com/doc/20070702/schell)

1982        Jul 4, USSR performed nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_9.htm)

1982        Virginia banned uranium mining  due to concerns over radiation hazards.  This put the state in conflict with the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which preempts Virginia's mining ban under the US Constitution's so-called Supremacy Clause, which holds that federal law generally trumps state law. It remained legal to process enriched uranium into usable nuclear fuel. In 2008 it was reported that the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the US was in Virginia’s Pittsylvania County. In 2018 the US Supreme Court agreed to decide whether states have the right to ban uranium mining for public health reason.
    (www.cleanwateraction.org/publication/keep-ban-uranium-mining-virginia)(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.A7)(Reuters, 5/21/18)

1983        Mar 2, USSR performed an underground nuclear test.
    (SC, 3/2/02)

1983        Mar 26, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
    (SS, 3/26/02)

1983        Apr 1, Anti-nuke demonstrators linked arms in 14-mile human chain in England.
    (MC, 4/1/02)

1983        May 25, France performed a nuclear test.
    (SC, 5/25/02)

1983        The French Green Party was founded.
    (SFC, 6/22/01, p.D5)

1984        Feb 19,  The USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)

1984        Apr 16, In San Francisco nearly 200 people were arrested as some 1,000 demonstrators protested the noon speech by Henry Kissinger as the SF Hilton Hotel. “I believe that, within the next 12 to 15 months, there is every possibility that significant negotiations with the Soviet Union will start.”
    (www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/84/84-04kissinger-speech.html)(SSFC, 4/12/09, DB p.43)

1984        Aug 25,  The USSR performed an underground nuclear test.
    (www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)

1984        In the Philippines the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was completed at a cost of $2.3 billion, but remained dormant. In 2011 it was planned to open to tour groups to teach them about nuclear power.
    (AFP, 5/11/11)

1985        May 7, In California Unit 1 of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant came online. Unit 2 became operational on March 13, 1986.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_Power_Plant)

1985        Sep 30, Charles Richter (b.1900), seismologist, died. He developed the Richter Scale for measuring the amplitude of earthquakes. In 2007 Susan Elizabeth Hough authored “Richter’s Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man.”
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Richter)(SSFC, 1/21/07, p.M3)

1985        The US Congress approved the Pressler Amendment to condition continued aid to Pakistan on certification that it does not possess a nuclear device.
    (SSFC, 3/27/17, p.E2)

1986        Apr 26, The world's worst nuclear accident occurred in Pripyat, Ukraine, at 1:23 a.m. as the Chernobyl atomic power plant exploded. A 300-hundred-square-mile area was evacuated. 41 men died from the explosion and unknown thousands were exposed to radioactive material that spread in the atmosphere throughout the world. The plant burned for 10 days. About 70% of the fallout fell in Belarus. Damage was estimated to be up to $130 billion. By 1998 10,000 Russian "liquidators" involved in the clean-up had died and thousands more became invalids. Gen. Nikolai Timofeyevich Antoshkin (d.2021), organized the "liquidators" to seal the core. It was later estimated that the released radioactivity was 200 times the combined bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was later found that Soviet scientists were authorized to carry out experiments that required the reactor to be pushed to or beyond its limits, with safety features disabled.
    (WSJ, 11/8/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A14)(SFC, 12/18/99, p.C4)(AP, 4/26/05)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.18)(Econ, 4/30/15, p.48)(Econ., 2/6/21, p.74)

1986        Apr 27, In Ukraine the town of Pripyat was evacuated some 36 hours following the worst nuclear disaster in history.
    (Econ, 4/30/15, p.48)

1986        The Soviet leadership sent an estimated 7,000 Lithuanians, all but 100 of them male, to Chernobyl in the months and years after the Ukraine nuclear disaster. Many were forced against their will. They joined others from across the Soviet Union to work on the clean-up without sufficient protection or medication for their exposure to the high levels of radiation. Many later suffered from illnesses and health problems as a result.
    (Reuters, 7/31/19)

1987        Feb 26, USSR resumed nuclear testing at Semipalitinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan.
    (SC, 2/26/02)

1987         Nov 7, Italian citizens began voting in a 2-day referendum to close down 3 nuclear power plants.
    (AP, 11/13/03)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.66)(www.radicalparty.org/ambiente/dilascia_ing.htm)

1987        US Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and directed DOE to study only Yucca Mountain, Nevada, located within a former nuclear test site.
    (www.nei.org/keyissues/nuclearwastedisposal/yuccamountain/)

1988        Oct 5, Brazil accepted a constitution that obliged the government to make transfers to the 26 states and protect the jobs of public workers. It included a basic pension for men over 65 and women over 60, whether or not they pay into the system. This created a difficult environment for the control of spending. The new constitution also annulled the right of husbands to prohibit their wives from accepting employment. The new constitution also recognized Indian rights to reclaim their original lands and to preserve their way of life. Almost 600 reserves were established, encompassing 12.5% of Brazil’s territory, but many only existed on paper. The constitution also declared health care to be the right of the citizen and its provision to be the duty of the state. It also said Brazil will not develop, deploy or make use of nuclear weapons.
    (SFC, 9/25/96, p.A1)(Econ, 9/4/04, p.37)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.36)(SSFC, 6/10/07, p.A15)(Econ, 7/30/11, p.33)(Econ, 3/10/12, p.26)(Econ, 2/25/17, p.27)

1989        Soviet nuclear test explosions ended in Kazakhstan. Between 1949 and the cessation of atomic testing in 1989, 456 explosions were conducted at the STS, including 340 underground shots and 116 atmospheric.
    (SFC,11/20/97, p.B2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site)

1990        Astrophysicist Clifford Stoll authored “The Cuckoo's Egg," a true account of the tracking of a hacker who probed the US's most sensitive secrets, using keywords, such as "thermonuclear war." Stoll's pursuit of a hacker trying to access American computer networks led to the discovery of a West German spy ring.
    (www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Clifford-Stoll/dp/0671726889)
1990        Pres. Bush imposed sanctions against Pakistan under the 1986 Pressler Amendment when he was unable to certify that Pakistan did not have a nuclear bomb. This stopped the sale of 28 F-16 airplanes to Pakistan for which $658 million was already paid to General Dynamics. Pakistan had ordered and paid for 71 F-16 fighter bombers. $157 million was returned. In 1998 New Zealand agreed to lease the planes for about $105 million and the money to be paid to Pakistan.
    (SFC, 5/9/97, p.E2)(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A15)(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A18)

1991        May 18, France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
    (SC, 5/18/02)

1991        Jul 8, Reversing earlier denials, Iraq disclosed for the first time that it was carrying out a nuclear weapons program, including the production of enriched uranium.
    (AP, 7/8/01)

1991        Jul 13, Soviet and American negotiators meeting in Washington wrangled over a treaty to reduce long-range nuclear missiles.
    (AP, 7/13/01)

1991        Jul 14, American and Soviet negotiators in Washington continued work on trying to complete a treaty slashing long-range nuclear arsenals.
    (AP, 7/14/01)

1991        Jul 28, President Bush warned Iraq it would be making "an enormous mistake" if it failed to disclose its nuclear weapons program to United Nations inspectors.
    (AP, 7/28/01)

1991        Sep 23, UN weapons inspectors in Baghdad discovered documents detailing Iraq's secret nuclear weapons program and said Iraq was close to building a bomb. This triggered a standoff with Iraqi authorities.
    (SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 9/23/01)

1991        Sep 27, President Bush announced in a nationally broadcast address that he was eliminating all U.S. battlefield nuclear weapons, and called on the Soviet Union to match the gesture.
    (AP, 9/27/01)

1991        Sep 28, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev praised President Bush's pledge to drastically reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and promised to "reciprocate."
    (AP, 9/28/01)
1991        Sep 28, U.N. weapons inspectors ended a five-day standoff with Iraq over documents relating to Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
    (AP, 9/28/01)

1991        Oct 5, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced sweeping cuts in nuclear weapons in response to President Bush's arms reduction initiative.
    (AP, 10/5/01)

1991        Dec 24, A day before resigning, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev briefed Russian President Boris Yeltsin on nuclear weapons-firing procedures. Gorbachev also held a farewell meeting with staff members.
    (AP, 12/24/01)

1991        Dec 30, Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia et al) agreed to establish unified command over nuclear weapons, while allowing member states to form their own armies.
    (AP, 12/30/01)

1991        US intelligence discovered that Algeria possessed a nuclear research reactor at Ain Oussera, which was surrounded by air defenses.
    (Econ, 8/25/07, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/2j86s7)
1991        Iran’s first nuclear reactor was supplied by China.
    (SFC, 9/18/06, p.A1)
1991        The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program began. It was sponsored by US Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar. CTR assisted the states of the former Soviet Union in controlling and protecting their nuclear weapons, weapons-usable materials, and delivery systems.
    (www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/forasst/nunn_lug/overview.htm)(Econ, 1/8/11, p.61)
1991        US Pres. George H.W. Bush ordered the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea as a prelude to talks with North Korea two years later. 950 had been placed there after the Korean War.
    (Econ, 9/9/17, p.35)(Econ, 9/30/17, p.25)
1991         The International Atomic Energy Agency placed a seal over storage bunkers holding conventional explosives known as HMX and RDX and PETN at the Al-Qaqaa facility south of Baghdad as part of U.N. sanctions that ordered the dismantlement of Iraq's nuclear program.
    (AP, 10/27/04)
1991        Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were left with numerous tailings dumps of radioactive waste following the collapse of the soviet Union. By 2015 cancer rates were rising as radioactive waste leached into the water supply.
    (Econ, 7/11/15, p.40)
1991        South Africa signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. South Africa had secretly built several bombs but dismantled them before signing on to the NPT. 
    (Econ, 6/10/06, p.23)

1991-2005    The US spent some $7 billion on Russian nuclear security.
    (WSJ, 9/26/05, p.A1)

1992        Mar 30, Debra Chasnoff (1957-2017) won an Oscar for her documentary “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment,” an expose of GE’s production of nuclear weapons. Chasnoff came out as a lesbian by thanking her female partner, Kim Klausner.
    (SSFC, 11/12/17, p.C1)

1992        Sep, A US nuclear test in the Nevada desert was set off. After the test Washington voluntarily gave up testing as part of the emerging global moratorium.
    (SFC, 1/6/97, p.A3)

1993        The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began a database to count incidents of nuclear trafficking.
    (Econ, 10/04/08, p.65)

1994        Mar 19, Talks between North Korea and South Korea collapsed, imperiling a U.S.-brokered deal to resolve the North Korean nuclear dispute.
    (AP, 3/19/99)

1994        May 30, The U.N. Security Council warned North Korea to stop refueling a nuclear reactor and allow U.N. monitors to perform full inspections.
    (AP, 5/30/99)

1994        Jun 11, The United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to seek punitive steps against North Korea over its nuclear program.
    (AP, 6/11/99)

1994        Jun 16, Former President Jimmy Carter, on a private visit to North Korea, reported the Communist nation's leaders were eager to resume talks with the United States on resolving disputes about Pyongyang's nuclear program and improving relations.
    (AP, 6/16/99)

1994        Oct 21, United States and North Korea signed an agreement requiring the communist nation to halt its nuclear program and agree to inspections. Fuel rods from North Korea’s nuclear reactor were to be shipped out of the country, but that did not happen. The deal unraveled eight years later. Kang Sok Ju (1939-2016) was Pyongyang's chief negotiator.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Sok-ju)(AP, 10/21/99)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.41)(Econ, 7/25/15, p.23)

1994        Nov 14, U.S. experts visited North Korea's main nuclear complex for the first time under an accord aimed at opening such sites to outside inspections.
    (AP, 11/14/99)

1994        Belarus gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited in the breakup of the Soviet Union, but it retained its highly enriched uranium stocks.
    (AP, 12/1/10)
1994        China started its first nuclear plant. By 2016 there were 36 nuclear reactors in operation.
    (Econ, 9/24/16, p.43)
1994        Finland’s parliament banned the import and export of spent nuclear fuel. It later planned to isolate its own stockpile in the Onkalo repository on the island of Olkiluoto.
    (Econ, 4/15/17, p.51, 52)
1994        An accord called the Agreed Framework was made in which North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for billions in Western aid.
    (SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)(SFEC, 12/6/98, p.A28)
1994        Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons it had inherited from the Soviet Union in exchange for security guaranties from Britain, France, America and Russia.
    (Econ., 3/7/15, p.24)

1995        Jan 25, A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range off the northwest coast of Norway to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard. Nuclear forces in Russia were put on alert, and the nuclear-command suitcase was brought to President Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether to launch a nuclear barrage against the United States. This became known as the Norwegian rocket incident or Black Brant scare.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident)

1995        Feb 14, Britain’s Sizewell B nuclear power plant, near Leiston, Suffolk, started generating power. Construction had started in 1988.
    (www.british-energy.com/pagetemplate.php?pid=96)

1995        Jul 21 China began conducting a series of ballistic missile test firings 85 miles from Taiwan. The missiles were all MTCR class four short range and two intermediate range. All were modern, mobile, and nuclear-capable. No country has ever held this level of field tests for nuclear capable missiles before.
    (www.fas.org/news/taiwan/1995/index.html)

1995        British Energy was formed to run Britain’s second generation of nuclear plants.
    (Econ, 3/22/08, p.64)

1996         Jan 27, France detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb. In 1998 the Int’l. Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the test sites in the South Pacific would be contaminated for centuries. Plutonium particles were scattered in the sediment of the lagoons at Mururoa and Fangatoufa.
    (WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-16)(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A7)

1996        Jul 29, China held a nuclear test explosion that it promised would be its last, just hours before international negotiators in Geneva began discussing a global ban on such testing. Beijing said it would seek some changes in the global test-ban treaty currently being fashioned by negotiators.
    (WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)(AP, 7/29/97)

1996        Sep 10, The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). As of 2020 it has not entered into force, as eight specific nations have not ratified the treaty.  
    (https://tinyurl.com/p55kfr3)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.17)

1996        In Tennessee Unit 1 of the Watts Bar nuclear power plant came on line after 23 years of construction and a cost of $6.9 billion.
    (SFC, 5/5/07, p.A6)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.71)
1996        In Tennessee the US Dept. of Energy began converting the K-25 building at Oak Ridge, which anchored the world’s first full-scale uranium enrichment factory, into an industrial park. By 2008 it was estimated that K-25 would be leveled by late 2010, and the rest of the site finished by 2016 at a cost of $3 billion.
    (WSJ, 6/2/08, p.A2)
1996        A Danish government admitted in a report that the United States had stored nuclear weapons in Greenland during the Cold War, although Denmark had banned nuclear weapons from its soil in 1957.
    (AP, 10/29/10)

1997        Apr 5, Regional police reported the arrest of 7 men in Novosibirsk, Russia, who officials said planned to smuggle 11 pounds (5.2kg) of enriched uranium to Pakistan or China. The uranium was reportedly stolen from a plant in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.
    (AP, 11/29/07)(http://tinyurl.com/3cydhn)

1997        Jul 2, The US began a round of underground nuclear weapons-related tests in Nevada.
    (SFC, 7/3/97, p.A9)

1997        Aug 16, Scientists reported that an underground seismic event occurred in Russia. Inquiries were being made about nuclear testing. Russian scientists claimed a magnitude-2 earthquake near the Novaya Zemlya test range triggered the event.
    (SFC, 8/29/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/3/97, p.A1)

1998        May 11, India set off the 1st of 3 underground atomic blasts in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan near the Pakistan border, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. Abdul Kalam led the teams of scientists who developed missiles designed for India’s atomic warheads.
    (WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/11/99)(WSJ, 7/15/02, p.A1)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)

1998        May 13, India set off 2 more nuclear explosions in defiance of int’l. condemnations.
    (SFC, 5/14/98, p.A1)

1998        May 28, Pakistan matched India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
    (SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13) (SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/99)   

1998        May 30, Pakistan set off a nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
    (SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)

1999        Mar 26, The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. received its first shipment of nuclear waste. The facility was completed in 1988.
    (SFC, 3/26/99, p.A3)(SFC, 3/27/99, p.A2)

1999        May 19, Ukrainian authorities on 19 May 1999 arrested four Russian citizens who were attempting to smuggle 20kg of “enriched uranium ore” to Western Europe.
    (http://tinyurl.com/3cydhn)

1999        Jun, In Japan a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction occurred for 15 minutes at the No. 1 reactor of Shika Nuclear Power Plant in Ishikawa prefecture. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. failed to report the reaction to authorities. In 2007 the company agreed to shut down the reactor for inspection.
    (AP, 3/15/07)

1998        Jul 15, A letter, supposedly written by Jo Byong Ho, a North Korean official, was said to be addressed to Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. It said that the chief of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Jehangir Karamat, had been paid $3 million and asked that “agreed documents and components” be placed on a North Korean plane after delivering missile parts to Pakistan. The evidence suggested that Pakistan’s top military officials were involved in the secret sale of equipment to North Korea that enabled it to begin enriching uranium.
    (SFC, 7/8/11, p.A4)

1999        Sep 30, In Japan 3 workers were hospitalized with radiation poisoning following an accidental 20-hour nuclear reaction at the JCO Co. nuclear processing plant in Tokaimura, 80 miles northeast of Tokyo. Area residents were told they could resume normal activity the next day. Production pressure was later cited as the cause of the accident. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., the owner of JCO, promised to pay damages to victims of the accident. The number of people exposed was later raised to 69. Hisashi Ouchi (30), one of the 3 workers, died from radiation exposure on Dec 21. Masato Shinohara (40) died Apr 27, 2000.
    (SFC, 10/1/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)(SFC, 10/16/99, p.A14)(SFC, 12/4/99, p.C1)(SFC, 12/22/99, p.C11)(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D6)

2000        Jun 4, Pres. Clinton and Pres. Putin agreed to each dispose 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium and to establish a military center in Moscow for US and Russian officers to share early warning data on missile and space launches. Clinton then answered questions from the public at the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
    (SFC, 6/5/00, p.A1,8)

2000        Aug 29, Russia signed an agreement between the government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation concerning the Management and Disposition of Plutonium Designated as no Longer Required for Defense Purposes and Related Cooperation. The US signed the Plutonium Management and Disposal Agreement (PDMA) document on September 1. On Oct 3, 2016, Russia withdrew from the agreement.
    (http://tinyurl.com/hyn3gj8)(Econ, 10/8/16, p.48)

2001        Sep 3, In France COGEMA, a state-owned uranium mining and fuel recycling firm led by Anne Lauvergeon, became Areva in a merger with Framatome, a maker of nuclear reactors.
    (www.freebase.com/view/en/areva)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.70)

2001        The Generation IV International Forum (IGF) was established to coordinate the development of new nuclear reactors. Members included America, Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland and Euratom, the EU’s nuclear body.
    (Econ, 12/12/09, TQ p.15)

2002        Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916-2010), twice-victim of the 1945 nuclear bombs in Japan, published a collection of 31-syllable poems (tanka) that reflected on his WWII ordeal.
    (Econ, 1/16/10, p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi)

2002        Alyn Ware of New Zealand, a campaigner against nuclear weapons, established a network of lawmakers worldwide to campaign against nuclear weapons at the UN.
    (AP, 10/13/09)

2003        Aug 27, The US and North Korea held direct talks for the first time in months, meeting for a half-hour on the sidelines of a six-nation summit in Beijing designed to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
    (AP, 8/27/03)

2003        Oct 4, A shipment of uranium-enriching centrifuge gear was seized at the Italian port of Taranto in 2003, forcing Libya to admit and eventually renounce its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2009 Urs Tinner, suspected of involvement in the world's biggest nuclear smuggling ring, said in a Swiss TV documentary that he tipped off US intelligence about a delivery of centrifuge parts meant for Libya's nuclear weapons program.
    (http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/28/world/fg-network28)(WSJ, 12/31/03, p.A1)(AP, 1/22/09)

2004        Graham Allison, Harvard security analyst, authored “Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.”
    (SSFC, 11/21/04, p.B1)

2005        Mar, Mining giant BHP-Billiton paid $7 billion to acquire WMC Resources of Australia. WMC owned the Olympic Dam copper an d gold mine, which also contained the world’s largest uranium deposit.
    (Econ, 8/21/10, p.56)

2005        Aug 31, Joseph Rotblat (b.1908), Polish-born British physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner (1995), died in London. In 1957 he helped found the Pugwash Conference on science and world affairs. His work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution to the agreement of the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963). In 2012 Andrew Brown authored “Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience: The Life and Work of Joseph Rotblat.”
    (SFC, 9/2/05, p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rotblat)(Econ, 3/31/12, p.94)

2005        Element 118 was created by a team from Livermore, Ca., and scientists at the Dubna heavy ion accelerator in Russia.
    (SFC, 4/8/10, p.C5)

2006        Dec 7, Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general who served in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria. He had become involved in the olive business after retirement. Iranian officials later said that he disappeared on Dec 9. In March, 2009, a former German Defense Ministry official said Asgari had defected and was providing information to the West on Iran's nuclear program. Asgari allegedly told the West that Iran was financing North Korean steps to transform Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to an Israeli airstrike that targeted a site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007. In November Iranian news Web sites reported that Asgari had been abducted by Israeli agents and is now being held in Israel.
    (AP, 11/16/09)

2006        Dec 18, Pres. Bush signed H.R. 5682, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 (Hyde Act), to let the US share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India, which continued to refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It exempted from certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 a proposed nuclear agreement for cooperation with India. Robert Gates took the oath as Pentagon chief.
    (www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5682)(SFC, 12/19/06, p.A16)(WSJ, 12/19/06, p.A1)

2006        Global Zero was founded by Bruce Blair, a former Minuteman ballistic missile launch-control officer. The group, dedicated to nuclear disarmament, announced itself in December 2008.
    (Econ, 6/18/11, p.69)(http://www.globalzero.org/)

2007        Jun 15, Areva, a French nuclear energy group under the direction of Anne Lauvergeon, announced a cash offer for UraMin, a Canadian start-up firm with mining assets in Namibia, the Central African Republic, and South Africa. The acquisition cost $2.5 billion. In late 2011 Areva took a $2 million charge against the acquisition.
    (Econ, 2/18/12, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/822j7j9)

2007        Jul 14, UN inspectors arrived in North Korea to monitor the communist country's long-anticipated promise to scale back its nuclear weapons program. North Korea said it had shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, hours after a ship cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country's pledge to disarm.
    (SSFC, 7/15/07, p.A4)(AP, 7/14/08)

2007        Aug 30, In a serious breach of nuclear security, a US B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.
    (AP, 8/30/08)

2007        Sep 6, Israeli troops backed by tanks and bulldozers crossed into southern Gaza to strike at Palestinian militants and 10 militants were killed. Palestinian militants said fighters in a pickup truck and jeep crashed through a fence on the Gaza-Israel border and attacked an Israeli army post. An Israeli airstrike hit in Syria where it was believed weapons, being sent from Iran to the militant Islamic group in Lebanon, were stored. It was later reported that the airstrike was aimed at a partly constructed nuclear reactor.
    (AP, 9/6/07)(AP, 9/12/07)(SSFC, 10/14/07, p.A19)

2007        Nov 28, Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian were arrested in eastern Slovakia and Hungary in an attempted sale of uranium, material believed to be from the former Soviet Union. Police said It was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb."
    (AP, 11/29/07)

2007        Dec 12, India announced major plans to increase its nuclear capabilities, saying it was close to testing a ballistic missile capable of hitting targets up to 6,000 kilometers (3,800 miles) away.
    (AP, 12/12/07)

2007        Dec 13, Russia and Iran reached agreement on a schedule for finishing construction of a nuclear power plant that plays a central role in the international tensions over Iran's atomic program, Russian news agencies reported.
    (AP, 12/13/07)

2008        Feb 5, A South African court sentenced Daniel Geiges (69), a Swiss engineer, for his part in an international nuclear smuggling ring. Geiges was given a 13-year suspended sentence on charges relating to a network run by disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. Geiges' former boss and co-accused, German engineer Gerhard Wisser was given an 18-year suspended sentenced last year in a plea agreement for his role in the network.
    (AP, 2/5/08)

2008        Feb 7, Experts said Iran's nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines.
    (AP, 2/7/08)

2008        Feb 27, Japan and Israel shared their concerns about Iranian nuclear programs and agreed to cooperate to prevent Tehran from going nuclear.
    (AP, 2/27/08)

2008        Mar 3, The UN Security Council imposed another round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran defiantly vowed to continue its nuclear program, which it insists is aimed only at generating power.
    (AP, 3/4/08)

2008        Mar 4, China and Russia scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
    (AP, 3/4/08)

2008        March 29, Azerbaijan customs halted a shipment of Russian equipment for Iran’s first nuclear power plant. The equipment was released May 1.
    (WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)

2008        Apr 8, In Pakistan a gas leak sparked an explosion and fire at a nuclear plant that is believed to produce enriched plutonium for the country’s atomic weapons program. Two workers were killed.
    (AP, 4/8/08)

2008        Apr 20, Russia closed down a plutonium producing reactor in Seversk, marking a milestone in US nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
    (AP, 4/20/08)

2008        Apr 24, Syria dismissed US accusations that North Korea was helping it build a nuclear reactor that could produce plutonium. Israeli warplanes bombed a site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007, that private analysts said appeared to have been the site of a reactor, based on commercial satellite imagery taken after the raid. Syria later razed the site.
    (AP, 4/24/08)

2008        May 21, Two Swedish contractors were arrested suspected of preparing to sabotage The Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in southern Sweden, after traces of explosives were found on one of the men.
    (AFP, 5/21/08)

2008        May 30, Jordan and France signed an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear energy program.
    (AP, 5/30/08)

2008        Jun 2, The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Syria has agreed to let inspectors into the country this month to probe allegations of illegal nuclear activity.
    (AP, 6/2/08)

2008        Jun 21, Four French nationals, all Niger-based employees of the nuclear company Areva, were abducted by rebels from the Movement for Justice in a part of Niger known for its uranium mines. They were freed on June 25.
    (AP, 6/25/08)

2008        Jun 25, A senior UN atomic inspector said an initial probe of US allegations that a Syrian site hit by Israeli warplanes was a secretly built nuclear reactor is inconclusive and further checks are necessary.
    (AP, 6/25/08)

2008        Jun 26, The Federation of American Scientists, which studies the US nuclear arsenal, said in a report that Washington had removed its last atomic bombs from the British Royal Air Force base at Lakenheath, where they had been stationed since 1954.
    (Reuters, 6/26/08)
2008        Jun 26, President Bush said he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the US terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."
    (AP, 6/26/08)
2008        Jun 26, North Korea handed over details of its nuclear programs, paving the way to be removed from the US terrorism blacklist amid years of efforts to persuade the North to abandon the atom bomb.
    (AFP, 6/26/08)

2008        Jun 27, North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program, blasting apart the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.
    (AP, 6/27/08)

2008        Jul 19, In Geneva a decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled, with Iran stonewalling Washington and 5 other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment.
    (AP, 7/20/08)

2008        Jul 26, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran now has 6,000 centrifuges, a significant increase in the number of uranium-enriching machines in its nuclear program.
    (AP, 7/26/08)

2008        Aug 1, The UN atomic watchdog's board of governors unanimously approved an inspections agreement with India that is key to finalizing a US-India nuclear deal.
    (AP, 8/1/08)

2008        Aug 5, The US Energy Department said that even if no new reactors are built, getting rid of the country's nuclear waste will cost $96.2 billion and require a major expansion of the planned Nevada waste dump beyond limits imposed by Congress.
    (AP, 8/5/08)

2008        Aug 9, Syria said it would bar UN nuclear investigators from revisiting a site bombed by Israeli jets on suspicion it was a secretly built atomic reactor.
    (AP, 8/9/08)

2008        Aug 24, Iran's official news agency said the country has begun designing its second light-water nuclear power plant, a 360-megawatt facility in the southwest.
    (AP, 8/24/08)

2008        Aug 26, An Ohio jury convicted Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear plant engineer, of hiding information in 2001 about reactor corrosion at the Davis-Besse plant along Lake Erie. Siemaszko’s attorney’s said the plant’s owner set him up as a scapegoat because he spoke out about safety concerns.
    (WSJ, 8/27/08, p.A1)
2008        Aug 26, North Korea said it has suspended work on disabling its nuclear facilities as of August 14 and is considering restoration of the Yongbyon reactor that can make material for atomic bombs, accusing the US of violating a disarmament deal by failing to delist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
    (AP, 8/26/08)

2008        Aug 28, Iran’s Junior trade minister Mohammadali Zeyghami said Iran is ready to share its nuclear technology with Nigeria to help the energy-starved west African powerhouse boost electricity generation.
    (AFP, 8/29/08)

2008        Sep 1, North Korea began reassembling its Yongbyon reactor that can make material for atomic bombs in violation of US conditions for improved diplomatic relations. Japan's Kyodo news agency reported the restart on Sep 3 citing sources in Beijing close to six-party nuclear talks on North Korean.
    (Reuters, 9/3/08)

2008        Sep 8, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia will not sell uranium to India unless it signs a key non-proliferation pact, despite a decision by nuclear supplier nations to end a ban on trading with New Delhi.
    (AFP, 9/8/08)

2008        Sep 15, A new International Atomic Energy Agency report said that Iran has repeatedly blocked a UN investigation into allegations it tried to make nuclear arms and the probe is now deadlocked.
    (AP, 9/15/08)

2008        Sep 18, Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd said the west's relations with Russia are at a turning point after its intervention in Georgia and a pact to sell Australian uranium to Moscow is in the balance.
    (AP, 9/18/08)

2008        Sep 19, North Korea said it is making "thorough preparations" to restart its nuclear reactor, accusing the United States of failing to fulfill its obligations under an international disarmament-for-aid agreement.
    (AP, 9/19/08)

2008        Sep 22, North Korea asked the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) to remove seals and surveillance equipment from the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
    (AP, 9/22/08)

2008        Sep 24, The European Union warned that Iran is nearing the ability to arm a nuclear warhead even if it insists its atomic activities are peaceful.
    (AP, 9/24/08)
2008        Sep 24, French power provider EDF said it has agreed to acquire British Energy Group PLC for about $23.2 billion in cash in a deal that would create a powerhouse in nuclear energy.
    (AP, 9/24/08)
2008        Sep 24, North Korea barred UN nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor and within a week plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion.
    (AP, 9/24/08)

2008        Sep 27, The UN Security Council unanimously approved a new resolution reaffirming previous sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program and offering Tehran incentives to do so.
    (AP, 9/27/08)

2008        Sep 28, President Hugo Chavez said that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy, a move likely to raise US concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
    (AP, 9/29/08)

2008        Oct 1, The US Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of overturning a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, allowing American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors in exchange for safeguards and UN inspections of India's civilian nuclear plants. In response Pakistani PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said: "Now Pakistan also has the right to demand a civilian nuclear agreement with America. We want there to be no discrimination. Pakistan will also strive for a nuclear deal and we think they will have to accommodate us."
    (AP, 10/2/08)

2008        Oct 8, South Korea's top military officer said North Korea is working to develop a nuclear warhead for a long-range missile, a day after the communist state tested its short-range weaponry.
    (AP, 10/8/08)

2008        Oct 9, The International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea has told it that the government is placing all its main nuclear complex off-limits to inspectors and will stop its program of dismantling the site.
    (AP, 10/9/08)

2008        Oct 11, The United States said it would drop North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, in the latest attempt to salvage a nuclear disarmament deal before President Bush's term ends in January.
    (AP, 10/11/08)

2008        Oct 12, North Korea said it will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the US removed the communist country from a list of states Washington says sponsor terrorism.
    (AP, 10/12/08)

2008        Oct 14, North Korea resumed steps to disable its nuclear reactor under renewed monitoring, after a deal with Washington to save the disarmament process from collapse.
    (AP, 10/14/08)

2008        Oct 18, Pakistan said that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the US.
    (AP, 10/18/08)

2008        Nov 12, The United States says it has shipped 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea as part of a nuclear disarmament deal. The fuel is scheduled to arrive in the North in late November and early December. North Korea said that it won't allow outside inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear complex to verify the communist regime's accounting of past nuclear activities.
    (AP, 11/12/08)

2008        Nov 17, Algeria and Argentina signed an agreement to boost cooperation over civil nuclear energy as part of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's tour of northern Africa.
    (AFP, 11/17/08)

2008        Nov 26, In Venezuela Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a local nuclear energy program and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez.
    (AP, 11/27/08)

2008        Nov 30, The head of Iran's nuclear power agency said the country is willing to help neighboring Arab countries build joint light-water nuclear power plants if they are interested.
    (AP, 11/30/08)

2008        Dec 5, India and Russia signed a civilian nuclear deal that would see Russia build four nuclear reactors for power-starved India.
    (AP, 12/5/08)

2008        Dec 9, In Beijing delegates from six nations focused on a Chinese proposal on how to verify North Korea's claims about its atomic program in talks aimed at ending the secretive regime's nuclear activities.
    (AFP, 12/9/08)
2008        Dec 9, In Paris, France, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, Jordan's Queen Noor and other dignitaries launched an ambitious project aimed at eliminating the world's nuclear weapons over the next 25 years.
    (AP, 12/9/08)

2008        Dec 13, North Korea warned that it will slow down work on ending its nuclear drive after six-party talks collapsed, but South Korea predicted a fresh start for diplomacy under US president-elect Barack Obama.
    (AFP, 12/13/08)

2008        Dec 20, The British government said it has sold its final stake in the country's nuclear weapons plant, prompting criticism from MPs who said it throws the independence of the British nuclear deterrent into question. State-owned British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) sold its one-third stake of the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston, Berkshire, to Jacobs Engineering Group of the United States.
    (AFP, 12/20/08)

2008        Dec 30, US President George W. Bush signed a nuclear inspection agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will boost international monitoring of nuclear activities,
    (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/31/content_10583484.htm)

2008        India’s Congress Party boasted of paying bribes to wavering lawmakers to secure passage of a landmark civilian nuclear deal between India and the US. In 2011 WikiLeaks revealed a diplomatic cable that described Congress insiders showing off chests of money to achieve this end.
    (SFC, 3/18/11, p.A2)

2008        Brian Michael Jenkins authored “Will Terrorists Go Nuclear.”
    (WSJ, 10/5/08, p.A25)
2008        William Tucker authored “Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and Lead America’s Energy Odyssey.”
    (WSJ, 12/16/08, p.A21)

2009        Jan 11, Slovakia reopened a nuclear power plant it was forced to shut down as part of its bid to join the European Union, prompting condemnation from neighboring Austria, which described the reactor at Bohunice as unsafe.
    (AP, 1/11/09)

2009        Jan 12, The US slapped sanctions on people and firms linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s black market nuclear network.
    (WSJ, 1/13/09, p.A1)

2009        Jan 17, A US researcher who visited the North said North Korea has hardened its stance on disarmament, saying it has "weaponized" plutonium into warheads, but hopes for better ties with President-elect Barack Obama.
    (AP, 1/17/09)

2009        Jan 21, Russia's military said that an old Soviet-built nuclear-powered satellite has spewed fragments in orbit, but insisted they do not threaten the international space station or people on Earth.
    (AP, 1/21/09)

2009        Feb 2, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a nuclear inspections deal with India.
    (AP, 2/2/09)

2009        Feb 4, French group Areva signed a draft accord for the sale of two to six nuclear reactors to India, a huge new market now open with the end of a nuclear trade embargo on New Delhi.
    (AFP, 2/4/09)
2009        Feb 4, In Germany countries leading the drive to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear program welcomed the new US administration's readiness to engage with Tehran. Foreign Ministry officials from Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, met in Wiesbaden.
    (AP, 2/4/09)

2009        Feb 5, The Swedish government agreed to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.
    (AP, 2/5/09)

2009        Feb 6, A Pakistani court freed nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. He had admitted to selling weapon technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
    (WSJ, 2/7/08, p.A1)

2009        Feb 16, Authorities acknowledged that nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, touching off new concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets. The HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was also carrying nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the collision.
    (AP, 2/16/09)

2009        Feb 19, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said samples taken from a Syrian site suspected of being a secretly built reactor have revealed new traces of processed uranium.
    (AP, 2/19/09)

2009        Feb 22, Iran's official news agency says the country's first nuclear power plant will begin preliminary phase operation after a series of delays.
    (AP, 2/22/09)

2009        Feb 24, France’s Pres. Sarkozy and Italy’s Premier Berlusconi signed a deal pairing utilities from each nation to study the feasibility of building nuclear power plants in Italy.
    (WSJ, 2/25/09, p.A11)
2009        Feb 24, Syria's nuclear chief told the UN's nuclear agency that his nation has built a new missile facility on the site of what the US says was a nearly finished nuclear reactor bombed by Israel in Sep 2007.
    (AP, 2/25/09)

2009        Feb 25, Iranian and Russian technicians conducted a test run of Iran's first nuclear power plant, a major step toward launching full operations at the facility.
    (AP, 2/25/09)

2009        Mar 2, Iran dismissed US concerns about how much fissile material the country has produced, saying it isn't developing a nuclear bomb and that any effort to make weapons-grade uranium would be difficult under the eyes of international inspectors.
    (AP, 3/2/09)

2009        Mar 6, In Paraguay about 100 women disrobed in a square in downtown Asuncion to protest nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 3/6/09)

2009        Mar 18, The prime ministers of China and North Korea discussed the nuclear situation on the Korean peninsula as they met in Beijing amid rising tensions over Pyongyang's atomic and missile programs.
    (AFP, 3/18/09)

2009        Mar 24, The French government offered for the first time to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, bowing to decades of pressure by people sickened by radiation.
    (AP, 3/24/09)

2009        Mar 26, French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Brazzaville and Kinshasa. During the Kinshasa trip, given over in large part to regional political issues, Areva signed an agreement with the government allowing the company to prospect for and mine uranium.
    (AP, 3/27/09)

2009        Mar 31, The US Government Accountability Office released a report saying 4 countries designated a terrorism sponsors received $55 million from a US supported program promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy under the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation program. Between 1997 and 2007 Iran received over $15 million, $14 million went to Syria, while Sudan and Cuba received over $11 million each.
    (WSJ, 3/31/09, p.A3)

2009        Apr 1, In London Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama said Russia and the United States will pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads, making good on a pledge to rebuild relations from a post-Cold War low. The US and China agreed to establish a "strategic and economic dialogue" group that would first meet in Washington later this year.
    (Reuters, 4/1/09)

2009        Apr 9, Iran's president inaugurated a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor. Pres. Ahmadinejad was attending celebrations in Isfahan for Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, which marks the day in 2006 when Iran enriched uranium for the first time. Iran has been building the 40-megawatt hard-water reactor in the central town of Arak for the past four years.
    (AP, 4/9/09)

2009        Apr 14, North Korea vowed to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the UN Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch.
    (AP, 4/14/09)
2009        Apr 14, Ukrainian officials said security agents have arrested a regional lawmaker and two companions for trying to sell a radioactive substance that could be used in making a dirty bomb. The legislator in the western Ternopyl region and two local businessmen were detained last week for trying to sell 8.2 pounds (3.7 kilograms) of radioactive material to an undercover agent of the security service.
    (AP, 4/14/09)

2009        Apr 16, UN nuclear inspectors left North Korea after the hardline communist state ordered them out and announced plans to restart production of weapons-grade plutonium.
    (AFP, 4/16/09)

2009        Apr 17, Canadian police, acting on a tip-off from the United States, charged a Toronto man with trying to illegally export nuclear technology to Iran. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Mahmoud Yadegari had attempted to obtain pressure transducers, devices that are used to make enriched uranium but can also have military applications.
    (Reuters, 4/17/09)

2009        Apr 24, In Italy US and Russian arms negotiators held a "very productive" initial round of talks aimed at agreeing a new treaty to curb nuclear weapons as part of a broader effort to improve relations.
    (AP, 4/24/09)

2009        Apr 25, North Korea said it has restarted its nuclear facilities to harvest plutonium for atomic weapons, just hours after the UN imposed new sanctions on the communist state for its recent rocket launch.
    (AP, 4/25/09)

2009        May 4, Niger’s Pres. Mamadou Tandja accompanied representatives of French energy giant Areva at a ceremony marking the beginning of a new uranium project in Imoraren. The site is expected to boost Niger's uranium production from 3,000 to 5,000 tons per year.
    (AP, 5/4/09)

2009        May 5, A restricted UN report said IAEA inspectors detected nuclear particles in Egypt last year and in 2007. A senior diplomat accredited to the agency said that it was the first time the traces were reported by the Vienna-based nuclear monitor.
    (AP, 5/6/09)

2009        May 19, Russia and the US held talks in Moscow aimed at cutting stockpiles of nuclear weapons, a move that could herald a thaw in relations between the former Cold War foes.
    (AP, 5/19/09)

2009        May 25, North Korea claimed it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test, much larger than one conducted in 2006. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic explosion at 9:54 a.m. (0054 GMT) in northeastern North Korea, estimating the blast's yield at 10 to 20 kilotons, comparable to the bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
    (AP, 5/25/09)
2009        May 25, It was reported that a secret Israeli government report said Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program.
    (AP, 5/25/09)

2009        May 26, Libya and Ukraine signed deals to cooperate in both peaceful civilian nuclear energy and in defense during a visit by Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
    (AP, 5/27/09)
2009        May 26, Russia's uranium export company signed a groundbreaking $1 billion package of contracts to supply three US utilities with enriched fuel for nuclear power plants. Tenex signed contracts to provide enriched uranium fuel to San Francisco, California-based Pacific Gas & Electric Company; St. Louis, Missouri-based AmerenUE; and Dallas, Texas-based Luminant. Tenex will supply fuel to the US utilities from 2014 through 2020 under the contracts, which provide the option for renewal.
    (AP, 5/26/09)

2009        May 29, In California the new National Ignition Facility was dedicated at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was designed to create conditions like those found in stars and in the explosions of hydrogen bombs. The project was over 5 years behind schedule and costs to date reached $4 billion, almost 4 times the original estimate.
    (SFC, 5/30/09, p.A1)(Econ, 5/30/09, p.81)
2009        May 29, In Geneva a 65-nation Conference on Disarmament broke a dozen years of deadlock and opened the way to negotiate a new nuclear arms control treaty.
    (AP, 5/29/09)

2009        May, Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri vanished during a pilgrimage to the Saudi kingdom. In October Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said: "We hold Saudi Arabia responsible for Shahram Amiri's situation and consider the US to be involved in his arrest."
    (AP, 10/7/09)

2009        Jun 2, Pres. Obama appeared in a BBC interview and said Iran may have some right to nuclear energy, provided it takes steps to prove its aspirations are peaceful. Obama also restated his plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran.
    (SFC, 6/3/09, p.A2)

2009        Jun 12, The UN Security Council agreed to expand an arms embargo against North Korea and authorize ship searches on the high seas, with the goal of derailing the isolated nation's nuclear and missile programs.
    (AP, 6/13/09)

2009        Jun 13, An Italian court ordered the recall of 10,000 tons of wood fuel pellets imported from Lithuania over fears that they could have dangerous levels of radioactivity. Test results showed that they contained cesium 137, a highly toxic radioactive substance normally produced by a nuclear explosion or from the combustion of a nuclear reactor. The contaminated pellets themselves were not dangerous to humans, but danger comes from the ashes and the smoke produced when they are burned.
    (AFP, 6/14/09)
2009        Jun 13, North Korea vowed to step up its atomic bomb-making program and threatened war if its ships are stopped as part of new UN sanctions aimed at punishing the nation for its latest nuclear test.
    (AP, 6/13/09)

2009        Jun 24, Russia’s Pres. Medvedev arrived in Nigeria to sign gas and nuclear energy pacts, becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Africa's most populous and energy-rich nation.
    (AFP, 6/24/09)

2009        Jul 2, The UN nuclear agency's governing board (IAEA) chose Yukiya Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat as its new head. The term of the present head, Mohamed ElBaradei, ends in November.
    (AP, 7/2/09)

2009        Jul 6, In Russia President Barack Obama opened his first Moscow summit with confidence. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev struck a preliminary deal to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each, pointing the two countries' arsenals toward lower levels than in any previous arms control agreement.
    (AP, 7/6/09)

2009        Jul 16, Iran announced that Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of its nuclear agency, has resigned, a move that may have been connected to the country's postelection turmoil. Aghazadeh told the semiofficial ISNA news agency that he submitted his resignation from Iran's Atomic Energy Organization 20 days ago and also resigned from his other post as one of Pres. Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.
    (AP, 7/16/09)

2009        Jul 20, The United States and India agreed on a defense pact that takes a major step toward allowing the sale of sophisticated US arms to the South Asian nation as it modernizes its military. New Delhi also approved sites for two US nuclear reactors.
    (Reuters, 7/20/09)

2009        Jul 26, India launched the first nuclear-powered submarine built on its soil, asserting itself as a world power. It joined 5 other countries that can design and construct such vessels. The 367-foot (112-meter) -long submarine, named "Arihant" or "Destroyer of Enemies," was sent for sea trials at a ceremony attended by PM Manmohan Singh.
    (AP, 7/26/09)

2009        Jul 30, A Libyan officials said Libya and Canada have signed a memorandum of intent on nuclear power. Since July 2007, Libya has signed three similar agreements with France, Russia and Ukraine.
    (AFP, 7/30/09)

2009        Aug 1, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that North Korea is helping Myanmar build a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant to build an atomic bomb within five years, citing the evidence of defectors. "In the event that the testimony of the defectors is proved, the alleged secret reactor could be capable of being operational and producing one bomb a year, every year, after 2014."
    (AFP, 8/1/09)

2009        Aug 20, Diplomats said Iran has lifted a year-long ban and allowed UN nuclear inspectors to visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor as well as granting greater monitoring rights at another atomic site.
    (SFC, 8/21/09, p.A2)

2009        Aug 28, A Pakistani court ordered the government to lift any remaining restrictions on Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist alleged to have spread nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
    (AP, 8/28/09)

2009        Sep 2, In Germany 6 countries met for talks to try to address concerns about Iran's nuclear program. The German government said it has received no official word yet on new proposals that Tehran is pledging to make.
    (AP, 9/2/09)

2009        Sep 7, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over "global challenges."
    (AP, 9/7/09)

2009        Sep 11, The US said it would accept Iran's offer of wide-ranging talks with major powers despite the Islamic Republic's stated refusal to discuss its nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 9/11/09)

2009        Sep 18, In Vienna, Austria, a 150-nation IAEA nuclear conference passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program for the first time in 18 years. Iran hailed the vote as a "glorious moment." 49 voted for the resolution. 45 were against and 16 abstained from endorsing or rejecting he document.
    (AP, 9/18/09)
2009        Sep 18, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for the US, Russia and NATO to link their missile defense systems against potential new nuclear threats from Asia and the Middle East, saying that the old foes must forget their lingering Cold War animosity.
    (AP, 9/18/09)

2009        Sep 23, US President Barack Obama delivered a stern message to global leaders to work together to solve the world's most pressing problems in his maiden speech to UN General Assembly. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon challenged world leaders to cleanse the globe of nuclear weapons, tackle the threat of catastrophic climate change and combat growing poverty from the global financial crisis.
    (AFP, 9/23/09)(AP, 9/23/09)

2009        Sep 24, The UN Security Council unanimously approved a historic resolution aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons at a summit-level meeting chaired by President Barack Obama.
    (AP, 9/24/09)

2009        Sep 25, The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran has revealed the existence of a secret uranium-enrichment plant, a development that could heighten fears about Tehran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon and escalate its diplomatic confrontation with the West. Armed with the disclosure President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded that Tehran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions "or be held accountable" to an impatient world community.
    (AP, 9/25/09)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.51)

2009        Sep 26, Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's nuclear chief, said his country will allow the UN nuclear agency to inspect its newly revealed, still unfinished uranium enrichment facility.
    (AP, 9/26/09)

2009        Sep 28, In Cairo, Egypt, a 2-day meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) opened. It was set up by the governments of Australia and Japan to probe ideas on how to cut the world's nuclear arms stockpile ahead of a UN conference on the subject next year. Iran and Israel stated their positions on disarmament separately during the gathering.
    (AP, 10/22/09)

2009        Sep 29, Iran's nuclear chief said his country built its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility inside a mountain and next to a military site near the city of Qom to ensure continuity of its nuclear activities in case of an attack. Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi said the site will be open to inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.
    (AP, 9/29/09)

2009        Oct 1, China celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a military parade and elaborate pageantry on Beijing's Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation's revival as a global power. China demonstrated its new J-10 fighters and DF-31 nuclear ICBM.
    (AFP, 10/1/09)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.54)
2009        Oct 1, In Switzerland senior American and Iranian delegates met one-on-one during a lunch break at seven-nation talks in Geneva. Iran brought a broad range of geopolitical issues to the table, while the six powers, the permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, sought to soften Iran's resistance to freezing its uranium enrichment program. Iran accepted a demand to allow UN inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant.
    (AP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/2/09)

2009        Oct 4, North Korea told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that it was open to bilateral and multilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
    (AFP, 10/4/09)
2009        Oct 4, The UAR’s official news agency said Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, has signed a law regulating the development of a civilian nuclear program, clearing the way for construction of a nuclear power plant with help from the United States.
    (AP, 10/5/09)

2009        Oct 8, French police arrested Adlene Hicheur, a nuclear physicist in Vienne, on suspicion that he had links to terrorist organizations in Algeria. The man had been working on analysis projects with the LHCb experiment at CERN since 2003.
    (AP, 10/9/09)(AFP, 3/29/12)

2009        Oct 20, Talks in Vienna meant to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad, and thus delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon, bogged down over fierce Iranian resistance to French participation.
    (AP, 10/20/09)

2009        Oct 21, Diplomats in Vienna said Iranian negotiators expressed support for a deal that, if accepted by their leaders, would delay Tehran's ability to make nuclear weapons by sending most of its existing enriched uranium to Russia for processing.
    (AP, 10/21/09)

2009        Oct 25, In Iran UN IAEA inspectors got their first look inside the Fordo uranium enrichment site 20 miles north of Qom, a once-secret uranium enrichment facility that has raised Western suspicions about the extent of Iran's nuclear program.
    (AP, 10/25/09)

2009        Oct 27, Iran’s state television says Iran will agree to the "general framework" of a UN-drafted plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for processing, but will seek "important changes" in the deal.
    (AP, 10/27/09)

2009        Oct 31, Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected a UN-backed plan to ship much of the country's uranium abroad for further enrichment, raising further doubts about the likelihood Tehran will finally approve the deal.
    (AP, 10/31/09)

2009        Nov 3, North Korea said it has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and extracted enough plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile, raising the stakes in an apparent effort to push the US into direct negotiations.
    (AP, 11/3/09)

2009        Nov 7, Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the UN-backed plan altogether. Iranian authorities released 3 journalists who were among more than 100 people arrested during pro-government and opposition street demonstrations on Nov 4.
    (AP, 11/7/09)

2009        Nov 15, In Singapore President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. Obama also attended a second summit with leaders of the 10 southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching a three-day visit to an important global US partner and his first travels ever in China.
    (AP, 11/15/09)

2009        Nov 17, In Beijing President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first full-blown summit with scant progress beyond goodwill.
    (AP, 11/17/09)
2009        Nov 17, Iran vowed to continue enriching uranium despite a wrist slap by the UN nuclear watchdog, as US President Barack Obama warned of "consequences" if Tehran refused to come clean on its atomic program.
    (AFP, 11/17/09)

2009        Nov 18, Iran's foreign minister said his country would not export its enriched uranium for further processing, brushing aside the latest UN plan aimed at preventing Tehran from potentially building nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 11/18/09)

2009        Nov 19, In South Korea President Barack Obama said a US envoy would visit North Korea early next month, as he joined South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in urging the communist state back to nuclear talks.
    (AFP, 11/19/09)

2009        Nov 24, Iran said it was ready to exchange its low-enriched uranium with a higher enriched material, but only on its own soil, to guarantee the West follows through with promises to give the fuel.
    (AFP, 11/24/09)

2009        Nov 26, In Vienna Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that his probe of allegations that Iran tried to make nuclear arms is at "a dead end" because Tehran is not cooperating and warned that confidence in Tehran had shrunk in the wake of its belated revelation of a previously secret nuclear facility.
    (AP, 11/26/09)

2009        Nov 27, The board of the UN nuclear watchdog censured Iran, with 25 nations backing a resolution that demands Tehran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions calling on it to stop uranium enrichment.
    (AP, 11/27/09)

2009        Nov 28, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari gave up control of the country's nuclear arsenal in a bid to fend off mounting pressures threatening to weaken his rule further and complicate the war on the Taliban. Zardari announced that control of the National Command Authority, which analysts and lawyers confirmed was responsible for nuclear weapons, had shifted to PM Yousuf Raza Gilani.
    (AFP, 11/28/09)

2009        Nov 29, In India senior government officials said workers at the Kaiga nuclear power plant in southern Karnataka state were treated for poisoning after drinking water was deliberately spiked with radiation.
    (AFP, 11/29/09)
2009        Nov 29, Iran's parliament passed a law earmarking $20 million to support militant groups opposing the West and to investigate alleged US and British plots against the Islamic Republic. Iran’s Cabinet ordered an expansion of the country’s nuclear program that included an additional 10 nuclear plants.
    (AP, 11/29/09)(SFC, 11/30/09, p.A4)

2009        Nov 30, Iran's nuclear chief said UN criticism pushed his country to retaliate by announcing ambitious plans for more uranium enrichment. With tensions rising over deadlocked negotiations, France said diplomacy was not working and sanctions against Iran were needed.
    (AP, 11/30/09)

2009        Dec 1, In Vienna Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano took the helm of the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA), pledging a steady hand to steer the agency through the storm surrounding Iran's nuclear drive.
    (AFP, 12/1/09)

2009        Dec 2, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would enrich uranium to a higher level itself, apparently ruling out a UN-brokered deal meant to dispel fears Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons capability.
    (Reuters, 12/2/09)

2009        Dec 9, Iran claimed that a newly built UN station to detect nuclear explosions was built in Turkmenistan near its border to give the West a post to spy on the country. The Vienna-based Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, or CTBTO, said the station has now been fully constructed and is currently undergoing testing.
    (AP, 12/9/09)

2009        Dec 12,  Iran said it is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel rods, as proposed by the UN, but according to its own mechanisms and timetable. Iran also said it needs up to 15 nuclear plants to generate electricity. Tens of thousands of hard-line clerics rallied in cities across the country to denounce student protesters who burned photos of the country's supreme leader in a taboo-shattering act earlier in the week.
    (AP, 12/12/09)(Reuters, 12/12/09)

2009        Dec 17, Canada put its Candu nuclear division up for sale, saying the operation needed outside investors to boost its chances for growth at a time of expanding nuclear power generation and also help cut the cost to taxpayers.
    (Reuters, 12/17/09)

2009        Dec 21, China and France hailed their reinvigorated ties and sealed a series of economic deals during a visit to Beijing by PM Francois Fillon. Electricite de France (EDF) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) formalized their joint venture for the construction of two nuclear reactors at a power plant in Taishan in southern Guangdong province. French aerospace and defense industries group Safran and US conglomerate General Electric won a multi-billion-dollar contract to equip China's future C919 passenger jet with engines.
    (AFP, 12/21/09)

2009        Dec 22, Iran's president dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a UN-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, and claimed his government is now "10 times stronger" than a year ago. A state television Web site said Pres. Ahmadinejad had appointed a new chief of the Art Academy, removing opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from the post.
    (AP, 12/22/09)(AP, 12/23/09)

2009        Dec 27, A South Korean consortium, led by Korea Electric Power (KEPCO), won a $20 billion contract to build 4 nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
    (Econ, 1/2/10, p.47)

2009        Dec 31, Lithuania began shutting down its the 2nd Ignalina nuclear reactor. It was  scheduled to be disconnected from the power grid an hour before midnight. The 1st reactor was shut down in 2004.
    (AP, 12/22/09)(AP, 12/31/09)

2009        Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman authored “The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation,” a political history of nuclear weapons from the discovery of fission in 1938 to the nuclear train wreck that seems to loom in our future.
    (WSJ, 1/17/08, p.W8)

2010        Jan 1, North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year's message and said it was committed to making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free through negotiations.
    (AP, 1/1/10)

2010        Jan 8, Steven Lin of Hsinchu-based Heli-Ocean Technology, a Taiwanese company, said his company had agreed to a request from a firm in China to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran. Such transactions violate UN sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern nation. Lin said he received an Internet order from a Chinese firm in January or February 2008 to obtain an unspecified number of pressure transducers, which convert pressure into analog electrical signals.
    (AP, 1/8/10)

2010        Jan, Scientists at Russia’s Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions announced internally that they had succeeded in detecting the decay of a new element with Z=117 using the reactions.
    (SFC, 4/8/10, p.C5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununseptium)

2010        Jan 25, South Korea's president offered to help energy-hungry India build more nuclear plants as the two Asian powerhouses set a goal of doubling bilateral trade by 2014.
    (AFP, 1/25/10)

2010        Feb 2, Iran said it was ready to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment as requested by the UN.
    (AP, 2/2/10)

2010        Feb 7, India again successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable missile that can hit targets across much of Asia and the Middle East. It was the fourth test of the Agni III missile.
    (AP, 2/7/10)
2010        Feb 7, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his country's atomic agency to begin enriching uranium to a higher level, a move that's likely to deepen international suspicion over the country's intentions for its nuclear program.
    (AP, 2/7/10)

2010        Feb 8,  Iran moved closer to being able to produce nuclear warheads with formal notification that it will enrich uranium to higher levels, even while insisting that the move was meant only to provide fuel for its research reactor. The semiofficial ISNA agency said that former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh was sentenced to six years in prison by a Revolutionary court. The defense minister announced that Iran has launched two production lines to build unmanned aircraft with surveillance and attack capabilities.
    (AP, 2/8/10)

2010        Feb 9, Iran began enriching uranium to a higher level over the vociferous objections of the US and its allies who fear the process could eventually be used to give the Islamic republic nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 2/9/10)

2010        Feb 11, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the US imposed new sanctions. Hundreds of thousands of government supporters massed in central Tehran to mark the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic republic, while a heavy security force that fanned across the city moved quickly to snuff out counter protests by the opposition.
    (AP, 2/11/10)

2010        Feb 16, Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shrugging off international concerns,  announced the country was moving ahead to expand its nuclear enrichment capacities by installing more advanced machinery at its main enrichment facility.
    (AP, 2/16/10)

2010        Feb 22, Iran said it plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from attack, a new challenge to Western powers trying to curb Tehran's nuclear program for fear it is aimed at making weapons.
    (AP, 2/22/10)
2010        Feb 22, The United Arab Emirates said it has picked former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Hans Blix to head an advisory board for its nuclear power program. Blix was director general of the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, from 1981 to 1997. He led the UN search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq until June 2003.
    (AP, 2/22/10)

2010        Feb 23, Iran formally set out its terms for giving up most of its cache of enriched uranium in a confidential document, and the conditions fall short of what has been demanded by the United States and other world powers.
    (AP, 2/23/10)

2010        Feb 28, In Myanmar Sai Thein Win, a former major in the army, defected and brought papers cconfirming Myanmar’s intent, if not yet capacity, to enrich uranium and eventually build a bomb.
    (Econ, 6/2/10, p.48)(http://tinyurl.com/35vxtvh)

2010        Mar 9, Israeli officials said Israel wants to build a nuclear power plant, a move that could bring new attention to the country's secretive nuclear activities.
    (AP, 3/9/10)
2010        Mar 9, Japan confirmed for the first time the existence of once-secret Cold War-era pacts with the US that tacitly allowed nuclear-armed warships to enter Japanese ports in violation of Tokyo's postwar principles.
    (AP, 3/9/10)

2010        Mar 12, India signed 5 deals in New Delhi to purchase more than $7 billion in hardware and expertise from Russia. The agreements included the construction of at least 12 civilian nuclear reactors, an aircraft carrier and a fleet of MiG-29 fighters.
    (AFP, 3/12/10)(SFC, 3/13/10, p.A2)

2010        Mar 13, Iran’s Fars the news agency said ran has busted what it says was a US-funded cyber network group linked to an exiled opposition movement that collected data on its nuclear scientists. 30 members of the network with links to the outlawed People's Mujahedeen and monarchists were said to have been arrested.
    (AFP, 3/14/10)

2010        Mar 24, The US and Russia reached a breakthrough agreement for a historic treaty to reduce their nuclear arsenals. Prague announced it will host the signing of a new US-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons. The deal would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
    (AP, 3/24/10)(SFC, 3/25/10, p.A10)

2010        Mar 26, Pres. Obama concluded a new strategic arms reduction treaty in a call with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
    (AFP, 3/26/10)

2010        Mar 29, Officials said the US and India have reached an agreement on reprocessing nuclear material, clearing a major hurdle in putting into practice a landmark atomic energy pact.
    (AFP, 3/29/10)
2010        Mar 29, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency set up the world's first nuclear fuel bank, signing into life a plan meant to bridge shortages caused by snags in deliveries of low enriched uranium to power reactors.
    (AP, 3/29/10)

2010        Mar 30, In Quebec, Canada, the world's leading industrial nations (G8) called for stronger action against Iran over its nuclear program and the United States said it was confident China would agree on the need for sanctions.
    (Reuters, 3/30/10)
2010        Mar 30, Vietnam and the United States signed a pact described as a key foundation for development of peaceful atomic power in the communist country.
    (AFP, 3/30/10)

2010        Mar 31, Six major world powers agreed to begin putting together proposed new sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program after China dropped its opposition.
    (AP, 3/31/10)

2010        Mar, US and Chilean engineers extracted Chile's last batch of highly enriched uranium (HEU), 18 kg (40 pounds), from reactors near Santiago and shipped it to the US. It was then driven to the Savannah River Site in SC and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Ten., where much of it would be converted to safer fuel and resold for nuclear power.
    (AP, 4/8/10)

2010        Apr 1, US President Barack Obama called on Chinese President Hu Jintao to join forces on the Iranian nuclear standoff as he stepped up efforts to block Tehran's atomic program.
    (AFP, 4/2/10)

2010        Apr 2, Iran's top nuclear envoy called for negotiations without threat of sanctions, following meetings in Beijing in the wake of US reports saying China had dropped its opposition to possible new UN measures against Iran.
    (AP, 4/2/10)

2010        Apr 8, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation and envisioned a day when they can compromise on the divisive issue of missile defense. Obama and Medvedev warned Iran of possible sanctions over its nuclear program shortly after signing the disarmament deal in Prague.
    (AP, 4/8/10)(AFP, 4/8/10)
2010        Apr 8, Israel lifted months of censorship on a military espionage case, confirming the house arrest of Anat Kamm (23), a former female soldier, charged with leaking more than 2,000 military documents to a newspaper. She had been arrested in Dec 2009. PM Netanyahu abruptly called off a trip to Washington just days before he was slated to attend a conference there on the spread of nuclear weapons, fearing Israel would be singled out over its own nuclear program. On Oct 31, 2011, Kamm was sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison. In Dec 2012, her sentence was cut by a year, to 3 ½ years. Anat Kam was freed on Jan 26, 2014.
    (AP, 4/8/10)(AP, 4/9/10)(AP, 10/31/11)(AP, 12/31/12)(AFP, 1/26/14)

2010        Apr 9, France and Italy agreed to cooperate more closely to increase nuclear power generation and vowed to come to the aid of debt-laden Greece in order to defend the euro.
    (AP, 4/9/10)
2010        Apr 9, Iran unveiled a third generation of domestically built centrifuges as the country pushes ahead with plans to accelerate a uranium enrichment program that has alarmed world powers fearful of the nuclear program's aims.
    (AP, 4/9/10)

2010        Apr 12, President Barack Obama and presidents, prime ministers and other top officials from 47 countries started work on a battle plan to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands. Egypt called for world powers to press both Iran and Israel on nuclear weapons, saying that the Middle East should be a zone free of the ultra-destructive arms. China said sanctions were not the answer to the Iranian atomic standoff. Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog spurned the US nuclear summit, saying any decision taken at the conference is not binding on nations absent from the event.
    (AP, 4/12/10)(AFP, 4/13/10)
2010        Apr 12, Canadian PM Stephen Harper said Canada will return spent nuclear fuel to its supplier, the United States, as part of a global drive to secure fissile materials.
    (Reuters, 4/12/10)

2010        Apr 13, In Washington, DC, the leaders of 47 nations agreed to a voluntary program to prevent weapons-grade nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.
    (SFC, 4/14/10, p.A2)(Econ, 4/17/10, p.67)

2010        Apr 14, Six major powers wrapped up what they said was a "very constructive" meeting on fresh UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, but diplomats cautioned against expecting early adoption.
    (AFP, 4/14/10)

2010        Apr 19, In Iran a senior adviser said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has approved the location for a new uranium enrichment facility Iran plans to begin building over the next year.
    (AP, 4/19/10)

2010        Apr 23, Diplomats said Iran has agreed to give the UN nuclear monitoring agency greater inspection and monitoring rights to a sensitive site where it is enriching uranium to higher levels.
    (AP, 4/23/10)

2010        Apr 24, Nigeria and the United States agreed to work together to counter the spread of nuclear weapons. The agreement was announced following a meeting between US undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns with acting Pres. Goodluck Jonathan.
    (AFP, 4/25/10)

2010        Apr 27, Brazil, a UN Security Council member, demanded that Iran guarantee its nuclear program has no military aims, saying the crisis has become the single most important security issue in the world.
    (AFP, 4/27/10)

2010        Apr 30, The EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said that China is willing to discuss sanctions on Iran as long as they are carefully targeted and bolster efforts to curb the Iranian nuclear program.
    (AP, 4/30/10)

2010        Apr, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that Gen. Ashkenazi's four-year term would not be extended by a year, as is customary. In 2011 it was reported that the action was a result of Ashkenazi’s objection to a proposal to attack Iranian nuclear sites.
    (Reuters, 1/12/11)

2010        May 3, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seized center stage at the opening of a monthlong debate at the United Nations on how to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. But behind the scenes, UN Security Council powers were discussing ways to punish Iran for defying their demands that it curb nuclear activities that could be used to make bombs.
    (AP, 5/4/10)

2010        May 4, Iran called for independent verification of US claims it has pared its stockpile of nuclear warheads back to 5,113 and queried whether Washington was justified in holding such a lethal load.
    (AFP, 5/4/10)

2010        May 5, Brazilian local media reported that Brazil is to build a 483-million-dollar nuclear reactor to produce radioactive material for medical use as well as industrial-grade enriched uranium.
    (AFP, 5/6/10)
2010        May 5, Yukiya Amano, the head of the UN atomic watchdog, asked for international input on an Arab-led push to have Israel join the Nonproliferation Treaty, in a move that adds to pressure on the Jewish state to disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal.
    (AP, 5/6/10)

2010        May 6, A Chinese media report said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told President Hu Jintao during his secretive trip to Beijing that he is ready to return to stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations.
    (AFP, 5/6/10)
2010        May 6, Israel declined to address the international pressure that's been mounting for it to join the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, saying only that its refusal to acknowledge or deny it possesses atomic weapons is a pillar of its military deterrence.
    (AP, 5/6/10)

2010        May 8, Iran voiced optimism about Turkish and Brazilian mediation efforts in its nuclear dispute with the West, welcoming in principle ideas aimed at reviving a stalled fuel deal with major powers.
    (Reuters, 5/8/10)
2010        May 8, Pakistan successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as the Islamic nation's leader urged the world to recognize it as a legitimate nuclear power.
    (AP, 5/8/10)

2010        May 11, Iran said that Brazil and Turkey have offered a promising new proposal for a nuclear fuel deal as Tehran steps up a diplomatic push to stave off new UN sanctions over its disputed nuclear program. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, could hold talks with EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton in Turkey. The Fars news agency reported that Iranian border guards have arrested 9 Iraqi fishermen in Iranian waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in recent days.
    (AP, 5/11/10)(AFP, 5/11/10)

2010        May 12, Turkey and Russia signed agreements for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant and the development of a pipeline project to carry Russian oil from the Black Sea, through Turkey to the Mediterranean.
    (AP, 5/12/10)

2010        May 17, Iran agreed to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in a surprise nuclear fuel swap deal that could ease the international standoff over the country's disputed atomic program and deflate a US-led push for tougher sanctions. The deal was reached in talks between Brazils’ Pres. Silva, Turkey’s PM Erdogan and Iran’s Pres. Ahmadinejad.
    (AP, 5/17/10)(SFC, 5/17/10, p.A2)

2010        May 19, Iran dismissed as "illegitimate" a draft UN Security Council resolution seeking to impose harsher sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
    (AP, 5/19/10)

2010        May 23, In southern China a fuel rod at the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station experienced a "very small leakage" that increased radioactivity levels slightly in the nuclear reactor's cooling water. The plant supplies power to Hong Kong.
    (AP, 6/15/10)
2010        May 23, Iran said it will abandon an offer to ship some of its uranium stockpile abroad if the United States imposes new sanctions. Iran's intelligence minister said he had no doubt three US citizens arrested last July near the Iraq border were spies and called on Washington to propose a prisoner swap to secure their release.
    (AP, 5/23/10)

2010        May 24, Iran, seeking to evade new UN sanctions, formally submitted its plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel and said the onus was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the deal.
    (AP, 5/24/10)

2010        May 28, In a breakthrough after a decade of deadlock, the Non-Proliferation Treaty's 189 nations proposed new steps towards nuclear disarmament and making the Middle East free of atomic weapons. The next day Israel condemned the NPT plan.
    (AFP, 5/29/10)(SSFC, 5/30/10, p.A5)

2010        May 31, The UN atomic agency said Iran has amassed more than two tons of enriched uranium in a report that heightened Western concerns about the country developing the ability to produce a nuclear weapon.
    (AP, 5/31/10)

2010        Jun 1, China called on Iran to improve its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, after the agency said in a report that Tehran was pressing ahead with its controversial atomic program.
    (AFP, 6/1/10)

2010        Jun 4, Robert Kelley, a former senior UN nuclear inspector, said secret documents and hundreds of photos smuggled out of Myanmar by an army defector indicate its military regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
    (AP, 6/4/10)

2010        Jun 5, Germany and Russia declared that the five world powers negotiating with Iran support a fresh set of international sanctions, and Chancellor Angela Merkel said they could pass soon.
    (AP, 6/5/10)

2010        Jun 7, Iranian state television showed a video of a man it identified as a missing nuclear scientist, who said he had been abducted and taken to the United States. The scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. US media reports in March said he defected to the US and is assisting the CIA in efforts to undermine Iran's nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly said Amiri was abducted by the US.
    (AP, 6/7/10)

2010        Jun 8, A Russian source close to Security Council talks told reporters that UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program have been "completely agreed upon."
    (Reuters, 6/8/10)

2010        Jun 9, The US, Russia and France dismissed a proposal by Iran to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel hours before an expected UN Security Council vote on new sanctions. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a 4th round of sanctions on Iran. It banned Iran from undertaking any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
          (AP, 6/9/10)(Econ, 6/12/10, p.15)(SFC, 10/17/15, p.A3)

2010        Jun 10, Iran said it will review relations with the UN nuclear watchdog a day after the UN Security Council approved a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. Russia looked set to freeze the sale to Tehran of S300 air defense missiles in response to new UN sanctions on Iran.
    (AP, 6/10/10)(AFP, 6/10/10)
2010        Jun 10, Turkey called the imposition of UN sanctions on Iran a "mistake" and said that it and Brazil would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to remove concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 6/10/10)

2010        Jun 15, The White House said President Barack Obama has extended U.S. economic sanctions on North Korea for another year, citing the continuing threat posed by Pyongyang's nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 6/16/10)

2010        Jun 16, Iran's nuclear chief said his country is designing a new atomic research reactor in another snub of international efforts to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.
    (AP, 6/16/10)

2010        Jun 21, Iran said it has banned two UN nuclear inspectors from entering the country because they had leaked "false" information about Iran's disputed nuclear program.
    (AP, 6/21/10)
2010        Jun 21, South Korea said abnormally high radiation levels were detected near the border between the two Koreas on may 15, days after North Korea claimed to have mastered a complex technology key to manufacturing a hydrogen bomb.
    (AP, 6/21/10)

2010        Jun 23, Iran's nuclear chief said his country has produced 17 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent, defying UN demands to halt the controversial program.
    (AP, 6/23/10)

2010        Jun, Stuxnet, computer malware, was first detected by VirusBlokAda, a security firm in Belarus. It was tailored for Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other industrial facilities. It was able to recognize a specific facility's control network and then destroy it. The code had a technology fingerprint of the control system it was seeking and would go into action automatically when it found its target. In September German computer security researcher Ralph Langner said he suspected that Stuxnet's mark was the Bushehr nuclear facility in Iran. Unspecified problems have been blamed for a delay in getting the facility fully operational.
    (AP, 9/24/10)(Econ, 10/2/10, p.63)

2010        Jul 5, In Ottawa the operator of a dormant Canadian nuclear reactor that once supplied a third of the world's medical isotopes formally applied to restart the plant, saying it was safe again after lengthy repairs. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd shut down the aging Chalk River facility in eastern Ontario in May 2009 after discovering a leak of heavy water, used as a moderator and coolant in the reaction process.
    (Reuters, 7/05/10)

2010        Jul 6, A Toronto man was convicted of attempting to illegally export nuclear-related technology to Iran, in the first Canadian criminal case resulting from UN sanctions against the Middle East nation. An Ontario judge found Mahmoud Yadegari guilty of attempting to export pressure transducers, which can be used in the building of both nuclear plants and weapons.
    (Reuters, 7/6/10)
2010        Jul 6, The EU banned most of Iran Air's jets from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, emphasizing that the move was not related to UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
    (AP, 7/06/10)

2010        Jul 10, North Korea expressed willingness to return to international nuclear disarmament talks, a sign it is satisfied with the UN Security Council's decision to avoid directly blaming it for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
    (AP, 7/10/10)

2010        Jul 11, Iran said it has produced around 20 kg of 20% enriched uranium, in defiance of the world powers who want Tehran to suspend the controversial nuclear work.
    (AP, 7/11/10)

2010        Jul 12, Shahram Amiri, a missing Iranian nuclear scientist who Tehran claims was abducted by the US, took refuge at the Pakistani embassy in Washington and asked to return to his homeland. Amiri (32) disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009.
    (AP, 7/13/10)

2010        Jul 14, Iran's Foreign Ministry said nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri was on a flight home, traveling through the Gulf nation of Qatar and was expected to arrive in Tehran on July 15. A US official confirmed that Amiri left the United States.
    (AP, 7/14/10)

2010        Jul 21, Iran's nuclear agency said it will conduct scientific studies for the construction of an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, an engineering challenge that no nation has yet overcome.
    (AP, 7/21/10)

2010        Jul 25, In Turkey foreign ministers of Turkey and Brazil urged Iran to be flexible and open in dealings with the West over its atomic program as Iran renewed its readiness to resume frozen nuclear talks. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Iran has expressed willingness to have talks with the European Union on its nuclear program after the month of Ramadan ends in early September.
    (AFP, 7/25/10)(Reuters, 7/25/10)

2010        Jul 26, The EU adopted tighter sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, with steps to block oil and gas investment and curtail Tehran's refining and natural gas capability.
    (Reuters, 7/26/10)

2010        Jul 27, Iran vowed to press ahead with its nuclear program even as it expressed readiness to resume talks on the thorny issue despite being slapped with tough new EU sanctions. Russia condemned new EU sanctions on Iran, tempering hopes of closer cooperation between Moscow and the West over Iran's nuclear program.
    (AFP, 7/27/10)(Reuters, 7/27/10)

2010        Jul 29, Iran said it will suspend uranium enrichment to 20% if it acquires nuclear fuel for a research reactor.
    (AFP, 7/29/10)

2010        Jul 30, Iran said it was ready for immediate talks with the US, Russia and France over an exchange of nuclear fuel and added that it was also against stockpiling higher enriched uranium.
    (AFP, 7/30/10)
2010        Jul 30, In Myanmar official talks between North Korea and Myanmar entered a second day. The US said it is carefully watching the budding secretive relationship between the 2 countries for signs of nuclear cooperation.
    (AP, 7/30/10)

2010        Aug 6, The US for the first time attended a ceremony commemorating its atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 65 years after the Japanese city's obliteration rang in the nuclear age.
    (AFP, 8/6/10)

2010        Aug 8, Arab League chief Amr Moussa signed a letter asking for backing of a resolution urging Washington and other powers to end support of Israel's nuclear secrecy and to push the Jewish state to allow international inspections of its program. Arab nations planned submit the request to the September assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
    (AP, 8/15/10)

2010        Aug 9, Iran announced plans to get rid of its dollar and euro reserves in response to the latest UN sanctions over its contested nuclear program. The IAEA said Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently in a move that defies the UN Security Council.
    (AP, 8/9/10)

2010        Aug 16, Iran said it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds, with construction on the first starting in March, in continuing defiance of international efforts to curb its nuclear development.
    (AP, 8/16/10)

2010        Aug 17, Canadian officials said a nuclear reactor responsible for production of about a third of the world's medical isotopes has resumed operation after more than a year-long shutdown. Atomic Energy of Canada said that after low-power testing on the Chalk River reactor in Ontario proved successful, the 53-year-old facility returned to full power for the first time since a heavy water leak forced it offline in May 2009.
    (Reuters, 8/17/10)

2010        Aug 20, India's Cabinet cleared a nuclear liability bill, a crucial step on the path to bringing foreign companies into its potentially vast nuclear energy market. The bill caps the liability of foreign firms at $320 million in the case of an industrial accident.
    (AP, 8/20/10)

2010        Aug 21, Iranian and Russian engineers began loading fuel into Iran's first nuclear power plant, which Moscow has promised to safeguard to prevent material at the site from being used in any potential weapons production.
    (AP, 8/21/10)

2010        Jun 20, Moldova authorities detained 2 former policemen and another person on suspicion of trying to sell four pounds (nearly two kg) of uranium on the black market, but it was unclear if this was enough for a "dirty bomb." The uranium-238 had a value of euro9 million ($11.35 million). This was not made public until Aug 25.
    (AP, 8/25/10)

2010        Aug 25, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak announced plans for the government to start building the country's first nuclear power plant at a site on the Mediterranean coast, ending a year of controversy.
    (AP, 8/25/10)

2010        Aug 30, Chinese state media said North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il wants an early restart to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, ending official silence about Kim's secretive five-day trip ahead of a key congress.
    (Reuters, 8/30/10)

2010        Aug, Yukiya Amano, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, "invited Israel to consider to accede" signing up to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, during a low-key visit to the country.
    (AP, 9/3/10)

2010        Sep 3, Japan imposed new sanctions against Iran, including an assets freeze on people and entities linked to its contentious nuclear program and tighter restrictions on financial transactions.
    (AFP, 9/3/10)

2010        Sep 6, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced one of the biggest battles of her time in office after announcing plans to put off the date when Europe's biggest economy abandons nuclear power.
    (AFP, 9/6/10)

2010        Sep 7, Iran said that it was within its rights to vet UN inspectors who monitor its nuclear facilities after the UN watchdog said its work was being hampered by the barring of some of its staff.
    (AFP, 9/7/10)

2010        Sep 9, An Iranian opposition group claimed to have discovered a new uranium enrichment plant being built about 75 miles (120 km) west of Tehran and said it was 85 percent complete. The head of Iran's nuclear agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the country has no undeclared nuclear sites. A US government official also disputed the claim by the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, saying the site did not appear to have a nuclear role.
    (AP, 9/10/10)

2010        Sep 13, The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency warned that Iran's selective cooperation with his inspectors means that he cannot confirm that all of Tehran's atomic activities are peaceful.
    (AP, 9/13/10)

2010        Sep 16, In Niger armed AQIM assailants kidnapped 7 people, including 5 French nuclear experts, a person from Togo and a person from Madagascar, near the uranium mining town of Arlit, in the northern Sahara desert region. 3 of the hostages were released in February, 2011. Pierre Legrand, Thierry Dol, Marc Feret and Daniel Larribe were released on Oct 29, 2013. Some 20 to 25 million euros was paid to obtain their release.
    (AP, 9/17/10)(SFC, 9/22/10, p.A2)(SFC, 2/26/11, p.A2)(AP, 10/30/13)

2010        Sep 17, In New Mexico scientist Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni (75) and his wife Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni (67), who both once worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, were arrested after an FBI sting operation. They were charged with offering to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela.
    (AP, 9/18/10)

2010        Sep 18, In Germany tens of thousands demonstrated in Berlin against the government's proposal to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power plants for another decade or more.
    (AFP, 9/18/10)

2010        Sep 21, Israel’s nuclear chief Shaul Chorev said It is against Israel's interests to join a global anti-nuclear arms treaty and the UN atomic watchdog is overstepping its mandate in demanding it to do so.
    (AFP, 9/21/10)

2010        Sep 24, The UN atomic watchdog threw out an Arab-backed resolution urging Israel to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The International Atomic Energy Agency, on the last day of its annual general conference, voted against the resolution, with 51 votes against, 46 votes for and 23 abstentions.
    (AFP, 9/24/10)
2010        Sep 24, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters that Iran would consider ending higher level uranium enrichment, the most crucial part of its controversial nuclear activities, if world powers send Tehran nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor.
    (AP, 9/24/10)

2010        Sep 25, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says Iranian nuclear experts met this week to discuss how to remove the malicious computer code, dubbed Stuxnet, which can take over systems that control the inner workings of industrial plants.
    (AP, 9/25/10)

2010        Sep 26, Iranian officials said the malicious Stuxnet computer worm has hit 30,000 industrial computers, but denied the Islamic republic's first nuclear plant at Bushehr was among those infected.
    (AFP, 9/26/10)

2010        Sep 27, Pakistan was chosen to head the UN atomic agency's governing body, despite its refusal to accept the nonproliferation treaty and its link to the nuclear black marketer who supplied Iran and North Korea.
    (AP, 9/27/10)

2010        Oct 5, Iran claimed that the Stuxnet computer worm, found on the laptops of several employees at the country's nuclear power plant, is part of a covert Western plot to derail its nuclear program.
    (AP, 10/5/10)

2010        Oct 9, Iran said it is ready to hold talks over its nuclear program with the US and other major powers in late October or early November. Iran also revealed for the first time that some personnel at the country's nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West, but said increased security and worker privileges have put a stop to the spying.
    (AP, 10/9/10)

2010        Oct 10, Iranian Sunni rebels said they had kidnapped a nuclear scientist and would publish secrets he knows about Iran's nuclear program unless 200 political prisoners were released.
    (Reuters, 10/10/10)

2010        Oct 15, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Tehran was ready to resume talks about its nuclear program with the international community within a matter of weeks.
    (AP, 10/15/10)
2010        Oct 15, Russia agreed to help build Venezuela's first nuclear power plant and buy $1.6 billion of oil assets, reinforcing ties with President Hugo Chavez, who shares Moscow's opposition to US global dominance.
    (Reuters, 10/15/10)

2010        Oct 16, North Korea said it is willing to resume six-nation nuclear disarmament talks but would not be "hasty" because the US and some other parties were not ready. North Korean media threatened a "1,000-fold" military buildup as the US ruled out lifting sanctions to try to coax the North into resuming talks aimed at its nuclear weapons programs.
    (AP, 10/16/10)(AFP, 10/16/10)

2010        Oct 17, The Washington Post reported that the United States believes some Chinese firms are helping Iran improve its missile technology and develop nuclear weapons and has asked Beijing to prevent such activity.
    (AFP, 10/17/10)
2010        Oct 17, Iran's Pres. Ahmadinejad endorsed the idea of new talks with the international community over his country's nuclear program, while warning that negotiations would fail if the West does not clearly come out against Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal.
    (AP, 10/17/10)

2010        Oct 25, The leaders of India and Japan signed a broad agreement in Japan aimed at increasing trade and agreed to speed up talks toward a civilian nuclear energy deal despite sensitivity in Japan over India's past atomic test blasts. PM Naoto Kan and PM Manmohan Singh also agreed to speed up talks toward a civilian nuclear cooperation deal that would allow Japanese companies to export nuclear power generation technology and equipment to India.
    (AP, 10/25/10)

2010        Oct 26, Iran began loading fuel into the core of its first atomic power plant, moving closer to the start up of the Bushehr facility that leaders have touted as defying of international efforts to curtail the country's nuclear ambitions.
    (AP, 10/26/10)

2010        Oct 29, Iran notified the EU that it is willing to restart international negotiations over its nuclear program after Nov. 10, potentially reviving talks that foundered a year ago.
    (AP, 10/29/10)

2010        Oct 30, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales confirmed that his country plans to build a nuclear plant with Iran's help, stressing the facility would be for peaceful purposes.
    (AFP, 10/30/10)

2010        Nov 2, Britain and France vowed to work hand-in-glove as their leaders ushered in an unprecedented era of defense cooperation by agreeing to create a joint force and share nuclear test facilities.
    (AP, 11/2/10)
2010        Nov 2, Israel's military intelligence chief said Iran possesses enough enriched uranium to build one nuclear bomb and soon will have enough to produce a second.
    (AP, 11/3/10)

2010        Nov 5, In France environmentalists handcuffed themselves in front of a train carrying what activists claim is "the most radioactive ever" cargo of nuclear waste. The shipment was returning German waste for storage after it was treated in France by the Areva group.
    (AFP, 11/6/10)(SFC, 11/6/10, p.A2)

2010        Nov 6, A train carrying what activists claim is "the most radioactive ever" cargo of nuclear waste ran the gauntlet of hundreds of protesters as it crossed the Rhine from France to Germany. The shipment was returning German waste for storage after it was treated in France by the Areva group.
    (AFP, 11/6/10)

2010        Nov 7, In Germany activists rappelled down from a high bridge, broke through police lines and chained themselves to train tracks, trying to halt a shipment of nuclear waste as they protested Chancellor Angela Merkel's plans to keep using nuclear energy.
    (AP, 11/7/10)
2010        Nov 7, Iran proposed that a new round of international talks on its nuclear program be held in Turkey, an ally that also has close ties to the West and has sought to mediate in the standoff.
    (AP, 11/7/10)

2010        Nov 8, In Germany a shipment of nuclear waste arrived at a railway depot in Dannenberg after a nearly three-day trip from France that was regularly disrupted by protests. The waste was set to be loaded onto trucks for the final 12-mile (20-km) leg of the trip to a storage site at Gorleben.
    (AP, 11/8/10)

2010        Nov 9, A UN report suggesting North Korea may have supplied Syria, Iran and Myanmar with banned nuclear technology headed to the Security Council. The latest report by the so-called Panel of Experts on Pyongyang's compliance with UN sanctions was delivered to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee in May, but did not move for nearly six months due to Chinese objections.
    (Reuters, 11/9/10)

2010        Nov 20, American scientist Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the US Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, said in a report that he was taken during a recent trip to the North's main Yongbyon atomic complex to a small industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility. It had 2,000 recently completed centrifuges. The North told him it was producing low-enriched uranium meant for a new reactor. North Korea told Hecker it began construction on the centrifuges in April 2009 and finished only a few days before the scientist's Nov. 12 visit.
    (AP, 11/21/10)

2010        Nov 22, The US and its allies accused North Korea of being a danger to the region after it showed off its latest advances in uranium enrichment, but Washington said it was still open to talks.
    (Reuters, 11/22/10)
2010        Nov 22, Diplomats said Iran’s nuclear program has suffered a recent setback with major technical problems forcing the temporary shutdown of centrifuges enriching uranium.
    (SFC, 11/23/10, p.A2)

2010        Nov 28, More than 250,000 classified US State Department documents were released by online whistleblower WikiLeaks. Among the leaked memos was information that Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used to smuggle weapons to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during its 2006 war with Israel. Memos said the "IRC shipments of medical supplies served also to facilitate weapons shipments." Documents also detailed concerns by US officials in Baghdad about Iran’s influence on Iraq. Memos also said King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. One cable revealed that the US kept nuclear weapons in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.
    (AP, 11/28/10)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.35)

2010        Nov 29, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad admitted that "several" uranium enrichment centrifuges were damaged by "software installed in electronic equipment," amid speculation Iran's nuclear activities had come under cyberattack.
    (AFP, 11/29/10)
2010        Nov 29, In Iran assailants on motorcycles attached magnetized bombs to the cars of two nuclear scientists as they were driving to work in Tehran, killing Majid Shahriari and wounding Fereidoun Abbasi. Pres. Ahmadinejad accused Israel and the West of being behind the attacks.
    (AP, 11/29/10)

2010        Nov 30, The EU announced that Iran has agreed to discuss its nuclear program at a meeting next week in Geneva.
    (AP, 11/30/10)

2010        Dec 1, Belarus announced that it will give up its stockpile of material used to make nuclear weapons by 2012. The arrangement was announced on the sidelines of an international security meeting in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Belarussian counterpart, Sergei Martynov.
    (AP, 12/1/10)
2010        Dec 1, Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin warned that his country will find it necessary to build up its nuclear forces, if the United State's doesn't ratify a new arms reduction treaty.
    (AP, 12/1/10)

2010        Dec 3, In Vienna, Austria, the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved an IAEA-run repository for nuclear fuel, in a move meant to limit proliferation by making domestic uranium enrichment programs superfluous.
    (AP, 12/4/10)
2010        Dec 3, Lithuania said a South Korean bidder, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), had pulled out of a four-nation nuclear power plant project and another was rejected. Lithuania itself has been aiming to have a stake of around one-third, but there has been disagreement with Estonia, Latvia and Poland about their relative holdings and power share-out.
    (AFP, 12/3/10)

2010        Dec 5, Iran claimed it could now use domestically mined uranium to produce nuclear fuel, giving the country complete control over a process the West suspects is geared toward producing weapons.
    (AP, 12/5/10)

2010        Dec 6, India and France signed a multibillion agreement to build two nuclear power plants in India as French President Nicolas Sarkozy worked to drum up business for his nation during his four-day visit.
    (AP, 12/6/10)
2010        Dec 6, In Switzerland six world powers held their first meeting in 14 months with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, sounding out Tehran's intentions after it claimed to have taken a new step in making fissile material.
    (AFP, 12/6/10)

2010        Dec 7, Leaders of six US-allied Gulf Arab nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), said they were monitoring with "utmost concern" developments in Iran's disputed nuclear program and issued a thinly veiled warning to their Persian neighbor not to meddle in their internal affairs. The 2-day gathering of leaders from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman followed the publication of leaked US diplomatic memos that revealed deeper concern among Gulf Arab leaders over Tehran's nuclear program than had previously been known.
    (AP, 12/7/10)
2010        Dec 7, In Switzerland 6 world powers wrapped up two days of "substantive" talks with Iran on its contentious nuclear program, with the two sides agreeing to meet again in Istanbul next month.
    (AFP, 12/7/10)

2010        Dec 10, US Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said that the framework pact — known as the 123 agreement because its requirements are set in section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act — would help boost nonproliferation efforts and create new business opportunities. The deal did not require congressional approval, but Congress could have rejected it within 90 days of continuous session — a period that elapsed Dec 9 without a vote of disapproval.
    (AP, 12/10/10)

2010        Dec 11, Egypt’s minister of electricity said his country plans to build its first nuclear power plant and have it operational by 2019.
    (SSFC, 12/12/10, p.A10)

2010        Dec 16, The Israeli military said the air force has shot down a suspicious object, "apparently a balloon," hovering over southern Israel, where its main nuclear reactor is located.
    (AP, 12/16/10)

2010        Dec 20, North Korea said it would not react to "reckless" military drills by the South, despite an earlier threat to retaliate, and CNN reported that Pyongyang had agreed to the return of nuclear inspectors.
    (AP, 12/20/10)

2010        Dec 22, The US Senate, in its final act of the lameduck session, approved the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (71-26) signed earlier this year by Pres. Obama and Russia’s Pres. Medvedev.
    (SFC, 12/23/10, p.A6)
2010        Dec 22, The UN nuclear agency said tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste from a defunct Serbian reactor have been repatriated to Russia. The 2.5 metric tons (2.76 tons) of the spent fuel arrived at a secure Russian facility from Serbia's Vinca reactor.
    (AP, 12/22/10)

2010        Dec 24, Russia's parliament gave preliminary approval to a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States, supporting ratification of the new START pact in the first of three required votes.
    (Reuters, 12/24/10)

2011        Jan 3, China’s state television reported that Chinese scientists have mastered the technology for reprocessing nuclear fuel, potentially yielding additional power sources to keep the country's economy booming.
    (AP, 1/3/11)

2011        Jan 4, Iran’s government confirmed that it has invited world powers and its allies in the Arab and developing world to tour Iranian nuclear sites before a high-profile meeting late this month on its disputed nuclear program.
    (AP, 1/4/11)

2011        Jan 13, Iran's proposal for a tour of its nuclear sites floundered after China effectively rejected the invite and Russia cautioned such a trip could never replace UN inspections or talks between Tehran and world powers.
    (Reuters, 1/13/11)

2011        Jan 15, In Iran several international envoys, but crucially none from the world powers, got a look inside an Iranian nuclear site as part of a tour the Islamic Republic hopes will build support before a new round of talks on its disputed atomic activities. Ambassadors to the UN atomic energy agency from Egypt, Cuba, Syria, Algeria, Venezuela, Oman and the Arab League arrived in Tehran and visited the unfinished heavy water reactor near Arak.
    (AP, 1/15/11)

2011        Jan 21, Two-day talks between Iran and six world powers started in Istanbul. A senior Iranian official said suspending uranium enrichment is not up for discussion.
    (AFP, 1/21/11)

2011        Jan 22, In Turkey talks meant to nudge Iran toward meeting UN Security Council demands to stop uranium enrichment collapsed, with Tehran shrugging off calls by six world powers to cease the activity that could be harnessed to make nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 1/22/11)

2011        Jan 25, Russia's lower house of parliament ratified a landmark nuclear arms pact with the United States, virtually assuring passage of an agreement President Barack Obama has described as the most significant arms control deal in nearly two decades.
    (AP, 1/25/11)

2011        Jan 26, Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously ratified the New START nuclear arms pact with the United States.
    (AP, 1/26/11)

2011        Jan 28, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification of a nuclear arms cut pact with the US, the centerpiece of Pres. Obama's efforts to reset ties with Moscow.
    (AP, 1/28/11)

2011        Feb 4, European leaders launched a trillion-euro bid to slash dependency on Middle East oil and Russian gas, clearing the way to place nuclear power at the center of 21st century needs.
    (AFP, 2/4/11)

2011        Feb 5, The United States and Russia formally inaugurated their new START nuclear arms treaty, capping two years of work to "reset" the sometimes strained ties between the former Cold War enemies.
    (Reuters, 2/5/11)

2011        Feb 11, A top US diplomat for arms control said Poland and other Eastern European countries are expressing concern to the United States about an arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons believed to be at their doorsteps in Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.
    (AP, 2/11/11)

2011        Feb 23, The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Republic of Lithuania today announced that they have signed an Implementation Agreement on Cooperation in Preventing Illicit Trafficking of Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material.
    (http://tinyurl.com/4dplcz7)

2011        Feb 26, Iran confirmed it was having to remove nuclear fuel from the reactor of its only nuclear power station, signaling more problems for the Russian-built Bushehr plant after decades of delay.
    (Reuters, 2/26/11)

2011        Mar 11, A ferocious tsunami spawned by an 8.9 earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, slammed Japan's eastern coast, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. At least 574 people were killed. Estimates put the toll as high as 1300. At least 10,000 people were missing. Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of the earthquake.
    (AP, 3/11/11)(AP, 3/12/11)

2011        Mar 12, In Germany tens of thousands demonstrated against plans to extend the life of the country’s nuclear power stations, as an explosion at a Japanese nuclear plant sharpened the dispute.
    (SSFC, 3/13/11, p.A4)
2011        Mar 12, In Japan an explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station destroyed a building housing the reactor, but a radiation leak was decreasing despite fears of a meltdown from damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami. Japanese nuclear agency spokesman Shinji Kinjo acknowledged there were still fears of a meltdown.
    (AP, 3/12/11)

2011        Mar 13, People across a devastated swath of Japan suffered for a third day without water, electricity and proper food, as the country grappled with the enormity of a massive earthquake and tsunami that left more than 10,000 people dead in one area alone. Japanese officials raised their estimate of the quake's magnitude to 9.0. Japan also fought to avert a meltdown at three earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(Reuters, 3/13/11)

2011        Mar 14, In Japan a second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, devastating the structure housing one reactor and injuring 11 workers. Water levels dropped precipitously at another reactor, completely exposing the fuel rods and raising the threat of a meltdown.
    (AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 14, The Swiss government suspended plans to replace and build new nuclear plants pending a review of two hydrogen explosions at Japanese plants.
    (AP, 3/14/11)

2011        Mar 15, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany will take seven of its 17 reactors offline for three months while the country reconsiders plans to extend the life of its nuclear power plants.
    (AP, 3/15/11)
2011        Mar 15, Japan faced a potential catastrophe after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating toward Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
    (Reuters, 3/15/11)

2011        Mar 16, Japanese emergency workers forced to retreat from the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant when radiation levels soared prepared to return tonight after emissions dropped to safer levels. Japan's national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted. Nearly 3,700 people were officially listed as dead. Officials believed the toll will climb over 10,000 since several thousand more were listed as missing.
    (AP, 3/16/11)

2011        Mar 17, Japan tried high-pressure water cannons, fire trucks and even helicopters that dropped batches of seawater in increasingly frantic attempts to cool an overheated nuclear complex as US officials warned the situation was deteriorating. More than 5,300 people were officially listed as dead, but officials believed the toll will climb to well over 10,000.
    (AP, 3/17/11)

2011        Mar 18, The US and Chile signed a nuclear energy accord.
    (SFC, 3/19/11, p.A2)
2011        Mar 18, The Japanese government acknowledged that it was overwhelmed by the scale of last week's twin natural disasters. The earthquake and tsunami has now officially left more than 6,900 dead and more than 10,700 missing.  Japanese engineers conceded that burying a crippled nuclear plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release. Authorities raised the rating of the nuclear crisis to a Level 5 from a Level 4 on a seven-point international scale. Radiation at the crippled Fukushima No.2 nuclear reactor was recorded at 500 microsieverts per hour.
    (AP, 3/18/11)(Reuters, 3/18/11)(Reuters, 3/23/11)
2011        Mar 18, Malaysian police said that they had found equipment they suspect could be used to make nuclear weapons smuggled on board a ship headed to Iran. On March 8 police confiscated two containers from the MV Bunga Raya Satu traveling from China to Tehran.
    (AP, 3/18/11)

2011        Mar 19, One of Japan's six tsunami-crippled nuclear reactors appeared to stabilize but the country suffered another blow after discovering traces of radiation in food and water from near the stricken power plant. Crews fighting to cool reactors managed to connect a power line. Japan halted sales of food products near Fukushima because of contamination by a radioactive element which can pose a short-term health risk. Japan's police agency said 7,348 are dead and 10,947 are missing after last week's earthquake and tsunami.
    (AP, 3/19/11)(AFP, 3/19/11)(Reuters, 3/19/11)

2011        Mar 20, Japan’s ministry official Yoshifumi Kaji said that tests found excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens, in addition to spinach. He said the areas where the tainted produce was found included three prefectures that previously had not recorded such contamination. Tokyo Electric Power Company said two of the six reactor units are now safely under control after their fuel storage pools cooled down. The toll of dead or missing from Japan's worst natural disaster in almost a century neared 21,000.
    (AP, 3/20/11)(Reuters, 3/20/11)(AFP, 3/20/11)
2011        Mar 20, In Taiwan some 2,000 anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated, demanding an immediate halt to the construction of an atomic power plant.
    (AFP, 3/20/11)

2011        Mar 21, In Japan gray smoke rose from two reactor units, temporarily stalling critical work to reconnect power lines and restore cooling systems to stabilize the Fukushima radiation-leaking nuclear complex. Police officials estimated that the toll from the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami will exceed 18,000 deaths.
    (AP, 3/21/11)

2011        Mar 22, Japanese crews connected all six reactors at the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant to the electrical grid, a day after smoke triggered an evacuation from the facility. But the plant's operator cautioned that pumps, motors and other equipment must be checked before the power can be turned on. It's likely to be days or weeks before cooling systems can resume functioning. A Japanese nuclear safety official said a pool for storing spent fuel at the crippled nuclear plant is heating up, with temperatures around the boiling point. Police said nearly 9,100 people are dead after an earthquake and tsunami with almost 13,800 are missing.
    (AP, 3/22/11)

2011        Mar 23, Japan said the cost of rebuilding the country after its biggest recorded earthquake could be as much as 25 trillion yen ($309 billion). A spike in radiation levels in Tokyo tap water, twice the level acceptable for infants, spurred new fears about food safety. Rising smoke forced another evacuation of workers trying to stabilize the Fukushima nuclear plant. Police said nearly 9,500 people are dead after an earthquake and tsunami with over 16,000 still missing.
    (AFP, 3/23/11)(AP, 3/23/11)

2011        Mar 25, European Union leaders called for worldwide stress testing of nuclear plants and committed to putting their 143 reactors through the toughest security checks possible.
    (AP, 3/25/11)
2011        Mar 25, Japanese officials said a suspected breach in Unit 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, as PM Naoto Kan called the country's ongoing fight to stabilize the plant "very grave and serious." The official death toll jumped past 10,000. With the cleanup and recovery operations continuing and more than 17,400 listed as missing, the final number of dead was expected to surpass 18,000.
    (AP, 3/25/11)

2011        Mar 26, In Germany some 200,000 people turned out in the largest cities to protest against the use of nuclear power in the wake of Japan's Fukushima reactor disaster.
    (AP, 3/26/11)
2011        Mar 26, Japanese officials said radiation levels have surged in seawater near the tsunami-stricken nuclear power station in Fukushima, as engineers battled to stabilize the plant in hazardous conditions.
    (AFP, 3/26/11)

2011        Mar 27, In Japan emergency workers struggling to pump contaminated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear complex fled from one of the troubled reactors after reporting a huge increase in radioactivity, a spike that officials later apologetically said was inaccurate. Police said the death toll from earthquake and tsunami stood at 10,668, with more than 16,574 people missing. Hundreds of thousands of people remained homeless.
    (AP, 3/27/11)

2011        Mar 28, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to press ahead with a review of nuclear power's future after her coalition suffered a "very painful" defeat in a weekend state election dominated by Japan's nuclear crisis.
    (AP, 3/28/11)
2011        Mar 28, In Japan power company officials said plutonium has been detected in 5 locations in the soil outside of the stricken Fukushima nuclear complex. A TEPCO official said the amounts were very small and were not a risk to public health. TEPCO said highly radioactive water has leaked from the reactor. Environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.
    (AP, 3/28/11)(Reuters, 3/28/11)

2011        Mar 30, Japan weighed a series of creative solutions to its unfolding nuclear disaster, from draping reactors with special fabric to sending in military robots to do the risky work. TEPCO said 4 of the 6 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plants were damaged beyond repair. UN nuclear agency officials said that readings outside the exclusion zone of the Japan nuclear disaster showed radiation exceeding recommended evacuation levels by the agency.
    (AP, 3/30/11)(SFC, 3/31/11, p.A4)

2011        Mar 31, Japan said that its crisis-hit nuclear plant must be scrapped, but currently had no plans to evacuate more people, despite calls for a larger exclusion zone around the crippled facility.
    (AFP, 3/31/11)
2011        Mar 31, In Switzerland a letter bomb exploded at an office of the Swiss nuclear power industry in the northern city of Olten, injuring two people.
    (AP, 3/31/11)

2011        Apr 2, In Germany several thousand people took part in nation-wide demonstrations demanding an end to nuclear power.
    (SSFC, 4/3/11, p.A4)
2011        Apr 2, In Japan highly radioactive water spilled into the ocean from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex as PM Naoto Kan surveyed the damage in a town gutted by the wave.
    (AP, 4/2/11)

2011        Apr 3, Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant struggled to stop a radioactive water leak into the Pacific, as the government warned the facility may spread contamination for months. TEPCO workers used a polymer and even newspapers to try to close off pipes through which the water has flowed into a cracked concrete pit, from where it has run into the sea. An earlier attempt to seal the crack with cement failed to stop the leak.
    (AFP, 4/3/11)

2011        Apr 4, Japanese engineers were forced to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures to try to find the source of leaks at a crippled Fukushima nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on March 11. Tokyo Electric Power said it had found radioactive iodine-131 at 7.5 million times the legal limit in seawater near the facility. Biologists admitted that the contamination could eventually find its way into the ocean food chain.
    (Reuters, 4/4/11)(SFC, 4/6/11, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/11, p.A1)

2011        Apr 5, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, said it had reduced the flow of highly radioactive water out of a reactor. The government set its first radiation safety standards for fish after the nuclear plant reported radioactive contamination in nearby seawater measuring at several million times the legal limit.
    (Reuters, 4/5/11)(AP, 4/5/11)

2011        Apr 6, In Japan workers halted a leak of highly radioactive water into the ocean that had raised concerns about the safety of seafood. Officials did not rule out the chance of contaminated water still leaking into the sea from other points. Engineers prepared to inject nitrogen into containment vessels around the cores to deter any hydrogen explosions.
    (AP, 4/6/11)

2011        Apr 16, A senior Iranian military official said experts have determined the United States and Israel were behind a mysterious computer worm known as Stuxnet that has harmed Iran's nuclear program.
    (AP, 4/16/11)
2011        Apr 16, TEPCO, the Japanese operator of a stricken nuclear plant, said it has started dumping a mineral into the sea that absorbs radioactive substances, aiming to slow down contamination of the ocean.
    (AFP, 4/16/11)

2011        Apr 17, Iran’s Kayhan daily reported that an Iranian military commander has accused German engineering company Siemens of helping the United States and Israel launch the Stuxnet virus, a cyber attack on its nuclear facilities.
    (Reuters, 4/17/11)
2011        Apr 17, TEPCO, the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant, laid out a blueprint for stopping radiation leaks and stabilizing damaged reactors within the next six to nine months as a first step toward allowing some of the tens of thousands of evacuees to return to the area.
    (AP, 4/17/11)

2011        Apr 18, In Japan a pair of thin robots on treads sent to explore buildings inside the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor came back with disheartening news: Radiation levels are far too high for repair crews to go inside.
    (AP, 4/18/11)

2011        Apr 19, In India a mob opposing a government plan to build a nuclear plant in the western state of Maharashtra ransacked a hospital and set buses on fire during a protest strike.
    (AP, 4/19/11)

2011        Apr 24, In Japan thousands of people marched in Tokyo to demand an end to nuclear power and a switch to alternative energy after the crisis at an atomic plant hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
    (AFP, 4/24/11)

2011        Apr 28, Exelon Corp., the largest operator of nuclear plants in the US, said it has agreed to buy Constellation Energy Group for about $7.9 billion in stock. This would add stakes in 5 reactors and make it the largest US electricity marketer.
    (SFC, 4/29/11, p.D3)
2011        Apr 28, The UN nuclear agency said for the first time that a target destroyed by Israeli warplanes in the Syrian desert five years ago was a covertly built nuclear reactor, countering assertions by Syria that it had no atomic secrets to hide.
    (AP, 4/28/11)

2011        Apr 29, In Japan senior nuclear advisor Toshiso Kosako resigned saying the government was not adequately protecting the public from radiation.
    (SSFC, 5/1/11, p.A7)

2011        Apr 30, In Taiwan some 2,000 protesters demanded that the government scrap plans to operate a newly built nuclear power plant and turn the facility into a museum to highlight the dangers of nuclear power.
    (AP, 4/30/11)

2011        May 6, Japan's PM Naoto Kan ordered the suspension of operations at an ageing nuclear power plant southwest of Tokyo because it is located close to a dangerous tectonic faultline.
    (AP, 5/6/11)

2011        May 7, In Japan thousands of people rallied to demand a shift away from nuclear power after an earthquake and tsunami sparked the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl a quarter-century ago.
    (AFP, 5/7/11)

2011        May 8, Iran's Bushehr nuclear power station began operating at a low level in a crucial step toward bringing it online.
    (Reuters, 5/10/11)

2011        May 9, The operator of Japan's ageing Hamaoka nuclear plant, located near a tectonic faultline southwest of Tokyo, said it would temporarily shut down its last two running reactors.
    (AP, 5/9/11)

2011        May 10, Iran said it has accepted the European Union's proposal for more talks about the country's controversial nuclear program.
    (AP, 5/10/11)
2011        May 10, Japan’s PM Naoto Kan said Japan will scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and will instead promote renewable energy and conservation as a result of its ongoing nuclear crisis. The president of TEPCO submitted a request for Japanese government aid in compensating those affected by its stricken nuclear power plant, as the utility said it faced funding problems.
    (AP, 5/10/11)(AFP, 5/10/11)

2011        May 12, In Japan TEPCO officials said one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has been damaged more severely than originally thought, a serious setback for efforts to stabilize the radiation-leaking complex.
    (AP, 5/12/11)

2011        May 13, Japan announced a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant without going broke while it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
    (Reuters, 5/13/11)

2011        May 14, Japan shut down the final working reactor at a nuclear plant near a tectonic faultline as PM Naoto Kan pledged a new law to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. A worker at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died, bringing the death toll at the complex to 3 since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March.
    (AFP, 5/14/11)(Reuters, 5/14/11)

2011        May 15, Japan started the first evacuations of homes outside the 20-km government exclusion zone radius from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled one of the country's nuclear power plants.
    (AFP, 5/15/11)

2011        May 17, Pakistan's PM Yousuf Raza Gilani declared China his country's best friend in an apparent dig at Washington as he began a visit to China. China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier. Pakistan last week opened a 330-megawatt nuclear power plant in central Punjab province with Chinese help and said Beijing had been contracted to construct two more reactors.
    (AFP, 5/17/11)

2011        May 23, In Japan furious parents at the center of the atomic crisis and hundreds of their supporters rallied in Tokyo against revised nuclear safety standards in schools they say are putting children at risk. A new limit allowed exposure of up to 20 millisieverts a year, 20 times the radiation that was permissible before the March 11 tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (AFP, 5/23/11)

2011        May 24, In Japan major international mission to investigate the flooded, radiation-leaking nuclear complex began as new information suggested that nuclear fuel had mostly melted in two more reactors in the early days after the March 11 tsunami.
    (AP, 5/24/11)

2011        May 25, The Swiss government said it will decommission all its nuclear power plants.
    (AP, 5/25/11)

2011        May 26, China Central Television said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said he would adhere to the goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula during talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
    (AFP, 5/26/11)
2011        May 26, Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, detailed a new leak of radioactive water as Greenpeace slammed the country's "inadequate response" to a growing threat to sea water and health.
    (Reuters, 5/26/11)

2011        May 30, Germany's governing coalition said it will shut down all the country's nuclear power plants by 2022. The decision, prompted by Japan's nuclear disaster, will make Germany the first major industrialized nation to go nuclear-free in years.
    (AP, 5/30/11)

2011        May 31, Analysts said Germany's plan to shut all its nuclear power plants by 2022 will add up to 40 million tons of CO2 dioxide emissions annually as the country turns to fossil fuels.
    (Reuters, 5/31/11)
2011        May 31, In northeastern Japan an oil spill and a small explosion caused limited damage, but no further radiation leaks. TEPCO said damage to a gas cylinder caused a loud noise outside a reactor building at the Fukushima nuclear plant as rubble was being cleared away.
    (AP, 5/31/11)(Reuters, 5/31/11)

2011        Jun 8, The government of Iran announced it planned to continue nuclear enrichment, despite opposition from other nations that worried Iran was planning to build an atomic bomb.
            (Reuters, 6/8/11)

2011        Jun 11, In Japan protesters held mass demonstrations across the country against nuclear power in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left over 23,000 dead.
    (SSFC, 6/19/11, p.A7)

2011        Jun 18, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. halted an operation to clean highly contaminated waste water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi facility due to higher-than-expected radiation levels.
    (AFP, 6/18/11)

2011        Jun 21, It was reported that tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants.
    (AP, 6/21/11)

2011        Jun 22, In Japan TEPCO, owner of the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant, said it will pay an estimated $1 billion (88 billion yen) to thousands of residents who evacuated homes near the radiation-leaking plant and don't yet know when they can return.
    (AP, 6/22/11)

2011        Jun 23, The US blacklisted a major Iranian port operator and the country's national airline, Iran Air, to increase pressure on Tehran to curtail its alleged nuclear weapons program.
    (Reuters, 6/23/11)

2011        Jun 26, In Japan angry parents of children in Fukushima city marched along with hundreds of people to demand protection for their children from radiation more than three months after a massive quake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
    (Reuters, 6/26/11)

2011        Jun 28, Moldova officials said 6 people have been arrested for trying to sell an unspecified amount of uranium-235 to a North African country for $28.85 million.
    (SFC, 6/30/11, p.A2)

2011        Jun 29, In New Mexico the Los Conchas Fire expanded to 110-square miles reaching the edge of the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory.
    (SFC, 6/30/11, p.A9)

2011        Jun 30, The German parliament approved government plan to shut down nuclear power plants by 2022.
    (AP, 6/30/11)

2011        Jul 13, In Japan radiation fears mounted after news that contaminated beef from a farm just outside the Fukushima nuclear no-go zone has been shipped across the country and probably eaten.
    (AFP, 7/13/11)

2011        Jul 18, In India construction began at two new indigenously-designed 700-megawatt nuclear plants in the western state of Rajasthan.
    (AFP, 7/19/11)

2011        Jul 19, An Indian government official said the new Tumalapalli mine in Andhra Pradesh state could contain the largest reserves of uranium in the world.
    (AFP, 7/19/11)

2011        Jul 22, China said it had hooked its first so-called "fourth generation" nuclear reactor to the grid, a breakthrough that could eventually reduce its reliance on uranium imports.
    (AFP, 7/22/11)

2011        Jul 23, In Iran gunmen firing from motorcycles killed Dariush Rezaeinejad (35), said to be an electronics masters’ student at Khajeh Nasir University in Tehran. Initial reports said a pair of gunmen firing from motorcycles killed Darioush Rezaei (35), a physics professor whose area of expertise was neutron transport. It was later reported that he participated in developing high-voltage switches, a key component that is crucial to setting off the explosions needed to trigger a nuclear warhead.
    (AP, 7/23/11)(AFP, 7/24/11)(AP, 7/28/11)

2011        Jul 28, In NYC the United States opened discussions with North Korea, in a move testing Pyongyang's willingness to negotiate giving up its nuclear arsenal.
    (AFP, 7/28/11)

2011        Jul 29, Japan's PM Naoto Kan pledged a "revolutionary" shift away from atomic power and towards renewable energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
    (AFP, 7/29/11)

2011        Jul 31, Japan’s PM Naoto Kan criticized the country's nuclear safety agency for allegedly trying to plant questions aimed at supporting atomic energy at public forums. An estimated 1,700 people rallied in the capital of the Fukushima region, home to a crippled atomic power plant, calling for an end to nuclear energy.
    (AP, 7/31/11)(AFP, 7/31/11)

2011        Aug 2, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its 2nd deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (SFC, 8/3/11, p.A2)

2011        Aug 3, Japan’s Parliament passed legislation allowing the use of public money to shore up Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the company operating the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant to help it pay expected billions in compensation claims.
    (SFC, 8/4/11, p.A5)

2011        Aug 17, Iran's foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, speaking in Russia, said Iran is ready to resume negotiations on its nuclear program and a Russian proposal will aid the process.
    (AP, 8/17/11)

2011        Aug 19, Belarus said it has suspended an effort to fully give up its Soviet-era stockpile of highly enriched uranium with US assistance in response to new American sanctions.
    (AP, 8/19/11)

2011        Aug 22, Cuba succeeded North Korea as chair of the world's main forum against nuclear arms that has been stalemated since it wrote the nuclear test ban treaty in 1996. The leadership role rotates through the body's members alphabetically (in French).
    (AP, 8/23/11)

2011        Aug 24, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev near Lake Baikal. A spokesman for Medvedev said North Korea is ready to impose a moratorium on nuclear missile tests if international talks on its nuclear program resume.
    (AP, 8/24/11)

2011        Aug 26, Japan's nuclear agency said the amount of radioactive cesium that has leaked from a tsunami-hit nuclear plant is about equal to 168 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
    (AP, 8/26/11)

2011        Sep 4, Iranian state radio said the country's first nuclear power plant has been connected to the national power grid for a test run. The power plant in the southern port of Bushehr, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, was built with Russian help.
    (AP, 9/4/11)

2011        Sep 12, In southern France the Centraco nuclear waste site had an explosion that killed one person, seriously burned another and slightly injured three others. Centraco is located on the 300-hectare Marcoule site, which also houses a research center and four industrial sites, including one that makes Mox, a fuel made from plutonium and uranium.
    (AP, 9/12/11)

2011        Sep 13, In Austria a 35-nation meeting of the UN nuclear agency adopted a post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan, despite gripes by influential member nations that it to too timid for making compliance voluntary.
    (AP, 9/13/11)

2011        Sep 23, Islamic nations at a 151-nation IAEA conference in Vienna demanded that Israel open its nuclear program to international purview, asserting that its undeclared atomic arms program is a threat to Mideast peace.
    (AP, 9/23/11)
2011        Sep 23, In Libya Kadhafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim called for continued resolve against "agents and traitors." A fighter for the interim government helping desperate residents flee Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte was killed and a packed family car was destroyed when pro-Kadhafi forces fired on their convoy. The UN atomic agency confirmed the existence of raw uranium in Libya.
    (AFP, 9/23/11)

2011        Oct 6, Israel's supreme court barred nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu (56) from emigrating on the grounds he still poses a threat to state security. Vanunu served 18 years behind bars for disclosing the inner workings of Israel's Dimona nuclear plant to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper in 1986.
    (AFP, 10/7/11)

2011        Oct 25, In Geneva US and North Korean officials concluded their two-day talks about Pyongyang's nuclear program. Top US envoy Stephen Bosworth expressed confidence about the prospects of restarting long-stalled nuclear negotiations after two days of "very positive" talks with North Korea.
    (AFP, 10/25/11)

2011        Oct 27, France's nuclear monitor said that the amount of cesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen.
    (AFP, 10/27/11)

2011        Oct 31, EDF Energy submitted its application to build the first new nuclear power plant in Britain, the country's Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) confirmed in a statement.
    (Reuters, 10/31/11)
2011        Oct 31, Japan and Vietnam agreed to move ahead with a plan to export Japanese nuclear technology to build reactors in Vietnam despite Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis. PM Yoshihiko Noda and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung also agreed to jointly mine rare earth minerals in Vietnam.
    (AP, 10/31/11)

2011        Nov 2, Bangladesh and Russia signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant in the energy-starved South Asian nation.
    (AP, 11/2/11)
2011        Nov 2, Japan restarted its first nuclear reactor since the Fukushima disaster in March, in a boost to its beleaguered atomic power industry faced with a deeply skeptical public.
    (AFP, 11/2/11)

2011        Nov 8, An accident at the Idaho National Laboratory caused at least two workers to suffer internal exposure to plutonium.
    (SFC, 11/10/11, p.A10)
2011        Nov 8, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said only crippling sanctions against Iran's central bank and its oil and gas industries will force Tehran to halt its nuclear drive. The UN atomic agency said for the first time that Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear arms.
    (AFP, 11/8/11)(AP, 11/8/11)
2011        Nov 8, In South Korea Vietnam agreed to seek greater nuclear energy cooperation with South Korea, opening the way for its participation in a project to build atomic power plants at home.
    (AFP, 11/8/11)

2011        Nov 9, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran won't retreat "one iota" from its nuclear program, denying claims that it seeks atomic weapons. Key ally Russia gave the Islamic Republic a major boost, rejecting tighter sanctions despite a UN watchdog report detailing suspected arms-related advances.
    (AP, 11/9/11)

2011        Nov 11, The Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said very low levels of radiation, which are higher than normal but don't seem to pose a health hazard, are being registered in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe.
    (AP, 11/11/11)
2011        Nov 11, The UN atomic agency (IAEA) shared satellite images, letters and diagrams with 35 nations as it sought to underpin its case that Iran apparently worked secretly on developing a nuclear weapon.
    (AP, 11/11/11)

2011        Nov 15, Saudi Arabia said it has signed an agreement with South Korea on developing nuclear power generation to help meet the kingdom's rising demand.
    (AFP, 11/15/11)

2011        Nov 17, The UN nuclear agency said a Hungarian manufacturer of medical radioactive substances was "most probably" the source of increased radiation levels measured in several European countries in the past weeks.
    (AP, 11/17/11)

2011        Nov 18, In Austria the US and its Western allies bluntly accused Iran of deceiving the world and declared it could no longer dismiss evidence it is working secretly on making nuclear arms.
    (AP, 11/18/11)

2011        Nov 21, The US approved extra curbs on Iran’s banking system and oil industry in an ongoing effort to thwart the country’s nuclear program.
    (SFC, 12/1/11, p.A3)

2011        Nov 25, A shipment of nuclear waste reprocessed in France crossed into Germany on its way to a controversial storage site near the town of Dannenberg that protesters say is unsafe.
    (AP, 11/25/11)

2011        Nov 27, German police cleared a sit-in of thousands of protesters attempting to block a shipment of nuclear waste and detained 1,300 people.
    (AP, 11/27/11)
2011        Nov 27, Iran's parliament voted on expel the British ambassador in retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program and warned that other countries could also be punished. The bill now has to go to the Guardians Council for approval.
    (AFP, 11/27/11)

2011        Dec 4, Australia’s Labor party passed PM Julia Gillard's proposal with 206 votes to 185, reversing a decades-old policy excluding New Delhi from Australia's uranium trade because it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
    (AFP, 12/4/11)

2011        Dec 5, In France Greenpeace activists broke into the Electricite de France’s Nogent-sur-Seine plant. EDF said 9 people were arrested.
    (SFC, 12/6/11, p.A2)

2011        Dec 6, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it believes 150 liters (40 US gallons) of waste water including highly harmful strontium, linked with bone cancers, has spread to the open ocean. The announcement came a day after TEPCO said it found 45 tons of waste water pooled around the leaky water-treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. In the weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, TEPCO dumped 10,000 tons of lower-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
    (AFP, 12/6/11)

2011        Dec 9, Japanese workers discovered a nuclear plant leak. 1.8 ton of radioactive water leaked from the cooling system at the idled reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga prefecture in the southern Kyushu region. The leak was contained within the system.
    (AFP, 12/10/11)

2011        Dec 16, Japan's PM Yoshihiko Noda announced that the country's Fukushima Dai-ichi tsunami-damaged nuclear plant has achieved a stable state of "cold shutdown," a crucial step toward the eventual lifting of evacuation orders and closing of the plant.
    (AP, 12/16/11)
2011        Dec 16, South Korea joined a fresh multinational effort to press Iran to scrap its suspected nuclear weapons program, adding more than 100 names to a financial blacklist of Iranian firms and individuals.
    (AFP, 12/16/11)

2011        Dec 17, It was reported that North Korea has agreed to suspend its enriched-uranium nuclear weapons program, a key United States demand for the resumption of disarmament talks, as Washington agreed to provide the North with up to 240,000 tons of food aid.
    (AFP, 12/17/11)

2011        Dec 21, The Japanese government set a 40-year timeline for cleanup of the Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Fukushima.
    (SFC, 12/22/11, p.A5)

2011        Dec 22, US regulators approved a Westinghouse next generation nuclear reactor slated for Florida Power and Light’s Turkey Point plant and five other utilities in the Southeast. These would be the first new reactors in the US in 3 decades.
    (SFC, 12/23/11, p.A6)

2011        Dec 27, India and Pakistan tentatively agreed to renew an agreement designed to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear war.
    (SFC, 12/28/11, p.A2)
2011        Dec 27, Iran warned that it would block the Strait of Hormuz if Western powers attempt to impose an embargo on Iranian petroleum exports in their effort to isolate the country over its suspect nuclear energy program.
    (SFC, 12/28/11, p.A2)

2011        In Japan the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, the world’s largest, was shut down along with the rest of Japan’s nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident.
    (Econ, 10/15/16, p.35)

2011        Dec 31, Iran said it has proposed a new round of talks on its nuclear program with six world powers that have been trying for years to persuade Tehran to freeze aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production.
    (AP, 12/31/11)

2012        Jan 1, Iran’s nuclear agency said its scientists have tested the first nuclear fuel rod produced from uranium ore deposits inside the country.
    (AFP, 1/1/12)
2012        Jan 1, Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nuclear sites under an accord which prohibits both sides from attacking these locations.
    (AFP, 1/1/12)

2012        Jan 6, Nadeem Akhtar (46), a Maryland businessman, was sentenced to over 3 years in prison for conspiring to export to Pakistan materials that can be used in nuclear reactors.
    (SFC, 1/7/12, p.A5)

2012        Jan 8, A leading Iranian hardline newspaper reported Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom, well protected from possible airstrikes. Another newspaper quoted a senior commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard force as saying Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route, if the country's petroleum exports are blocked.
    (AP, 1/8/12)

2012        Jan 10, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that it has moved its "Doomsday Clock" one minute ahead to five minutes to midnight.
    (AP, 1/10/12)

2012        Jan 11, Cuba and Iran highlighted the "right of all nations to the peaceful use of nuclear energy" during a visit by Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the communist-ruled island. Ahmadinejad slammed capitalism as bankrupt and called for a new world order.
    (AFP, 1/12/12)
2012        Jan 11, In Iran 2 assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a university professor working at the Natanz nuclear facility, killing him and his driver. Defiant Iranian authorities pointed the finger at archfoe Israel.
    (AP, 1/11/12)
2012        Jan 11, Namibia's competition commission said it has cleared a Chinese nuclear company to take over an Australian mining firm with rights to the world's fourth-largest uranium deposit.
    (AFP, 1/11/12)

2012        Jan 15, Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said that European nations will intensify pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, but insisted the West wasn't pressing for military action.
    (AP, 1/15/12)

2012        Jan 19, A US federal judge blocked Vermont from forcing the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor to shut down when its license expires in March and said the state cannot force the plant’s owner to sell electricity to in-state utilities at reduced rates as a condition of operation.
    (SFC, 1/20/12, p.A6)
2012        Jan 19, Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper reported that a safe containing radioactive material was stolen from a site in Al-Dabaa, on the Mediterranean coast. The low-level radioactive material was stolen from a laboratory at a construction site for a nuclear power plant that is not yet operational. A day later the Al-Akhbar newspaper said that the experts who toured the site a day earlier found "no evidence of any theft of radioactive material" or any radioactive leakage.
    (AFP, 1/19/12)

2012        Jan 26, Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to revive talks with the world powers, as toughening sanctions aim at forcing Tehran to sharply scale back its nuclear program. A US-made F-14 Iranian fighter jet crashed in southern Iran. Both the pilot and the co-pilot were killed.
    (AP, 1/26/12)

2012        Jan 29, UN nuclear inspectors began a critical mission to Iran to probe allegations of a secret atomic weapons program amid escalating Western economic pressure and warnings about safeguarding Gulf oil shipments from possible Iranian blockades.
    (AP, 1/29/12)

2012        Jan 30, Iran's top diplomat offered to extend the current visit of UN nuclear inspectors and expressed optimism their findings would help ease tensions despite international claims that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran's state TV reported the development of laser-guided artillery shells capable of hitting moving targets.
    (AP, 1/30/12)

2012        Feb 1, Senior UN nuclear expert Herman Nackaerts announced plans to revisit Tehran soon after a "good trip," indicating progress on his team's quest to probe suspicions that the Islamic Republic is secretly working on an atomic arms program.
    (AP, 2/1/12)

2012        Feb 2, Israel's chief of military intelligence, General Aviv Kochavi, warned at a security conference that Iran has enough radioactive material to produce four nuclear bombs.
    (AFP, 2/2/12)

2012        Feb 9, The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to grant a license to build two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia.
    (SFC, 2/10/12, p.A9)(Econ, 2/18/12, p.34)

2012        Feb 10, Argentina accused Britain of sending nuclear weapons to the disputed Falkland islands, while UN leader Ban Ki-moon appealed to both sides to avoid an "escalation" of their sovereignty battle.
    (AFP, 2/10/12)

2012        Feb 11, In Japan thousands demonstrated in Tokyo against nuclear power generation, 11 months after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
    (AFP, 2/11/12)

2012        Feb 15, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran has added 3,000 more centrifuges to its uranium enrichment effort increasing the total to 9,000, as he unveiled progress in his country's controversial nuclear program. Iran began loading domestically made nuclear fuel rods into its Tehran research reactor. Iran also said it was considering cutting oil sales to six EU countries in retaliation to an EU ban on Iranian oil imports that is being phased in as existing contracts expire up to July 1.
    (AFP, 2/15/12)(AP, 2/15/12)

2012        Feb 17, In France British PM David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy put recent disputes behind them to unveil a nuclear power deal and renew their own sometimes shaky political alliance. Cameron said the British engineering firm Rolls-Royce will secure a £400 million (481 million euro, $632 million) share in the work to build Britain's first French-pioneered EPR reactor at Hinkley Point in southern England.
    (AFP, 2/17/12)

2012        Feb 19, UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran in the latest push to hold key talks with Iranian officials about how far the country's controversial nuclear program has come. Access to Parchin, a military site suspected of testing nuclear weapon components, was denied.
    (AP, 2/20/12)(Econ, 2/25/12, p.28)

2012        Feb 21, Iran said it views its nuclear activities as a non-negotiable right, but confirmed they will be discussed in mooted talks with world powers aimed at defusing a crisis containing the seeds of a new Middle East war.
    (AFP, 2/21/12)

2012        Feb 22, The UN nuclear agency acknowledged renewed failure after a trip to probe suspicions of covert Iranian nuclear weapons work. Their statement was issued just hours after an Iranian general warned of a pre-emptive strike against any foe threatening the country.
    (AP, 2/22/12)

2012        Feb 24, Japan said some areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was wrecked last year by a massive tsunami will likely remain permanently off-limits.
    (AFP, 2/24/12)

2012        Feb 29, In Britain, the world's oldest running nuclear reactor shut down at Oldbury-on-Severn after 44 years of operation, starting the countdown to 2025, by when a new nuclear station is expected to open on a site just a few hundred meters away.
    (Reuters, 2/29/12)
2012        Feb 29, North Korea's new leadership said it would suspend nuclear and missile tests and its uranium enrichment program as part of a deal that includes US food aid for the impoverished nation.
    (AFP, 2/29/12)

2012        Mar 6, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the government will grant UN inspectors access to a military complex where the UN nuclear agency suspects secret atomic work has been carried out.
    (AP, 3/6/12)

2012        Mar 11, In Taiwan thousands of protesters took to the streets calling on the government to shut down the island's nuclear power plants, citing the painful lesson of Japan's 9.0-magnitude earthquake one year ago.
    (AFP, 3/11/12)

2012        Mar 19, In southern India police arrested nearly 200 activists who were protesting the start of work at a long-stalled nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu's Koodankulam region. Engineers resumed working the next day on one of two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors after the local government gave the green light for the resumption of the Russia-backed project.
    (AFP, 3/20/12)

2012        Mar 26, In South Korea leaders or top officials from 53 nations gathered in Seoul for a summit on nuclear security. President Obama said the United States would further cut its own nuclear stockpiles, as he warned North Korea and Iran to back down over their atomic plans.
    (AFP, 3/26/12)

2012        Mar 27, In South Korea world leaders including US President Barack Obama called for strong steps to combat nuclear terrorism, wrapping up a 53-nation summit overshadowed by North Korea's planned rocket launch.
    (AFP, 3/27/12)

2012        Mar 29, Franco-Algerian nuclear physicist Adlene Hicheur went on trial in Paris for allegedly plotting terror attacks in France. Police arrested Hicheur, a researcher studying the universe's birth, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), in October 2009 after intercepting emails he wrote. He stood trial charged with criminal association as part of a terrorist enterprise.
    (AFP, 3/29/12)
2012        Mar 29, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced his country's unwavering support for Tehran's nuclear ambitions in a meeting with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Turkey relies on Iran for 30% of its oil imports, and has refused to go along with sanctions imposed by the US and Europe, saying it will observe only UN-mandated restrictions on Iran.
    (AFP, 3/29/12)

2012        Apr 9, Turkey's PM Erdogan oversaw the signing of two nuclear agreements with China on a trip to the Asian nation that also saw him make an unprecedented stop in ethnically-tense Xinjiang. The two agreements paved the way for deeper nuclear cooperation between the two countries, but few concrete details were made available.
    (AFP, 4/9/12)

2012        Apr 14, Iran and senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, known as the P5+1, gathered at the negotiating table in Istanbul for their first meeting in 15 months hoping to ease tensions over Tehran's nuclear program.
    (AFP, 4/14/12)

2012        Apr 16, The UN Security Council tightened sanctions against North Korea over its failed rocket launch and warned of new "action" if the isolated state stages a new nuclear test.
    (AFP, 4/16/12)

2012        May 5, Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.
    (AP, 5/5/12)

2012        May 8, In Iran Seo Ok-Seok, a UN nuclear inspector from South Korea, was killed and a colleague was injured in a car crash near a reactor site in Khondab.
    (AP, 5/8/12)

2012        May 9, Japan's government approved a plan to take a controlling stake in the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, effectively nationalizing one of the world's largest utilities. Tokyo will inject one trillion yen ($12 billion) as part of a 10-year restructuring aimed at preventing the vast regional power monopoly from going bankrupt.
    (AFP, 5/9/12)

2012        May 22, UN nuclear chief Yukiya Amano said  that despite some remaining differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the UN nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms.
    (AP, 5/22/12)

2012         May 23, Casey Fury set fire to rags aboard the USS Miami nuclear submarine as it underwent overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. The fire caused $450 million in damages. On March 15, 2013, Fury was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
    (SFC, 3/16/13, p.A6)
2012        May 23, Iran and six world powers resumed talks over Tehran's nuclear program. Diplomats from six world powers offered Iran new proposals to ease international concerns about its nuclear program, but appeared to reject Tehran's appeals to ease economic sanctions to help move along talks.
    (AP, 5/23/12)

2012        May 24, Iranian negotiators rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to build atomic weapons.
    (AP, 5/24/12)

2012        May 24, Iranian negotiators rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to build atomic weapons. The 2-days talks ended with no clear signs of progress, but parties agreed to reconvene in Moscow in June.
    (AP, 5/24/12)(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A4)

2012        Jun 16, Japan started work to put nuclear reactors back online, despite public distrust of the technology after last year's meltdowns at Fukushima.
    (AFP, 6/16/12)

2012        Jun 18, Iran and six world powers sought elusive common ground in talks in Moscow meant to reduce tensions over Tehran's nuclear activities that both sides see as crucial to their interests but which are stalled by reluctance to commit to each other's demands.
    (AP, 6/18/12)

2012        Jun 19, The world powers known as "P5+1," permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, failed to win any concession from Iran that would give the talks a new impulse. Negotiators in Moscow managed to prevent the diplomatic process from complete collapse by agreeing a new meeting at expert-level in Istanbul on July 3.
    (AFP, 6/20/12)

2012        Jun 20, In Sweden explosives were found on a truck at the southwestern Ringhals atomic power station. Bomb technicians said the material lacked a detonating device, meaning there was no danger of an imminent explosion.
    (AP, 6/21/12)

2012        Jun 27, TEPCO, the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said record amounts of radiation had been detected in the basement of reactor number 1, further hampering clean-up operations.
    (AFP, 6/27/12)

2012        Jun 29, In Japan tens of thousands of people rallied outside PM Noda’s residence in Tokyo in one of the largest demonstrations held against the restart of nuclear reactors.
    (AFP, 6/29/12)

2012        Jul 1, Japanese engineers began refiring an atomic reactor, despite growing public protests in the aftermath of meltdowns at Fukushima, ending nearly two months in which the country was nuclear-free.
    (AFP, 7/1/12)

2012        Jul 5, Japan resumed nuclear operations at its No. 3 reactor in Ohi.
    (SFC, 7/6/12, p.A5)

2012        Jul 9, Canadian nuclear engineers at the Candu Energy subsidiary of the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc went on strike in a contract dispute and no talks to end the walkout are scheduled. About 700 engineers joined 144 others who have been on strike for five weeks.
    (Reuters, 7/9/12)

2012        Jul 13, The United States announced charges against an Iranian citizen and Chinese resident for allegedly trying to export nuclear-related material to help Tehran enrich uranium. Iranian citizen Parviz Khaki (43), was arrested in May in the Philippines on request of the US. Chinese resident, Yi Zongcheng, remained at large.
    (AFP, 7/14/12)

2012        Jul 16, In Japan tens of thousands of people rallied in Tokyo demanding an end to nuclear power, the latest in a series of anti-atomic gatherings following the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima last year.
    (AFP, 7/16/12)

2012        Jul 29, In Japan thousands of people formed "a human chain" around the parliament complex to demand the government abandon nuclear power.
    (AP, 7/29/12)

2012        Jul 30, The US Congress pressed ahead with a new package of sanctions on Iran, expanding financial penalties and further targeting Tehran’s energy and shipping sectors in an ongoing effort to undercut the country’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
    (SFC, 8/1/12, p.A5)

2012        Jul 31, The Japanese operator of the nuclear power plant devastated in last year's disasters received a 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) bailout, putting it under government ownership, while international experts visited another plant that survived the tsunami's impact.
    (AP, 7/31/12)

2012        Aug 1, The United Arab Emirates said it has signed and Australia have signed a pact with Australia to work together on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, laying the groundwork for potential shipments of uranium to the Gulf nation.
    (AP, 8/1/12)

2012        Aug 3, In Japan thousands of people staged a rally in front of the prime minister's office, maintaining anti-nuclear sentiment triggered by last year's atomic crisis at Fukushima.
    (AFP, 8/3/12)

2012        Aug 6, A US Navy draft report acknowledged that the SF Bay’s Treasure Island was used as a repair and salvage operation during the Cold War for ships that may have been exposed to nuclear testing in the Pacific. In the 1940’sw a mocked-up training ship, the Pandemonium, was doused with low-level radioactive material, which sailors washed off.
    (SFC, 8/17/12, p.A14)

2012        Aug 15, The United Arab Emirates said it has awarded six fuel contracts valued at $3 billion for its first nuclear power plant, expected to start up by 2017. The contracts were awarded to US ConverDyn; Canadian Uranium One, Inc.; the U.K-based firm URENCO; Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto; Russia's firm TENEX and France's Areva.
    (AP, 8/15/12)

2012        Aug 31, Iran’s sole reactor at the country's Bushehr nuclear power plant reached full capacity.
    (AP, 9/1/12)

2012        Sep 14, A Japanese Cabinet panel called for phasing out of nuclear power over the next three decades in a major shift for Japan as it overhauls energy policy following the Fukushima meltdowns.
    (AP, 9/14/12)

2012        Sep 19, Japan’s government stopped short of formally adopting a goal to phase out nuclear power by 2040, a goal that had been announced a week earlier. The government opened its new Nuclear Regulation Authority, which pledged never to allow another disaster like the Fukushima triple meltdown.
    (SFC, 9/20/12, p.A5)(SSFC, 9/23/12, p.A4)

2012        Sep 21, EDF Energy, the UK arm of France's state-owned utility, started planning procedures to build a second new nuclear plant in Britain.
    (Reuters, 9/21/12)

2012        Oct 10, Russia said it had no intention to automatically extend a 20-year old deal with the United States helping secure the nation's nuclear stockpiles, a move that comes amid a growing isolationist streak in Kremlin policy. The deal expires in 2013 without a major overhaul.
    (AP, 10/10/12)

2012        Oct 15, The European Union, concerned by what it called Iran's refusal to come clean on its nuclear program, imposed a new range of sanctions intended to hit the country's treasury and increase pressure on its Islamic regime. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the EU is banning the import of Iranian natural gas into European Union countries.
    (AP, 10/15/12)

2012        Oct 20, Obama administration officials said the US and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program
    (SSFC, 10/21/12, p.A5)

2012        Oct 24, China approved new nuclear power plants as part of plans to reduce reliance on oil and coal, ending the moratorium it imposed to review safety in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster last year.   
    (AP, 10/24/12)

2012        Oct 30, Hitachi won a bid to take over a company building up to six nuclear power plants in Britain, reviving hopes for investment in the UK's ageing energy infrastructure but leaving doubts they will come online in time.
    (AP, 10/30/12)

2012        Nov 15, British regulators filed charges against the owners of the Sellafield nuclear waste site on allegations of illegal dumping of radioactive waste, adding to the plant's history of controversy and complaints.
    (AP, 11/15/12)

2012        Nov 26, France's EDF and partner Centrica have received the first UK site licence for a new nuclear plant in 25 years, paving the way for Britain's first new nuclear station since 1995.
    (AP, 11/26/12)

2012        Nov 28, Iran's nuclear chief says uranium enrichment will move ahead with "intensity" with a sharp increase in the number of centrifuges used to make the nuclear fuel.
    (AP, 11/28/12)

2013        Jan 11, Spanish police said they have arrested two people and seized equipment they say was due to be shipped to Iran for use in Tehran's nuclear program.
    (AP, 1/11/13)

2013        Jan 16, Senior UN investigators opened a new round of talks with Iranian officials in Tehran in the hopes of restarting a probe into allegations that the Islamic Republic carried out atomic bomb trigger tests and other suspected weapons-related studies.
    (AP, 1/16/13)

2013        Jan 24, North Korea's top governing body warned that the regime will conduct its third nuclear test in defiance of UN punishment, and made clear that its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the United States.
    (AP, 1/24/13)

2013        Jan 25, Washington and Beijing agreed that any North Korean nuclear test will lead to North Korea's further isolation and set back efforts to restart regional talks.
    (AP, 1/25/13)

2013        Jan 31, Iran announced plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines, in what would be a technological leap allowing it to significantly speed up activity the West fears could be put to developing a nuclear weapon.
    (AP, 1/31/13)

2013        Feb 12, North Korea said it tested a “miniaturized” nuclear device in the remote, snowy northeast. China summoned the North's ambassador for a dressing-down. Experts assumed it was nuclear partly from the shape of its seismic signal.
    (AP, 2/12/13)(SFC, 2/12/13, p.A2)
2013        Feb 12, In Ukraine a 600-square-meter (6,500-square-foot) section of the roof over the turbine hall at the fourth power block at Chernobyl collapsed due to heavy snowfall. A new giant arch-shaped confinement is currently being constructed over the old sarcophagus. The construction of the new shelter was not affected by the accident.
    (AP, 2/13/13)

2013        Feb 13, Iran's nuclear chief said his country has begun installing a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges at its main facility making nuclear fuel. IRNA news quoted Fereidoun Abbasi as saying that Iran began installing the new centrifuges at Natanz site about a month ago. Senior UN investigators began a new round of talks with government officials over allegations that Tehran may have carried out tests on triggers for atomic weapons.
    (AP, 2/13/13)
2013        Feb 13, Ukrainian officials sought to reassure the public that radiation levels were unaffected at Chernobyl and there was no safety threat after a partial roof collapse at the exploded nuclear power plant.
    (AP, 2/13/13)

2013        Feb 14, Senior officials of the UN atomic agency returned from Tehran without a hoped-for deal that would have led to the resumption of a probe into allegations that Iran worked secretly on nuclear arms.
    (AP, 2/14/13)

2013        Feb 18, EU finance ministers, condemning the Feb. 12 nuclear test by North Korea, imposed more trade and economic sanctions on the Asian nation.
    (AP, 2/18/13)

2013        Feb 22, US federal and Washington state officials said six underground tanks at Hanford, that hold a brew of radioactive and toxic waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, are leaking.
    (AP, 2/22/13)

2013        Feb 23, Iran said it has selected 16 locations as suitable for new nuclear power plants it intends to build to boost its energy production over the next 15 years. State TV said the country has discovered new uranium resources.
    (AP, 2/23/13)

2013        Feb 27, Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top official at diplomatic talks, said negotiations in Kazakhstan with world powers over how to curb Iran's nuclear program have reached a "turning point" for the better at the close of two days of discussions aimed at preventing Tehran from building an atomic arsenal.
    (AP, 2/27/13)

2013        Mar 3, Iran's nuclear chief said his country has produced more than 3,000 advanced centrifuges which are used to enrich uranium.
    (AP, 3/3/13)

2013        Mar 7, The UN Security Council voted unanimously for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test. North Korea’s Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told a crowd of tens of thousands that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington.
    (AP, 3/7/13)

2013        Mar 9, In Japan thousands of people rallied in a Tokyo park, demanding an end to atomic power and vowing never to give up the fight, despite two years of little change after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
    (AP, 3/9/13)
2013        Mar 9, North Korea formally rejected a UN Security Council resolution that demands an end to its nuclear arms program, as China called for calm, saying sanctions were not the "fundamental" way to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula.
    (AP, 3/9/13)

2013        Mar 19, In Japan power was restored to two fuel storage pools at the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant, but two others have been without fresh cooling water for more than a day, raising concerns about the fragility of a facility that still runs on makeshift equipment.
    (AP, 3/19/13)

2013        Mar 26, The British government published its long-term Nuclear Industrial Strategy but fell short of announcing a guaranteed power price which operators want spelled out before investing billions in new power stations.
    (AP, 3/26/13)

2013        Apr 2, North Korea said it will restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material. Outsiders saw this as North Korea’s latest attempt to extract US concessions.
    (AP, 4/2/13)

2013        Apr 5, In Kazakhstan talks began seeking to find common ground between Iran and a group of six nations over concerns that Tehran might misuse its nuclear program to make weapons.
    (AP, 4/5/13)

2013        Apr 6, Tokyo Electric Power said almost 32,000 gallons of radioactive water has leaked from a large underground storage pool at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tepco said emptying the pool could take 5 days and another 12,000 gallons could leak.
    (SSFC, 4/7/13, p.A9)
2013        Apr 6, In Kazakhstan Iran and six world powers failed to reach agreement on an approach to reducing fears that Tehran might use its nuclear technology to make weapons. The EU's foreign policy chief declared that the two sides "remain far apart on substance."
    (AP, 4/6/13)

2013        Apr 9, Iran announced two key nuclear-related projects that expand the country's ability to extract and process uranium, which can be enriched for reactor fuel but also potentially for atomic weapons.
    (AP, 4/9/13)

2013        Apr 11, North Korea delivered a fresh round of rhetoric with claims it had "powerful striking means" on standby for a missile launch. G-8 foreign, meeting London, condemned North Korea's aggressive rhetoric and the development of its nuclear missile programs, saying that Pyongyang's recent actions threaten international security.
    (AP, 4/11/13)

2013        Apr 13, China and the US committed to a process aimed at ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 4/13/13)

2013        Apr 15, Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in the uranium-rich West African nation of Niger for a 2-day visit. Officials discounted that the mineral was the reason for his visit.
    (AP, 4/16/13)

2013        Apr 17, Diplomats said technicians upgrading Iran's main uranium enrichment facility have tripled their installations of high-tech machines that could be used in a nuclear weapons program to more than 600 in the last three months.
    (AP, 4/17/13)

2013        Apr 22, The British government said it will proceed with selling some or all of its 33 percent stake in uranium enrichment company Urenco. Three countries hold equal stakes in the world's second-largest nuclear fuel vendor - the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, whose stake is held by utilities E.ON and RWE.
    (AP, 4/22/13)

2013        Apr 29, German federal prosecutors say they have charged three German-Iranian dual nationals and a German man with breaking export laws for allegedly supplying Iran with parts needed to build a nuclear reactor in violation of the country's trade embargo.
    (AP, 4/29/13)

2013        May 3, In Geneva, Austria, more than 100 nations concluding a round of global nuclear talks expressed alarm that many nuclear weapons are kept at a high-alert level and are still being modernized, despite a promise to get rid of them.
    (AP, 5/3/13)

2013        May 8, In Tennessee Sister Megan Rice (83) and fellow protesters Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed were convicted of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge. On May 15, 2015, an appeals court ordered all three to be released.
    (SFC, 5/9/13, p.A6)(SFC, 5/16/15, p.A5)

2013        May 22, The UN atomic agency detailed rapid Iranian progress in two programs that the West fears are geared toward making nuclear weapons, saying Tehran has upgraded its uranium enrichment facilities and advanced in building a plutonium-producing reactor.
    (AP, 5/22/13)

2013        May 23, In Japan a radiation leak took place at the Hadron Experimental Facility in Tokaimura.
    (SSFC, 5/26/13, p.A6)
2013        May 23, A rising tide of seaweed halted a nuclear power station near Edinburgh, Scotland, threatening to clog up its cooling system.
    (Reuters, 5/24/13)

2013        May 28, South Korea said it has idled two nuclear power plants after finding that test results for crucial control cables were falsified in a new blow to an industry mired in a graft scandal and safety lapses. With the shutdown of the Shin-Kori No. 2 and Shin-Wolsong No. 1 reactors to replace cables, a total of 10 nuclear plants are now offline.
    (AP, 5/28/13)

2013        Jun 7, Southern California Edison said its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will be permanently shut down.
    (SFC, 6/8/13, p.A1)

2013        Jun 10, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said operators of nuclear power plants will be made liable for the first C$1 billion ($980 million) of damages in the event of an accident, up from C$75 million under existing rules. The government also intends to increase the period during which compensation claims can be made after a disaster to 30 years from 10 years.
    (Reuters, 6/10/13)

2013        Jun 14, A British court fined the Sellafield nuclear waste site 700,000 pounds for the illegal dumping of radioactive material, the latest controversy to assail an industry that will have a toxic legacy lasting thousands of years.
    (Reuters, 6/14/13)

2013        Jun 19, President Barack Obama spoke in Berlin challenging Americans and Europeans not to become complacent even though the Cold War is over. He called for a one-third reduction of the US and Russia's nuclear stockpiles.
    (AP, 6/19/13)
2013        Jun 19, Japan’s nuclear watchdog formally approved a set of new safety requirements for the country’s nuclear plants.
    (SFC, 6/20/13, p.A3)

2013        Jun 25, In California PG&E shut down one of two reactors at its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant after finding a small leak in a backup cooling system.
    (SFC, 6/27/13, p.C6)

2013        Jul 1, New sanctions against Iran came into effect, targeting trade with Iran's shipping and automobile sectors, gold sales to Iran and handling of the Iranian currency, the rial - a further attempt to force Tehran to curb its nuclear activities.
    (Reuters, 7/2/13)

2013        Jul 2, Vietnam became the 11th country from which all highly enriched uranium has been removed in the last four years. The news was announced during a meeting in Vienna on how to prevent potential bomb ingredients from falling into the wrong hands. The first uranium shipment from Vietnam's Dalat Nuclear Research Institute to Russia, where it originally came from, took place six years ago and there was a second delivery this month. The United States, the UN nuclear agency and Canada also provided assistance.
    (Reuters, 7/2/13)

2013        Jul 12, In China hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Jiangmen, Guangdong province, demanding that a project for a uranium processing plant be scrapped. The next day plans for the plant were abruptly canceled.
    (Reuters, 7/13/13)(SFC, 7/13/13, p.A2)

2013        Jul 15, In France Greenpeace activists occupied a nuclear power plant site before dawn, a media stunt deeply embarrassing to the government, which is intent on demonstrating that France's reliance on nuclear power is safe.
    (AP, 7/15/13)

2013        Jul 22, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power said  its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is probably leaking contaminated water into the sea.
    (SFC, 7/23/13, p.A2)

2013        Aug 2, Taiwanese lawmakers exchanged punches and threw water at each other ahead of an expected vote that would authorize a referendum on whether to finish a fourth nuclear power plant on the densely populated island of 23 million people.
    (AP, 8/2/13)

2013        Aug 5, Japan's nuclear watchdog said highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an "emergency" that the operator is struggling to contain.
    (Reuters, 8/5/13)

2013        Aug 7, Japanese officials said highly radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant was pouring out at a rate of 300 tons a day. PM Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.
    (Reuters, 8/7/13)

2013        Aug 9, A Taiwan government watchdog reported that the First Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen may have been leaking radioactive water for three years, adding to uncertainty over the fate of a new 4th nuclear power plant.
    (AP, 8/9/13)

2013        Aug 13, A US federal appeals court ruled that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been violating federal law by delaying a decision on a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada.
    (SFC, 8/14/13, p.A6)

2013        Aug 20, TEPCO, the operator of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant, said that about 300 tons (300,000 liters, 80,000 gallons) of highly radioactive water have leaked from one of the hundreds of storage tanks there — its worst leak yet from such a vessel.
    (AP, 8/20/13)

2013        Aug 27, Entergy Corp. said it will shut down the Yankee Nuclear Power Station, Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, in the 4th quarter of 2014.
    (SFC, 8/28/13, p.A8)

2013        Aug 28, The latest UN IAEA report said Iran has installed about 1,000 advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges and is set to test them.
    (Reuters, 8/28/13)

2013        Sep 3, Japan’s government announced that it will spend $470 mikllion on a subterranean ice wall and other steps to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. One of the country’s two remaining working nuclear reactors was taken offline, with the other to be shut down later this month and no restarts in sight amid public hostility to nuclear power.
    (SFC, 9/4/13, p.A4)(AFP, 9/3/13)

2013        Sep 6, South Korea extended a ban on Japanese fishery imports to a larger area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant due to growing concerns over radiation contamination.
    (Reuters, 9/6/13)

2013        Sep 19, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe ordered the scrapping of two Fukushima nuclear reactors that survived the 2011 tsunami. The write-off threatened to complicate a turnaround plan the operator has presented to creditors.
    (Reuters, 9/19/13)

2013        Sep 24, China published a list that included military-like hardware and chemical substances that would be banned from export to North Korea for fear they could be used in the construction of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
    (SFC, 9/25/13, p.A2)

2013        Sep 26, The US and its international partners emerged from a meeting at UN headquarters with Iran declaring that a "window of opportunity has opened" to peacefully settle their nuclear standoff. Both sides agreed to fast-track negotiations and hold a substantive round of talks on Oct. 15-16 in Geneva.
    (AP, 9/27/13)

2013        Sep 27, Iraq ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), an accord that however cannot enter into force until the United States, China and six other states follow suit. This raised the number of countries that have adhered fully to the treaty to 161.
    (AFP, 9/27/13)

2013        Sep 29, In Sweden wave of jellyfish forced the shut down of Oskarshamn nuclear reactor number 3. By Oct 1 the pipes were cleaned of the jellyfish and engineers prepared to restart the reactor.
    (AP, 10/1/13)

2013        Oct 3, The US-Korea Institute at John Hopkins said North Korea’s main nuclear complex was discharging hot wastewater in a further sign that the country has restarted its Soviet-era nuclear reactor.
    (SFC, 10/4/13, p.A2)

2013        Oct 6, Iran's nuclear chief said that authorities arrested four workers in an alleged sabotage plot involving one of the country's nuclear facilities.
    (AP, 10/6/13)

2013        Oct 12, In Niger thousands of people protested against French nuclear firm Areva, which has been mining uranium in the impoverished country for nearly 50 years.
    (AFP, 10/12/13)

2013        Oct 15, Iranian negotiators put forward what they called a potential breakthrough plan at the long-stalled talks in Geneva on easing fears that Tehran wants atomic arms.
    (AP, 10/15/13)

2013        Oct 24, Greenland's parliament agreed to remove a 25-year-old ban on uranium mining, paving the way for an industrial boom that the Arctic island hopes will help it gain independence from former colonial master Denmark.
    (AP, 10/25/13)

2013        Oct 30, Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that four people accused of sabotaging one of the country's sensitive nuclear sites were only thieves.
    (AFP, 10/30/13)

2013        Nov 7, Iran and six world powers began a new two day round of negotiations with broad discussions about a nuclear deal. Iran’s chief negotiator said a plan to cap some of its atomic activities in exchange for selective relief from crippling economic sanctions has been accepted by six world powers and a deal could be imminent.
    (AP, 11/7/13)(SFC, 11/8/13, p.A4)

2013        Nov 9, World powers and Iran held a third day of crunch talks on Tehran's nuclear program. France's foreign minister said Iran's refusal to suspend work on a plutonium-producing reactor and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium was standing in the way of an interim agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program in return for easing of sanctions.
    (AFP, 11/9/13)(AP, 11/9/13)

2013        Nov 10, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran will not abandon its nuclear rights, including uranium enrichment, a day after a fresh round of talks with world powers. Iran and world powers failed to clinch a long-sought deal despite marathon talks in Geneva.
    (AFP, 11/10/13)
2013        Nov 10, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would do all it could to keep world powers from striking a "bad and dangerous" deal with Iran over its nuclear program.
    (AFP, 11/10/13)

2013        Nov 11, Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog agreed on a "roadmap for cooperation" over Tehran's controversial atomic drive, as the US accused Iran of scuttling efforts to end the deadlock.
    (AFP, 11/11/13)

2013        Nov 14, A 20-year program to convert highly enriched uranium from dismanteled Russian nuclear weapons into fuel for US power plants ended with the final shipment loaded at the port of St. Petersburg, Russia.
    (SFC, 11/15/13, p.A2)

2013        Nov 20, Nuclear talks resumed between Iran and world powers. Iran's supreme leader voiced support for the negotiations over his country's nuclear program, but insisted there are limits to the concessions Iran will make in exchange for an easing of the sanctions choking its economy.
    (AP, 11/20/13)

2013        Nov 24, Iran struck a historic deal with the United States and five other world powers, agreeing to a temporary freeze of its nuclear program in the most significant agreement between Washington and Tehran in more than three decades of estrangement.
    (AP, 11/24/13)
2013        Nov 24, Israel's PM Netanyahu harshly condemned the international community's nuclear deal with Iran.
    (AP, 11/24/13)

2013        Nov 26, Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif ceremonially broke ground on a $9.59 billion nuclear power complex to be built in Karachi with China’s help. China National Nuclear Cooperation (CNNC) promised to grant a loan of at least $6.5 billion to finance the project which will have two reactors with a capacity of 1,100 megawatts each.
    (SFC, 11/27/13, p.A2)(Reuters, 12/24/13)

2013        Nov 28, In South Korea a "safety-related action" automatically shut down one of the country’s 23 nuclear reactors, bringing the tally of those closed to six and hiking the chances of power blackouts this winter.
    (Reuters, 11/28/13)

2013        Dec 1, Iran said it is in talks with Russia to build another nuclear plant at Bushehr, with construction set to begin in 2014.
    (AFP, 12/1/13)

2013        Dec 2, In Mexico a truck carrying cobalt-60, used for radiotherapy treatment to combat cancer, was stolen. The IAEA later said the heist occurred in Tepojaco, a town near Mexico City, and described the load as "extremely dangerous" if damaged or removed from its protective shielding. The truck was found abandoned on Dec 4. The highly radioactive material had been removed from its container and was found near the truck.
    (AP, 12/4/13)(AP, 12/5/13)

2013        Dec 8, UN inspectors visited an Iranian plant linked to a planned heavy-water reactor that could yield nuclear bomb fuel, taking up an initial offer by Tehran to open its disputed nuclear program to greater scrutiny.
    (Reuters, 12/8/13)

2013        Dec 12, The Obama adminsitration announced an expanded list of Iranian companies and individuals that it said it would target to block their trading activities around the world due to sanctions violations.
    (SFC, 12/13/13, p.A11)

2013        Dec 13, Iran quit nuclear talks with world powers, accusing Washington of going against the spirit of a landmark agreement reached last month by expanding its sanctions blacklist.
    (AFP, 12/13/13)

2013        Dec 21, In Niger up to 1,000 demonstrators marched in Niamey to protest their country's "unbalanced" partnership with nuclear firm Areva as the French giant negotiates a new uranium mining agreement with the government.
    (AFP, 12/21/13)

2013        Dec 31, A senior Iranian official said six world powers and Iran have made good progress in expert talks in Geneva on how to roll out last month's landmark nuclear deal which obliges Tehran to suspend its most sensitive atom work.
    (AP, 12/31/13)

2013        In Germany nuclear power accounted for 16% of the country’s power.
    (Econ, 6/15/13, SR p.11)

2013        Eric Schlosser authored “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.”
    (SSFC, 9/22/13, p.F1)

2014        Jan 10, Iranian state television reported that talks with the European Union have ended with an agreement over outstanding issues about the practical details of implementing a nuclear agreement.
    (Reuters, 1/10/14)

2014        Jan 12, Iran's foreign ministry said that the “joint plan of action,” the landmark agreement the Islamic republic clinched with world powers on its disputed nuclear program, will take effect from January 20. Under the JPA Iran would freeze its nuclear program for six months.
    (AFP, 1/12/14)(Econ, 1/18/14, p.47)

2014        Jan 15, US Air Force leaders said 34 officers in charge of launching nuclear missiles have been suspended for cheating on a proficiency test. The scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana marked the latest in a series of damaging revelations dogging the country's nuclear force.
    (AFP, 1/16/14)

2014        Jan 20, Iran halted production of 20 percent enriched uranium, marking the entry into force of an interim deal with world powers on its disputed nuclear program. The United States eased some sanctions on Iran, pausing efforts to reduce Iranian crude oil exports, as part of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that went into effect. The EU also agreed to suspend some economic sanctions against Iran as part of the ground-breaking nuclear deal.
    (AFP, 1/20/14)(Reuters, 1/20/14)

2014        Jan 28, Officials said the cheating scandal inside the Air Force's nuclear missile corps is expanding, with the number of service members implicated by investigators now roughly double the 34 reported just a week ago.
    (AP, 1/28/14)

2014        Jan 29, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that North Korea has expanded the size of its uranium enrichment facility at its Nyongbyon nuclear complex and restarted a plutonium reactor that was shut down in 2007.
    (AP, 1/29/14)

2014        Jan 30, In Japan about 1,400 people filed a joint lawsuit against three companies that manufactured reactors at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, saying they should be financially liable for damage caused by their 2011 meltdowns.
    (AP, 1/30/14)

2014        Feb 3, Iran’s state news said a first tranche of $550 million in sanctions relief agreed to under an interim nuclear deal has been paid into an Iranian Central Bank account in Switzerland.
    (Reuters, 2/3/14)

2014        Feb 6, Hungary's parliament authorized a deal with Russia to build two reactors at the country's only nuclear power plant in Paks.
    (AP, 2/6/14)

2014        Feb 9, Iran agreed to start addressing UN nuclear agency suspicions that it may have worked on designing an atomic weapon, a potential breakthrough in unblocking a long-stalled investigation into Tehran's disputed atomic activities.
    (Reuters, 2/9/14)

2014        Feb 13, The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said that North Korea has accelerated excavation at a remote mountain site used for underground nuclear test explosions. However, it did not see signs of an imminent test.
    (AP, 2/13/14)

2014        Feb 14, In New Mexico unusually high levels of radioactive particles were found at an underground nuclear waste site in what a spokesman said looked like the first real alarm since the plant opened in 1999. Investigators in June said they have found five other potentially explosive barrels in West Texas that came from the same Los Alamos waste stream.
    (Reuters, 2/16/14)(SFC, 6/11/14, p.A6)

2014        Feb 17, Iran's ambassador to Moscow said Russia could build the Islamic republic a second nuclear power reactor under a proposed oil-for-goods swap that has raised grave concern in Washington.
    (AFP, 2/17/14)

2014        Feb 18, In Chicago an elderly nun who broke into what was supposed to be one of the most carefully guarded nuclear facilities in the US was sentenced to 35 months in prison. Sister Megan Rice (84) cut through fences and several layers of security at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee along with two other members of Transform Now Plowshares -- a pacifist group -- in July 2012. Fellow anti-nuclear activists Michael Walli (64) and Greg Boertje-Obed (58) were sentenced to five years and two months in prison because of their criminal histories.
    (AFP, 2/19/14)

2014        Feb 19, In Austria ambitious nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers entered a second day in Vienna with Tehran's foreign minister saying a deal was achievable.
    (AFP, 2/19/14)

2014        Feb 20, Iran and world powers agreed a timetable and framework for the ambitious and arduous process of hammering out a lasting nuclear accord by July 20 that satisfies all sides.
    (AP, 2/20/14)

2014        Feb 25, Japan’s government published a draft energy plan which put nuclear power at the core.
    (Econ, 3/8/14, p.43)

2014        Feb, The US Navy announced that it had discovered cheating on qualification exams by an estimated 20-30 sailors seeking to be certified as instructors at the nuclear training unit at Charleston, SC. In August at least 34 sailors were kicked out of the Navy for their roles in a cheating ring that operated undetected for at least seven years.
    (SFC, 8/21/14, p.A4)

2014        Mar 1, Hundreds rallied in Tokyo to protest Japanese prosecutors' decision to drop charges over the Fukushima nuclear crisis, with no one yet punished nearly three years after the "man-made" disaster.
    (AFP, 3/1/14)

2014        Mar 8, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived in Tehran to discuss issues including Iran's disputed nuclear program, before another round of talks between Iran and world powers.
    (Reuters, 3/8/14)

2014        Mar 9, In Japan thousands of people rallied in Tokyo and marched to parliament to demand an end to nuclear power.
    (SFC, 3/10/14, p.A2)

2014        Mar 11, Russia signed a preliminary agreement to build at least two more nuclear power plants in the Iranian port city of Bushehr.
    (AFP, 3/12/14)

2014        Mar 17, A senior Iranian official said that an alleged attempt to sabotage one of Tehran's nuclear facilities involved foreign intelligence agencies who tampered with imported pumps.
    (AP, 3/17/14)

2014        Mar 18, French police arrested 57 Greenpeace activists who used a truck to ram their way into a nuclear power plant operated by EDF in eastern France.
    (Reuters, 3/18/14)

2014        Mar 21, New Mexico withdrew a temporary permit allowing two new disposal vaults at a US government nuclear waste dump grappling with a release of radiation in February.
    (AP, 3/22/14)
2014        Mar 21, Denis Flory, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said about 140 cases of missing or unauthorized use of nuclear and radioactive material were reported to the UN atomic agency in 2013.
    (AP, 3/21/14)

2014        Mar 24, Belgium and Italy said they had moved excess nuclear materials to the United States for disposal or downgrading under the terms of past agreements, at the start of a nuclear summit in the Netherlands.
    (Reuters, 3/24/14)
2014        Mar 24, Japanese and US leaders said Japan will turn over hundreds of kilograms of sensitive atomic material of potential use in bombs to the United States to be downgraded and disposed. This was shortly before leaders from 53 countries, including Obama and Abe, were due to hold a two-day summit at The Hague aimed at preventing al Qaeda-style militant groups from acquiring nuclear bombs.
    (Reuters, 3/24/14)

2014        Mar 25, In the Netherlands 35 countries pledged to turn international guidelines on nuclear security into national laws, a move aimed at preventing terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear material.
    (AP, 3/25/14)
2014        Mar 25, Dutch police detained 28 anti-nuclear demonstrators at a reactor ahead of a visit by a delegation of energy sector bosses.
    (Reuters, 3/25/14)

2014        Mar, Hungary signed a €10 billion loan agreement with Russia to expand and modernize Paks, a nuclear power station.
    (Econ, 7/19/14, p.48)

2014        Apr 9, In Vienna, Austria, Iran and six major powers discussed all important issues on curbing Tehran's nuclear program and planned to begin a new round of negotiations in Vienna on May 13.
    (Reuters, 4/9/14)

2014        Apr 11, Nuclear technology firm Westinghouse said it has reached a deal with Ukraine to deliver fuel for its 15 reactors through 2020, a move that helps the country reduce its reliance on Russia for energy supplies as it squabbles with Moscow over unpaid gas bills.
    (AP, 4/11/14)

2014        Apr 24, The Marshall Islands filed suit against the US and eight other nuclear-armed nations with an unprecedented lawsuit demanding that they meet their obligations toward disarmament and accusing them of "flagrant violations" of international law. The Marshall Islands claims the nine countries are modernizing their nuclear arsenals instead of negotiating disarmament.
    (AP, 4/24/14)

2014        Apr 25, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned Pyongyang that it could face tougher sanctions if it follows through with threats to launch a fourth nuclear test.
    (AP, 4/25/14)

2014        Apr 27, In Taiwan nearly 30,000 rallied in opposition to the proposed 4th Longmen nuclear power plant near Taipei. PM Jiang Yi-huah backed down and agreed mothball two plants, stop construction at a third and hold a referendum prior to any operations.
    (Econ, 5/3/14, p.36)

2014        May 5, In Iran UN atomic agency officials held talks in Tehran before visits to two uranium sites, as the country acts to implement a series of steps aimed at providing transparency on its nuclear research by a mid-May deadline.
    (Reuters, 5/514)

2014        May 7, Iranian media said UN inspectors have visited a uranium mine and reached agreement on how to monitor a planned reactor, part of an effort to allay fears about Tehran's nuclear program.
    (AP, 5/7/14)

2014        May 12, A confidential new report by a UN panel of experts highlighted Iran's methods of evading sanctions - from concealing titanium tubes inside steel pipes to using its petrochemical industry as a cover to obtain items for a heavy-water nuclear reactor.
    (Reuters, 5/12/14)

2014        May 26, South Korea and China agreed recent nuclear activity by North Korea posed a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and Pyongyang must not conduct a nuclear test, after a meeting of their top diplomats in Seoul.
    (Reuters, 5/26/14)

2014        Jun 11, Mexico's Interior Department said that a device containing cesium-137 was stolen from a construction industry warehouse on the outskirts of Mexico City.
    (AP, 6/12/14)

2014        Jun 17, Iran and six world powers re-launched talks to rescue prospects for a deal on Tehran's nuclear activity by a July deadline.
    (Reuters, 6/17/14)

2014        Jun 20, Iran and six powers made some progress on drafting the wording of a nuclear deal, but key sections of the document were left blank. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said full agreement was possible at the next round, in Vienna on July 2.
    (AP, 6/20/14)

2014        Jul 3, A European Union court annulled sanctions placed by the 28-nation bloc on a leading Iranian university because of its alleged involvement with the country's nuclear program due to insufficient evidence. An asset freeze will remain in place for another two months to hinder Tehran's Sharif University of Technology from instantly withdrawing its frozen funds.
    (AP, 7/3/14)
2014        Jul 3, Thieves in central Mexico stole a pick-up truck carrying dangerous radioactive material. The load of iridium 192 was normally used in industrial radiography.
    (Reuters, 7/4/14)

2014        Jul 18, In Argentina visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping announced huge investments in hydroelectric power, shipbuilding, railways and a deal to help Argentina build its fourth nuclear plant.
    (AFP, 7/19/14)
2014        Jul 18, Iran and six world powers failed to meet their target date for cutting a nuclear deal but agreed to extend the talks until Nov 24.
    (SFC, 7/19/14, p.A2)

2014        Jul 19, In Buenos Aires, Argentina, visiting Russian Pres. Putin met with Pres. Cristina Fernandez and signed a deal on nuclear power as well as other projects.
    (SFC, 7/19/14, p.A3)

2014        Aug 1, Southern California Edison laid out a draft plan to dismantle the twin nuclear reactors at San Onofre shut down in 2012 due to a radiation leak. The project would take two decades and cost $4.4 billion.
    (SSFC, 8/3/14, p.A8)

2014        Aug 29, The US imposed sanctions on more than 25 Iranian businesses and individuals suspected of working to expand Iran’s nuclear program.
    (SSFC, 8/31/14, p.A5)

2014        Sep 3, Australia banned uranium sales to Russia over its actions in Ukraine while announcing it will set up an embassy in Kiev and may offer military assistance.
    (AFP, 9/3/14)

2014        Sep 5, Australian PM Tony Abbott and India’s PM Narendra Modi signed a long-awaited uranium nuclear. Modi also announced $20 million in funding for further India-Australian scientific projects.
    (AFP, 9/5/14)

2014        Sep 10, In southern Japan the Sendai Nuclear Power Station's two reactors won regulators' approval under new safety standards imposed after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, a key step toward becoming the first to restart under the tighter rules.
    (AP, 9/10/14)

2014        Sep 18, Finland’s government extended a license to Finnish-Russian consortium Fennovoima to build a nuclear reactor in Pyhajoki. In response the environmentalist Green Party said it's dropping out of the coalition government.
    (AP, 9/18/14)

2014        Sep 19, Iran and six world powers opened a new round of talks at the UN to overcome differences in the way of a deal on curbing Tehran's nuclear program.
    (AFP, 9/19/14)

2014        Oct 8, The EU approved Britain's bid to heavily subsidize a new nuclear power plant, overriding opposition from environmentalists and questions over the project's 24.5 billion pound ($39 billion) price tag.
    (AP, 10/8/14)

2014        Oct 14, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and South African Tina Joematt Pettersson signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy development which is necessary for any commercial deal.
    (AFP, 10/14/14)

2014        Oct 15, Lockheed Martin Corp said it has made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.
    (Reuters, 10/15/14)

2014        Oct 28, In southwest Japan the town of Satsumasendai became the first to approve the restart of a nuclear power station.
    (Reuters, 10/28/14)

2014        Nov 7, Russia signed a contract to build two more nuclear reactors in Iran to be possibly followed by another six, a move intended to cement closer ties between the two nations.
    (AP, 11/11/14)
2014        Nov 7, South Africa said it has signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement with China as the government looks to expand the critical power supply system.
    (AFP, 11/7/14)

2014        Nov 24, Iran and six powers failed for a second time this year o resolve their 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and gave themselves seven more months to overcome the deadlock that has prevented them from clinching an historic deal.
    (AP, 11/24/14)

2014        Nov 30, E.ON, Germany’s largest utility, announced that it would split itself and float a new company in 2016, which will include its power generation  from nuclear and fossil fuels.
    (Econ, 12/6/14, p.76)

2014        Dec 9, The Hungarian government said it has signed three contracts with a Russian company which will allow construction in 2018 of new reactors at the country's only nuclear power plant.
    (AP, 12/9/14)
2014        Dec 9, Moldova police said seven people have been detained on suspicion they smuggled uranium and mercury in a metal container from Russia to be used in a dirty bomb.
    (AP, 12/9/14)

2014        Dec 10, China General Nuclear Power, established in 1994, floated shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Shares in China's largest nuclear power producer surged almost 20 percent on its debut.
    (Econ, 12/6/14, p.18)(http://tinyurl.com/p59lh8h)

2014        Dec 11, In Vienna, Austria, several states (Britain, Norway, Netherlands and the US) pledged to back a UN nuclear agency (IAEA) request for 4.6 million euros ($5.7 million) as soon as possible to pay for its monitoring of an extended, interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
    (AP, 12/11/14)

2014        Dec 26, In South Korea 3 workers died after apparently inhaling toxic gas at a construction site for a nuclear plant being built by South Korea's monopoly nuclear power company.
    (AP, 12/26/14)

2014        US estimated nuclear operational warheads numbered 4,764.
    (Econ., 2/28/15, p.25)
2014        Israel ended a 4-year project, code-named “Green Field,” in which explosives laced with nuclear material were tested to see how such explosions would affect the country if it were attacked by crude radioactive weapons.
    (SFC, 6/9/15, p.A4)

2015        Jan 18, Iran and major powers made "limited" progress  in narrowing differences over its nuclear program, but agreed to step up efforts as the Obama administration lobbied to stave off fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
    (Reuters, 1/18/15)

2015        Jan 22, The Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences moved its famous “Doomsday Clock” ahead two minutes placing it three minutes from a catastrophic midnight due to global warming and nuclear weaponry.
    (SFC, 1/23/15, p.A14)

2015        Jul 25, In India US President Barack Obama and Indian PM Narendra Modi unveiled a deal aimed at unlocking billions of dollars in nuclear trade, a step that both sides hope will help establish an enduring strategic partnership.
    (Reuters, 1/25/15)

2015        Jan 30, Russia's top general said a strong nuclear arsenal will ensure military superiority over the West as Moscow forges ahead with a multi-billion dollar plan to modernize its forces by 2020. Gen. Valery Gerasimov said the Russian military would receive more than 50 new intercontinental nuclear missiles this year.
    (AP, 1/30/15)

2015        Feb 3, A SF Bay Area judge dismissed a lawsuit filed on April 24, 2014, by the Marshall Islands that charged the US and other countries of violating the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
    (SFC, 2/4/15, p.A8)

2015        Feb 4, Chinese and Argentine leaders signed a batch of agreements in Beijing, including collaboration on two new nuclear power plants.
    (AP, 2/4/15)

2015        Feb 10, Egypt's Pres. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Egypt and Russia have agreed to build a nuclear power plant together. El-Sissi also said the two nations signed agreements to improve natural gas business and investment. They also agreed to create a Russian industrial zone along the Suez Canal. This came during a joint press conference in Cairo with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    (AP, 2/10/15)

2015        Feb 22, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water to the sea. The firm said it has shut the gutter to prevent radioactive water from going into the Pacific Ocean.
    (AFP, 2/22/15)

2015        Mar 9, A letter signed by 47 Republican senators warned Iran that any nuclear deal made with US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, could last only as long as he remained in office.
    (http://tinyurl.com/kkk97ph)
2015        Mar 9, French police detained five Greenpeace activists after they dangled from a bridge in Paris and unfurled banners on the Seine River that call for cuts in nuclear power.
    (AP, 3/9/15)

2015        Mar 24, Jordan signed a $10 billion deal with Russia to build the kingdom's first nuclear power plant, with two 1,000-megawatt reactors in the country's north.
    (AP, 3/24/15)

2015        Mar 31, Iran and six world powers ramped up the pace in negotiations in Switzerland over a preliminary deal on Tehran's nuclear program. Officials cautioned that any agreement would likely be fragile and incomplete.
    (Reuters, 3/31/15)

2015        Apr 2, In Switzerland negotiators reached a framework for a nuclear accord with Iran and US President Barack Obama hailed an "historic understanding", but senior global diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal.
    (Reuters, 4/3/15)

2015        Apr 3, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his Cabinet are united in "strongly opposing" an emerging framework agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program and demanded that any final deal contain Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist.
    (AP, 4/3/15)

2015        Apr 9, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded that all sanctions on Iran be lifted at the same time as any final agreement with world powers on curbing Tehran's nuclear program is concluded.
    (Reuters, 4/9/15)

2015        Apr 14, Pres. Obama bowed to pressure and agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject any nuclear agreement with Iran.
    (SFC, 4/15/15, p.A5)
2015        Apr 14, A Japanese court issued an injunction ordering two nuclear reactors in western Japan to stay offline, rejecting regulators' safety approval of the reactors' planned restart later this year.
    (AP, 4/14/15)

2015        Apr 15, Indian PM Narendra Modi, on the first full day of his visit to Canada, signed a deal to buy more than 3,000 tons of Canadian uranium over the next five years to fuel his country's power reactors.
    (AP, 4/15/15)
2015        Apr 15, Iran said it would only accept a deal over its contested nuclear program if world powers simultaneously lifted all sanctions imposed on it. A tentative deal between Iran and the six world powers was reached in Switzerland on April 2, and aimed at clearing the way for a final settlement on June 30.
    (Reuters, 4/15/15)

2015        Apr 20, Britain informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms.
    {Britain, Iran, UN, Nuclear}
    (Reuters, 4/30/15)

2015        Apr 22, A Japanese court rejected an injunction requested by local residents opposed to resuming operations of two nuclear reactors, giving the go-ahead for their restart as planned this summer.
    (AP, 4/22/15)
2015        Apr 22, South Korea said it has reached agreement with Washington on revisions to the 41-year-old treaty that governs its commercial nuclear activities.
    (AP, 4/22/15)

2015        Apr 30, The US Energy Department said it will pay New Mexico $73 million in road and other infrastructure projects for violations by an underground nuclear waste dump and nuclear research lab that led to a radiation leak last year.
    (Reuters, 4/30/15)

2015        May 9, In New York state a transformer fire at the Indian Point nuclear power plant caused oil to leak into the Hudson River and forced an automatic shutdown of the plant.
    (SFC, 5/11/15, p.A6)

2015        May 22, The United States blocked a global document aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, saying Egypt and other states tried to "cynically manipulate" the process by setting a deadline for Israel and its neighbors to meet within months on a Middle East zone free of such weapons.
    (AP, 5/23/15)

2015        May 24, Iran said it has agreed to grant UN inspectors access to military sites as part of a future deal over its contested nuclear program.
    (SFC, 5/25/15, p.A4)

2015        May 27, In southern Japan a nuclear plan obtained the final permit needed to restart its reactors, paving the way for it to become the first to go back online under new safety standards introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
    (AP, 5/27/15)

2015        Jun 3, The Czech government said it has approved a long-term plan to increase nuclear power production with one more reactor at the Temelin nuclear plant and another at the Dukovany plant, with an option to build yet another reactor at each plant.
    (AP, 6/3/15)

2015        Jun 19, Turkish authorities arrested two Georgian citizens who tried to enter the country with radioactive material, including 1.2 kilos of cesium.
    (AP, 6/19/15)

2015        Jun 21, Iran's parliament voted to ban access to military sites, documents and scientists as part of a future deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program. The bill also demanded the complete lifting of all sanctions against Iran as part of any final nuclear accord. The bill must be ratified by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog, to become a law.
    (AP, 6/21/15)

2015        Jun 23, Iran's parliament approved a controversial bill that it said would protect the country's nuclear program, but which could also hinder final negotiations on a deal with world powers. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei set out seven red lines that he said Iran would never cross.
    (AFP, 6/23/15)(Econ, 7/4/15, p.39)

2015        Jun 28, In Germany the Grafenrheinfeld reactor in the southern state of Bavaria was taken offline overnight as scheduled. It had gone into service in 1981 and was the first to close since the oldest eight of 17 nuclear reactors closed in 2011.
    (AP, 6/28/15)

2015        Jun 30, Iran and six world powers ramped up negotiations in Vienna after accepting they would miss a June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal, with both sides cautioning that major obstacles to a lasting agreement remained. Negotiators announced a new deadline of July 7.
    (Reuters, 6/30/15)(AFP, 7/1/15)

2015        Jul 7, The EU extended the suspension of sanctions on Iran until July 10 to allow ongoing talks on a long-term nuclear agreement with it to succeed.
    (AP, 7/7/15)
2015        Jul 7, Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Co. began loading fuel into a nuclear reactor where operations are scheduled to resume next month in the country's first restart under safety requirements set following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
    (AP, 7/7/15)

2015        Jul 10, The European Union extended a suspension of sanctions on Iran until July 13 to allow ongoing talks about the country's nuclear ambitions to succeed.
    (Reuters, 7/10/15)

2015        Jul 14, Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East. In the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran will slash by around two-thirds the number of centrifuges from around 19,000 to 6,104 under the deal. The agreement will now be debated in the US Congress, but Obama said he would veto any measure to block it.
    (Reuters, 7/14/15)(AFP, 7/14/15)(Econ, 7/18/15, p.21)

2015        Jul 20, The United Nations Security Council endorsed a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, but it will be able to re-impose UN penalties during the next decade if Tehran breaches the historic agreement.
    (Reuters, 7/20/15)

2015        Aug 11, In Japan control rods were lifted from the reactor core at the Sendai nuclear plant, ending a ban on nuclear power following meltdowns at Fukushima.
    (AP, 8/11/15)

2015        Aug 15, The IAEA said Iran has given the UN Int’l. Atomic Energy Agency documents linked to the agency's probe of allegations that Tehran tried to develop atomic arms.
    (AP, 8/15/15)

2015        Aug 27, The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to establish a low-enriched uranium bank in the Central Asian country, a move that supporters say could reduce concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation.
    (AP, 8/27/15)

2015        Sep 2, President Barack Obama secured a landmark foreign policy victory as US Senate Democrats amassed enough votes to ensure the Iran nuclear deal survives in Congress.
    (AP, 9/2/15)

2015        Sep 5, Japan's government lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town's 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (AP, 9/5/15)

2015        Sep 15, North Korea said its main nuclear complex was operating and it was working to improve the "quality and quantity" of its weapons which it could use against the United States at "any time".
    (Reuters, 9/15/15)

2015        Sep 21, The British government said it will underwrite 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) in Chinese financing for a new nuclear power plant in southwest England, as it encourages major Chinese investment in the UK nuclear sector.
    (AP, 9/21/15)
2015        Sep 21, The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said environmental samples have been taken at a sensitive military site in Iran, citing "significant progress" in its investigation of Tehran's past activities.
    (Reuters, 9/21/15)

2015        Oct 13, Iran's conservative-dominated parliament passed a bill approving its nuclear deal with world powers, signaling victory for the government over hardline opponents.
    (Reuters, 10/13/15)

2015        Oct 21, PM David Cameron said Britain and China have signed deals worth around 40 billion pounds ($62 billion), during a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Britain sanctioned a $9.3 billion investment by a Chinese state power company in a nuclear power plant being built at Hinkley Point by EDF, a French company.
    (Reuters, 10/21/15)(Econ, 10/24/15, p.53)
2015        Oct 21, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the country’s nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic program until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled.
    (Reuters, 10/21/15)

2015        Oct 22, The Watts Bar plant in Tennessee became the first new nuclear facility to be licensed in America in 20 years.
    (Econ, 10/31/15, p.58)

2015        Nov 2, Iran said it has begun shutting down uranium enrichment centrifuges under the terms of a deal struck with six world powers in July on limiting its nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 11/2/15)

2015        Nov 10, Iran state media reported that the dismantling of centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants has stopped, days after conservative lawmakers complained to President Hassan Rouhani that the process was too rushed.
    (Reuters, 11/10/15)

2015        Nov 12, Finland became the first country in the world to give a construction license for a permanent underground nuclear waste repository. It approved Posiva Oy's plan to construct a spent nuclear fuel encapsulation plant and disposal facility at the island of Olkiluoto. Up to 6,500 tons of uranium may be deposited in the facility.
    (Reuters, 11/12/15)

2015        Nov 18, The UN nuclear watchdog said Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium has increased in the past three months even though Tehran is supposed to reduce it significantly under a deal with major powers.
    (Reuters, 11/18/15)

2015        Nov 19, Russia signed two agreements to finance and build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, in a ceremony attended by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
    (AFP, 11/19/15)

2015        Nov 23, In Iran President Vladimir Putin met with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Following their meeting a Kremlin official said Russia and Iran jointly oppose "external attempts" to bring regime change in Syria. President Vladimir Putin eased an export ban on nuclear equipment and technology to Iran.
    (AFP, 11/23/15)(Reuters, 11/23/15)

2015        Nov 25, A new nuclear treaty with the United States governing South Korea's commercial nuclear activities during the next 20 years went into effect. The treaty, which replaces a previous accord reached in 1972, opens the possibility of South Korea gaining the ability to enrich uranium to produce non-weapons-grade nuclear fuel depending on future negotiations with the United States.
    (AP, 11/25/15)

2015        Dec 5, A ship carrying 25 tons of radioactive waste arrived back in Australia, met by activists who warned against the vast nation becoming a nuclear dumping ground. Australia sent spent nuclear fuel to France for reprocessing in the 1990s and early 2000s over four shipments, and it has now been returned for long-term storage.
    (AFP, 12/5/15)

2015        Dec 10, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to claim his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were skeptical.
    (Reuters, 12/10/15)

2015        Dec 15, The UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation board decided to close its investigation into whether Iran once had a nuclear weapons program.
    (Reuters, 12/15/15)

2015        Dec 16, A team of sanctions monitors said Iran violated a UN Security Council resolution on October 10 by test-firing a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
    (Reuters, 12/16/15)

2015        Dec 25, Bangladesh's state-run Atomic Energy Commission signed a deal with Russia to set up two nuclear power plants, each with 1,200 megawatt capacity.
    (Reuters, 12/25/15)\

2015        Susan Southard authored “Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War.”
    (Econ, 8/1/15, p.74)

2016        Jan 6, North Korea said it has tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear bomb, prompting skepticism among experts and officials who doubt Pyongyang has achieved such a major advance in its strike capability. The explosion was roughly as big as the atom bomb it detonated in 2013.
    (Reuters, 1/6/16)(Econ, 1/9/16, p.8)

2016        Jan 12, Iran said it will sell part of its stock of heavy water to the United States under its nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AFP, 1/12/16)

2016        Jan 14, Iran reported that the sensitive core of its Arak nuclear reactor has been removed and UN inspectors planned visit the site today to verify the move crucial to the implementation of Tehran's atomic agreement with major powers.
    (Reuters, 1/14/16)

2016        Feb 27, Thousands marched through London to oppose the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system in what demonstrators describe as the biggest such rally in a generation.
    (AP, 2/27/16)
2016        Feb 27, In central Mexico a container of radioactive material used for industrial X-rays was stolen along with a car in the municipality of San Juan del Rio. Authorities on March 8 said the stolen iridium-192 was found still sealed inside its container on a highway in Mexico State.
    (Reuters, 2/29/16)(AP, 3/8/16)

2016        Mar 4, North Korea’s state media reported that leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to be ready to launch nuclear strikes at any time.
    (SFC, 3/5/16, p.A3)

2016        Mar 9, A Japanese court issued an unprecedented order for a nuclear reactor near Kyoto to stop operating and ordered a second one to stay offline.
    (AP, 3/9/16)
2016        Mar 9, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles and ordered improvements in the power and precision of its arsenal.
    (Reuters, 3/9/16)

2016        Mar 11, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un watched a ballistic missile launch test and ordered the country to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more tests.
    (Reuters, 3/11/16)

2016        Mar 30, Japanese regulators approved the use of a giant refrigeration system to create an unprecedented underground frozen barrier around buildings at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in an attempt to contain leaking radioactive water. The system was switched on the next day.
    (AP, 3/30/16)(AP, 3/31/16)

2016        Mar 31, President Barack Obama hosted a nuclear security summit of world leaders in Washington.
    (AP, 3/31/16)

2016        Apr 19, Germany asked Belgium to take two nuclear reactors temporarily off the grid while questions about their safety are cleared up, an unusual diplomatic move that underscores German concerns about the plants.
    (Reuters, 4/20/16)

2016        Apr 28, The former Soviet Republic of Georgia said it has arrested five people have been arrested for trying to sell more than a kilogram of uranium. Georgia announced on April 18 that six people were arrested for trying to sell uranium.
    (AP, 4/28/16)

2016        May 8, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a milestone congress of North Korea's ruling party, which entered its third day.
    (AP, 5/8/16)

2016        May 19, Egypt’s official gazette said Russia will loan Egypt $25 billion to finance building and operating a nuclear power plant in Egypt.
    (Reuters, 5/19/16)

2016        May 26, In France 11 of 58 nuclear power plants were hit with unplanned outages after unionized workers at utility EDF joined a rolling nationwide strike against planned government reforms.
    (Reuters, 5/26/16)

2016        Jun 7, A senior US State Department official said North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel, showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions. The assessment came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog said it had “indications” that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover plutonium from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex.
    (Reuters, 6/8/16)

2016        Jun 21, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced it will close California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo, in 2025.
    (SFC, 6/22/16, p.A1)
2016        Jun 21, In Japan Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Naomi Hirose acknowledged that TEPCO’s delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactors was tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.
    (AP, 6/21/16)

2016        Jul 15, State media said China aims to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platforms to promote development in the South China Sea, days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters.
    (Reuters, 7/15/16)

2016        Jul 19, The US government announced a settlement with the Navajo Nation that will clear the way for cleanup work to continue at abandoned uranium mines in the four corners area.
    (SFC, 7/20/16, p.A6)

2016        Jul 20, A British nuclear submarine collided with an unspecified merchant vessel off the coast of Gibraltar, forcing it to dock in the disputed territory.
    (AFP, 7/21/16)

2016        Aug 7, Iran said it has executed Shahram Amiri (39), a nuclear scientist convicted of handing over "confidential and vital" information to the United States. Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and resurfaced a year later in the United States. He returned to Tehran in July 2010, saying he had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Farsi-speaking CIA agents in the Saudi city of Medina.
    (AFP, 8/7/16)

2016        Aug 8, In eastern China residents of in Lianyungang protested for a third day against possible plans to build a nuclear fuel reprocessing center, as police banned public gatherings in hopes of preventing more demonstrations.
    (AP, 8/9/16)

2016        Aug 9, Britain defended its decision to review a planned $24 billion nuclear power project at Hinkley Point after criticism from China which planned to help fund the deal.
    (Reuters, 8/9/16)(Econ, 8/6/16, p.9)

2016        Sep 1, Iran said operations to build two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr with assistance from Russia will start on 10 September and it will take 10 years for the power plants to be completed.
    (AFP, 9/1/16)

2016        Sep 9, North Korea conducted its 5th nuclear test with an explosive yield roughly twice the previous one. North Korea said it conducted a "higher level" nuclear test explosion that will allow it to finally build an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It was the North's fifth atomic test and the second in eight months.
    (AP, 9/9/16)(Econ, 9/17/16, p.38)

2016        Sep 10, Iran began building a second nuclear plant with Russian help, in a $10 billion project which follows Tehran's landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year.
    (Reuters, 9/10/16)

2016        Sep 15, The British government approved the construction of the country's first new nuclear power plant in more than two decades. The French and Chinese-backed Hinkley Point plant had prompted high-level fears about national security.
    (AP, 9/15/16)

2016        Oct 3, Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin withdrew his country from a plutonium disposal treaty that was signed with the US in 2000.
    (SFC, 10/4/16, p.A2)

2016        Nov 9, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran has exceeded a soft limit on sensitive material set under its nuclear deal with major powers. A diplomat said Iran plans to ship sensitive material out of the country within days to bring it back under a soft limit set under its nuclear deal with major powers.
    (Reuters, 11/9/16)

2016        Nov 22, Vietnam's National Assembly voted to abandon plans to build two multi-billion-dollar nuclear power plants with Russia and Japan, after officials cited lower demand forecasts, rising costs and safety concerns.
    (Reuters, 11/22/16)

2016        Nov 27, Swiss voters rejected a call to speed up the phase-out of the country’s ageing nuclear reactors. A full 54.2 percent of voters and an overwhelming majority of 26 cantons voted against an initiative which would have forced three of the country's five nuclear reactors to close next year.
    (AFP, 11/27/16)

2016        Dec 8, A senior US military official said North Korea now has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon, adding that while the US believes Pyongyang can mount a warhead on a missile, it's not clear that it can hit a target.
    (AP, 12/9/16)

2016        Dec 13, Iran ordered its scientists to start developing systems for nuclear-powered marine vessels in response to what it calls a US violation of its landmark 2015 atomic deal with world powers. This marked Tehran's first concrete reaction to a decision by the US Congress last month to extend some sanctions on Tehran that would also make it easier to reimpose others lifted under the nuclear pact.
    (Reuters, 12/13/16)

2016        Dec 23, The US Energy Dept. authorized its contractor to resume the disposal of radioactive waste at an underground repository outside Carlsbad, NM. A radioactive release had force the facility to close nearly three years ago.
    (SFC, 12/24/16, p.A5)
2016        Dec 23, Iran and six world powers released previously restricted documents about their nuclear deal to enforce their view that Tehran is not circumventing limits on its limit of enriched uranium, which could be used to make nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 12/23/16)

2016        Dec 28, Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a 340 MW nuclear power plant built with Chinese aid, the third of four such projects aimed at addressing longtime energy shortages.
    (AP, 12/28/16)

2016        About a dozen nuclear-missile-carrying submarines patrolled the ocean at any given time.
    (Econ, 7/16/16, World IF p.17)

2017        Jan 6, In Bulgaria snowstorms paralyzed traffic and cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of people. In Romania atomic energy producer Nuclearelectrica was forced to shut down its No. 1 reactor.
    (Reuters, 1/6/17)

2017        Jan 10, EU anti-trust regulators cleared the French government's massive restructuring of troubled state-owned nuclear reactor builder Areva.
    (AFP, 1/10/17)

2017        Jan 11, The US and five other world powers approved Iran importing as much as 130 tons of uranium.
    (AP, 1/13/17)

2017        Jan 24, The board of state-run Electricite de France voted to start the process of closing the two reactors at the 39-year-old Fessenheim plant, near the German border.
    (AP, 1/24/17)

2017        Jan 26, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warned that comments by US President Donald Trump on nuclear weapons and climate change have helped make the world less safe, moving its symbolic "Doomsday Clock" 30 seconds closer to midnight.
    (AFP, 1/26/17)
2017        Jan 26, China released a new list of items banned for export to North Korea, ranging from wind tunnels to plutonium, following a new round of United Nations sanctions and complaints from US President Donald Trump that Beijing was not doing enough to pressure its communist neighbor.
    (AP, 1/26/17)

2017        Feb 23, President Donald Trump said he wants to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity.
    (Reuters, 2/24/17)

2017        Feb 25, Iran announced plans to buy 950 tons of uranium ore from Kazakhstan over three years and said it expects to get Russian help in producing nuclear fuel.
    (Reuters, 2/25/17)

2017        Mar 6, The European Union said it has cleared Hungary to build two nuclear reactors with Russian help after Budapest made commitments to safeguard competition in the energy sector.
    (AP, 3/6/17)

2017        Mar 8, China's foreign minister said that North Korea could suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for a halt in joint US-South Korea military drills, in an unusually public proposal that analysts said showed Beijing's growing alarm over the tensions.
    (AP, 3/8/17)
2017        Mar 8, The UN nuclear agency's 35-nation Board of Governors backed the agency's chief, Yukiya Amano (69), for a third term as director general after he ran unopposed on a platform of continuity in dealing with issues like Iran's nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 3/8/17)

2017        Mar 17, In South Korea US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said US policy of strategic patience with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs has ended, warning that military action would be "on the table" if Pyongyang elevated the threat level.
    (Reuters, 3/17/17)

2017        Mar 27, The United States, Britain and France were among almost 40 countries that did not join talks on a nuclear weapons ban treaty starting at the UN.
    (Reuters, 3/27/17)

2017        Mar 29, Westinghouse Electric Co. the US nuclear unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in NYC.
    (SFC, 3/30/17, p.C6)

2017        Apr 6, Hungary said it will cooperate with Iran on setting up a small nuclear reactor for scientific-educational purposes.
    (Reuters, 4/6/17)

2017        Apr 9, The French government published a decree for closing the country's oldest nuclear plant at Fessenheim, fulfilling a campaign-trail pledge made by President Francois Hollande who is now in the final weeks of office.
    (AFP, 4/9/17)

2017        Apr 23, China's foreign minister called for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula amid rising tension over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.
    (AFP, 4/23/17)

2017        Apr 26, The Trump administration told lawmakers it will apply economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
    (AP, 4/27/17)

2017        May 9, In Washington state an underground tunnel containing radioactive waste collapsed at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Officials detected no release of radiation and no workers were injured.
    (SFC, 5/11/17, p.A5)

2017        May 12, North Korea sent a rare letter of protest to the US House of Representatives warning that a new package of tougher sanctions would only spur its development of nuclear weapons.
    (Reuters, 5/12/17)

2017        May 13, South Africa said it plans to sign new, more transparent nuclear power agreements with five foreign countries after a high court blocked a deal with Russia due to a lack of oversight.
    (Reuters, 5/13/17)

2017        May 19, Stanislav Petrov (b.1939), a former Soviet military officer known in the West as "the man who saved the world" for his role in averting a nuclear war over a false missile warning at the height of the Cold War, died in Fyazino, a scientific town in Moscow Oblast. His story stayed secret until 1998.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov)(Econ, 9/30/17, p.82)

2017        May 21, Swiss voters backed the government's plan to provide billions of dollars in subsidies for renewable energy, ban new nuclear plants and help bail out struggling utilities in a binding referendum.
    (Reuters, 5/21/17)

2017        May 29, The European Union has approved the takeover of the reactor business of Areva by nuclear giant EDF in an all-French transaction, arguing it will not affect healthy competition in the sector.
    (AP, 5/29/17)

2017        Jun 6, Five workers at a Japanese nuclear facility that handles plutonium were exposed to high levels of radiation after a bag containing highly radioactive material apparently broke during an equipment inspection.
    (AP, 6/7/17)

2017        Jun 7, Germany's highest court said an extra tax on nuclear fuel is unconstitutional, paving the way for power companies to claim back more than 6 billion euros ($6.75 billion) paid between 2011 through 2016.
    (AP, 6/7/17)

2017        Jun 15, Lithuania called a nuclear power plant under construction in Belarus a threat to the Baltic republic. Lawmakers voted to declare that the plant in Atsravets, some 50 km (30 miles) south of Vilnius, poses a threat to the environment, living standards and public health.
    (AP, 6/15/17)

2017        Jun 24, Chinese state media said China and the United States agreed that efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula should be "complete, verifiable and irreversible", reporting the results of high level talks in Washington this week.
    (Reuters, 6/24/17)

2017        Jun 25, In Belgium thousands of protesters demanded that Belgium immediately shut down two nuclear reactors because of safety concerns. People from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands formed a human chain across the border triangle of the three countries over the safety of the pressure vessels at the Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors in Belgium.
    (AP, 6/25/17)

2017        Jul 7, At the UN 122 nations approved a treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons. The meeting was boycotted by all NATO members, except the Netherlands and all nine nuclear-armed nations. The Netherlands was opposed and Singapore abstained.
    (SFC, 7/8/17, p.A4)

2017        Aug 1, The Spanish government said it's closing the Santa Maria de Garona power plant, the country's oldest nuclear power station, because of lack of support among political parties and companies involved to keep it open.
    (AP, 8/1/17)

2017        Aug 23, A US Energy Department report called for incentives to boost coal-fired and nuclear power plants following a slew of closures that it said undermined reliable sources of electricity.
    (Reuters, 8/24/17)

2017        Aug 25, The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said in an annual report that North Korea has increased its efforts to produce parts for a new nuclear reactor it is building while continuing to operate the main existing one that provides fuel for its atom bombs.
    (Reuters, 8/25/17)

2017        Aug 29, Kazakhstan inaugurated a new internationally-controlled uranium fuel bank seen as potentially important in curbing nuclear proliferation and reducing regional security tensions.
    (AFP, 8/29/17)

2017        Aug 30, The United States called for "concerted action" by the international community to pressure North Korea into abandoning its banned nuclear and missile programs by fully enforcing economic sanctions.
    (Reuters, 8/30/17)

2017        Sep 1, China's parliament passed a new nuclear safety law aimed at improving regulation in the nuclear power sector as new projects are built across the country.
    (Reuters, 9/1/17)

2017        Sep 3, China’s state news agency Xinhua said President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to "appropriately deal with" the latest nuclear test by North Korea. Putin was in China for the summit of business representatives of the BRICS nations.
    (Reuters, 9/3/17)
2017        Sep 3, North Korea released photos of leader Kim Jong Un next to what it described as a H-bomb for an ICBM, then actually detonating a device underground in its sixth and by far most powerful nuclear test to date. Chinese seismologists later concluded that North Korea's underground nuclear test site partially collapsed following the massive bomb blast, making it unusable. The blast triggered a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that was felt across the northern border with China.
    (AP, 9/3/17)(Econ, 9/9/17, p.36)(AP, 4/25/18)

2017        Sep 12, North Korea condemned "vicious" new UN sanctions imposed over its sixth and largest nuclear test, warning it would make the US "suffer the greatest pain" it has ever experienced.
    (AP, 9/12/17)

2017        May 19, Stanislav Petrov (b.1939), a former Soviet military officer known in the West as "the man who saved the world" for his role in averting a nuclear war over a false missile warning at the height of the Cold War, died in Fyazino, a scientific town in Moscow Oblast.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov)(AP, 9/19/17)

2017        Sep 20, At the UN 51 countries lined up to sign a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel -- took part in the negotiations. The treaty was adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations in July. The treaty will enter into force when 50 countries have signed and ratified it.
    (AFP, 9/20/17)

2017        Sep 22, North Korea said it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean after President Donald Trump vowed to destroy the reclusive country, with leader Kim Jong Un promising to make Trump pay dearly for his threats.
    (Reuters, 9/22/17)

2017        Sep 26, Japan's government approved a revision of its 30-to-40-year plan to decommission the Fukushima nuclear plant, delaying by three more years the removal of radioactive fuel rods stored at two of the three reactors damaged in the 2011 disaster.
    (AP, 9/26/17)

2017        Oct 6, The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a group of mostly young activists pushing for a global treaty to ban the cataclysmic bombs.
    (AP, 10/6/17)

2017        Oct 9, The UN atomic agency chief affirmed Iran's commitment to a 2015 nuclear deal, in a statement that came as US President Donald Trump said Tehran was not living up to the "spirit" of the agreement.
    (AFP, 10/9/17)

2017        Oct 12, In France eight Greenpeace activists broke into a nuclear power station and set off fireworks to urge better protection for nuclear waste and protest France's dependence on atomic energy.
    (AP, 10/12/17)

2017        Oct 13, US Pres. Donald Trump kicked the fate of the landmark Iran nuclear deal to the US Congress and said he might ultimately terminate the 2015 agreement that lifted sanctions in return for Tehran rolling back technologies with nuclear bomb-making potential.
    (AFP, 10/14/17)(AP, 10/14/17)
2017        Oct 13, Austria said it would launch a lawsuit against the European Union's approval of the Russian-financed expansion of a nuclear plant in Hungary. The approval, granted in March, removed the last major obstacle to the 12.5 billion euro ($13.2 billion) expansion of the Paks plant, Hungary's only nuclear facility.
    (AFP, 10/13/17)

2017        Oct 16, The EU reaffirmed its support for a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers despite sharp criticism of the accord by President Donald Trump, and it urged US lawmakers not to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
    (Reuters, 10/16/17)

2017        Oct 17, US and Japanese diplomats agreed to maximize pressure on North Korea to resolve tensions over its nuclear program.
    (AP, 10/17/17)

2017        Oct 20, Uganda said it has expelled North Korean military experts and representatives of North Korean companies, including its top arms dealer, as African nations face growing pressure to comply with UN sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
    (AP, 10/20/17)

2017        Oct 26, The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said an 85-year-old survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima will jointly accept the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize together with ICAN.
    (Reuters, 10/26/17)

2017        Oct 30, President Donald Trump and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe agreed by phone to work together on steps to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile development, ahead of the US leader's visit to Asia.
    (Reuters, 10/30/17)
2017        Oct 30, Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium domestically as part of its nuclear power program and sees this as a step towards "self-sufficiency" in producing atomic fuel.
    (Reuters, 10/30/17)

2017        Oct 31, Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi said a tunnel at North Korea's nuclear test site collapsed after Pyongyang's sixth atomic test on September 3, possibly killing more than 200 people.
    (Reuters, 10/31/17)

2017        Nov 9, A report by France's nuclear safety agency said an apparent accident at a Russian facility is suspected of causing a recent spike in radioactivity in the air over much of Europe. It said the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries. The Ruthenium appeared to come from an accident in late September involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material.
    (AP, 11/10/17)

2017        Nov 10, At the Vatican Pope Francis spoke at the start of a disarmament conference that brought together 11 Nobel Peace Prize winners. He said countries should not stockpile nuclear weapons even for the purpose of deterrence.
    (Reuters, 11/10/17)

2017        Nov 17, Swedish utility Vattenfall said it will invest 900 million kronor ($107 million) to update two reactors at Sweden's largest nuclear plant, saying the Ringhals facility will continue to supply electricity into the 2040s.
    (AP, 11/17/17)

2017        Nov 21, The Russian Meteorological Service said in a statement that it recorded the release of Ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as "extremely high contamination." Rosatom's Mayak plant nuclear fuel processing plant, denied it was the source of contamination.
    (AP, 11/21/17)

2017        Dec 3, Yemeni Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, said they fired a missile at an under-construction nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates' state-run news agency denied the claim.
    (AP, 12/3/17)

2017        Dec 8, Russian authorities denied that a radioactivity spike in the air over Europe this fall resulted from a nuclear fuel processing plant leak in the Ural mountains, saying their probe has found no release of radioactivity there.
    (AP, 12/7/17)

2017        Dec 9, Meeting in Oslo, Norway, representatives of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), called on the US and North Korea to reduce tensions and end the "urgent threat" posed by weapons of mass destruction.
    (AP, 12/9/17)
2017        Dec 9, Russia said it was fully committed to a Cold War-era pact with the United States banning intermediate-range cruise missiles, a day after Washington accused Moscow of violating the treaty.
    (Reuters, 12/9/17)

2017        Dec 11, Egypt and Russia signed a final contract for the building of Egypt's first nuclear power plant, during a visit to Cairo by President Vladimir Putin.
    (AFP, 12/11/17)

2017        Dec 13, A Japanese court ruled that the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime prefecture should not operate because it is too close to the active Mount Aso volcano and could be affected by a major eruption.
    (AP, 12/13/17)
2017        Dec 13, A senior executive at the Russian nuclear processing plant suspected of being behind a spike of radioactivity over Europe this fall admitted that the Ruthenium-106 isotope recorded does emerge as part of the plant's production cycle but said its levels are negligible.
    (AP, 12/13/17)

2017        Dec 21, Georgia state’s utility regulators allowed construction to continue on two new nuclear reactors despite massive cost overruns. They were approved in 2012 and initially estimated to cost $14 billion.
    (SFC, 12/22/17, p.A4)
2017        Dec 21, Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency signed an agreement in Khartoum to build a nuclear power plant in Sudan, a month after a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir.
    (AFP, 12/22/17)

2017        Dec 22, Japan-based Toshiba Corp.'s energy systems unit unveiled a long telescopic pipe carrying a pan-tilt camera designed to gather crucial information about the situation inside the reactor chambers at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (AP, 12/22/17)
2017        Dec 22, The UN Security Council voted on a US-drafted resolution ramping up sanctions on North Korea by restricting oil supplies vital for Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.
    (AFP, 12/22/17)

2017        A UN Security Council resolution demanded that all countries send home all North Korean workers by Dec. 22, 2019, to stop them earning foreign currency for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
    (Reuters, 1/23/20)

2018        Jan 3, A agreement was proposed to tie up loose ends from two failed nuclear reactors in South Carolina. The deal could mean $1.3 billion in refunds for utility customers affected by the failed project. South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. had abandoned construction reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. Thousands were left jobless in the wake of the $9 billion failure.
    (AP, 1/4/18)

2018        Jan 4, Brookfield Business Partners LP acquired Westinghouse Electric, the US nuclear unit of embattled Japanese electronics giant Toshiba, in a deal valued at about out $4.6 billion.
    (AP, 1/4/18)

2018        Jan 11, California state utility regulators said the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant will close in 2025.
    (SFC, 1/12/18, p.A1)

2018        Jan 23, France's state-controlled and influential but troubled nuclear company Areva unveiled its new name, Orano, and logo. Areva was created in 2001 to group together France's nuclear industry manufacturers under one company.
    (AP, 1/23/18)
2018        Jan 23, Sweden's radiation safety authority (SSM) and an environmental court issued diverging recommendations to the government on whether to allow the construction of a nuclear waste repository.
    (Reuters, 1/23/18)

2018        Jan 25, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said mounting concerns about the possibility of a nuclear war along with US President Donald Trump's "unpredictability" have pushed the symbolic "Doomsday Clock" to two minutes before midnight.
    (AFP, 1/25/18)

2018        Feb 2, President Donald Trump sought to increase pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear program by consulting with allies and highlighting the human rights abuses suffered by defectors from North Korea.
    (AP, 2/3/18)
2018        Feb 2, The Trump administration announced it will continue much of the Obama administration's nuclear weapons policy, but take a more aggressive stance toward Russia.
    (AP, 2/3/18)

2018        Feb 3, The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency said North Korea has used its embassy in Berlin to acquire equipment apparently intended for its missile or nuclear programs.
    (AP, 2/3/18)

2018        Feb 4, China criticized a US government report that cast Beijing as a potential nuclear adversary and called on Washington to reduce its own much larger arsenal and join in promoting regional stability.
    (AP, 2/4/18)
2018        Feb 4, Iran’s prosecutor-general said a court has sentenced a suspect to six years in prison for relaying information on the country's nuclear program to a US intelligence agent and a European country.
    (AP, 2/4/18)

2018        Feb 9, The Russian Federal Nuclear Center confirmed the arrest of two employees of its top nuclear research institute in Sarov for using the facility's supercomputer for crypto-currency mining.
    (AP, 2/10/18)

2018        Feb 22, Staunchly anti-nuclear Austria lodged a legal complaint with the European Court of Justice against the EU's March approval of the expansion of a nuclear plant in neighboring Hungary.
    (AFP, 2/22/18)

2018        Feb 23, The Trump administration imposed sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses in its latest bid to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program. Ivanka Trump told South Korea's president that she will use her visit to the Winter Olympics to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.
    (AP, 2/23/18)

2018        Mar 1, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declared that an array of new strategic nuclear weapons has been tested that can't be intercepted, claiming a technological breakthrough that could dramatically increase Russia's military capability, boost the Kremlin's global position and also raise Western concerns about a potential renewed arms race in the 21st century.
    (AP, 3/1/18)

2018        Mar 10, Indian PM Narendra Modi met with French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi. They pledged to work together to ensure freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean and signed an agreement to expedite construction of a major nuclear power plant in India by a French company. Modi highlighted a solar alliance and cooperation between the two countries in defense, security, technology, space and counterterrorism.
    (AP, 3/10/18)

2018        Mar 11, Trump administration officials said there will be no more conditions imposed on North Korea before a first-ever meeting of the two nation's leaders beyond the North's promise not to resume nuclear testing and missile flights or publicly criticize US-South Korean military exercises.
    (AP, 3/11/18)

2018        Mar 12, Japan and South Korea agreed that maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea until it takes concrete action toward addressing concerns about its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
    (Reuters, 3/12/18)

2018        Mar 13, Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists and France-based multinational Orano USA announced they are forming a joint venture to license an interim storage site in West Texas for high-level nuclear waste.
    (AP, 3/16/18)

2018        Mar 18, Australia's prime minister and Southeast Asian leaders meeting in Sydney called on North Korea to end its nuclear program and urged UN countries to fully implement sanctions against the country.
    (AP, 3/18/18)

2018        Mar 21, Israel for the first time admitted that it bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor on Sept. 6, 2007, and said the strike should be a warning to Iran that it would not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
    (Reuters, 3/21/18)

2018        Mar 26, The United Arab Emirates said that one of four nuclear reactors at its debut plant has been completed as it moves closer to becoming the first Arab nation to produce atomic power. Visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed toured the $20-billion Barakah plant constructed by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
    (AFP, 3/26/18)

2018        Apr 3, In Turkey Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remotely gave the go-ahead for the construction of the $20 billion Russian-built Akkuyu nuclear plant on the Mediterranean coast at Akkuyu.
    (AP, 4/3/18)

2018        Apr 5, Cyprus said it will lodge protests over the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant a few dozen kilometers from the island nation. One worry raised is that the Akkuyu area, where the plant is to be built, is earthquake-prone.
    (AP, 4/5/18)

2018        Apr 20, Belgium said it will double the area of its North Sea waters made available to offshore wind parks after 2020, as part of its exit strategy from nuclear power.
    (Reuters, 4/20/18)

2018        Apr 21, North Korea said it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests and plans to close its nuclear test site.
    (AP, 4/21/18)

2018        Apr 25, It was reported that Chinese seismologists have concluded that North Korea's underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable. The blast last September 3 triggered a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that was felt across the northern border with China. The North claimed it tested a hydrogen bomb.
    (AP, 4/25/18)

2018        Apr 28, A floating nuclear power plant built in Russia embarked on its first sea voyage so its reactors can be loaded with fuel. The Lomonosov is to be put into service in 2019 in the Arctic off the coast of Chukotka in the far east, providing power for a port town and for oil rigs.
    (AP, 4/28/18)

2018        Apr 30, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled what he said was evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program.
    (Reuters, 5/1/18)

2018        May 3, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a visiting Chinese diplomat that he is committed to denuclearization.
    (Reuters, 5/3/18)

2018        May 6, North Korea said its intention to denuclearize, unveiled at a historic inter-Korean summit, was not the result of US-led sanctions and pressure, warning the United States not to mislead public opinion.
    (Reuters, 5/6/18)

2018        May 8, The EU restated its support for the Iran nuclear deal in last-minute talks with Tehran, just hours before US President Donald Trump announces whether he is pulling out of the accord.
    (AFP, 5/8/18)

2018        May 8, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. Trump says the US will re-impose sanctions on Iran, meaning European companies must stop doing business with the country or run afoul of the US government.
    (AP, 5/9/18)

2018        May 9, Britain's foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the country "has no intention of walking away" from the Iran nuclear agreement despite the United States' decision to pull out.
    (AP, 5/9/18)
2018        May 9, China expressed regret over President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal and said it remains committed to the landmark pact.
    (AP, 5/9/18)
2018        May 9, Germany's foreign minister vowed to work to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and prevent an "uncontrolled escalation" of tensions in the Middle East. The Federation of German Industries, or BDI, said it rejects "the extraterritorial application of sanctions" and called upon the EU to find a solution to protect European companies from the "unlawful and unilateral" application of US sanctions.
    (AP, 5/9/18)

2018        May 10, The Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia will maintain close coordination on nuclear issues with Iran despite the US quitting the international agreement.
    (Reuters, 5/10/18)

2018        May 11, It was reported that North Korea has informed a United Nations aviation agency that it will not conduct unannounced missile tests or further intercontinental ballistic missile launches because its nuclear arms program is now complete and it no longer needs to do such testing.
    (AP, 5/11/18)

2018        May 12, North Korea said that it will dismantle its nuclear test site on May 23-25, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month.
    (AP, 5/12/18)

2018        May 13, The United States threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran, as the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear accord stiffened their resolve to keep that agreement operational.
    (Reuters, 5/14/18)
2018        May 13, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that, if its interests were protected, Tehran would remain committed to its 2015 nuclear deal, which his foreign minister hoped could be redesigned without Washington.
    (Reuters, 5/13/18)

2018        May 21, The United States issued a steep list of demands to be included in a nuclear treaty with Iran to replace the deal scuttled by President Donald Trump and threatened "the strongest sanctions in history" if Iran doesn't change course.
    (AP, 5/21/18)

2018        May 24, US Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette launched an initiative with several other governments to promote nuclear power and encourage investment in new nuclear technologies. The partners included Japan, Canada, Russia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Argentina and Romania.
    (Reuters, 5/24/18)
2018        May 24, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions as a group of foreign journalists looked on.
    (AP, 5/24/18)

2018        May 25, In Austria signatories of the Iran nuclear deal met in Vienna in a bid to save the agreement, as Iran warned the deal had been put "in intensive care" by Washington's dramatic withdrawal earlier this month.
    (AFP, 5/25/18)

2018        Jun 1, The European Union and China said they will do their utmost to keep afloat an international agreement to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons despite the US abandoning the pact.
    (AP, 6/1/18)

2018        Jun 5, Iran's nuclear chief said his country has begun preparations to boost its uranium enrichment capacity, adding to pressure on European powers trying to save a nuclear accord with Tehran in peril after a US withdrawal.
    (Reuters, 6/5/18)

2018        Jun 12, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, meeting on Sentosa Island in Singapore, committed to "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula during the first meeting in history between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. Trump announced a halt to US military exercises with treaty ally South Korea.
    (AP, 6/12/18)

2018        Jun 14, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said tough sanctions will remain on North Korea until its complete denuclearization.
    (Reuters, 6/14/18)

2018        Jun 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to support "efforts to establish complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula" following the US-North Korea summit last week.
    (Reuters, 6/22/18)

2018        Jun 26, GE and French utility EDF said they have agreed to team to build six reactors for a nuclear power project in western India, which is due to be the world's biggest when finished.
    (Reuters, 6/26/18)

2018        Jun 28, Iran said it has restarted production at a "major" uranium facility involved in its nuclear program, though it still pledges to follow the terms of the country's landmark atomic deal now under threat after Pres. Donald Trump pulled America out of the accord.
    (AP, 6/28/18)

2018        Jul 2, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Switzerland for talks expected to focus on salvaging progress from the Iran nuclear deal after the Trump administration's walkout.
    (AP, 7/2/18)

2018        Jul 3, The European Commission called on Belarus to develop an action plan "to ensure timely implementation of all safety improvement measures in accordance with their safety significance" for the nearly completed Astravets nuclear power plant.
    (Reuters, 7/4/18)
2018        Jul 3, In France Greenpeace crashed a Superman-shaped drone into a wall of the spent-fuel pool building at EDF's Bugey nuclear plant to demonstrate its vulnerability to outside attacks.
    (Reuters, 7/3/18)
2018        Jul 3, Swiss President Alain Berset urged all sides not to endanger the nuclear agreement between global powers and Iran, after meeting his Tehran counterpart, Hassan Rouhani.
    (Reuters, 7/3/18)

2018        Jul 4, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's and discussed issues including salvaging the Iran nuclear deal after the US decision to withdraw and reinstate sanctions on Tehran. Rouhani first met with Pres. Alexander Van der Bellen and then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz later in the day.
    (AP, 7/4/18)(AFP, 7/4/18)

2018        Jul 10, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Bulgaria has opened a new plasma melting plant that will treat and dispose of radioactive waste at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
    (Reuters, 7/10/18)

2018        Jul 17, Japan and the US extended their 30-year nuclear pact as Tokyo pledged to work to reduce its plutonium stockpile to address Washington's concern.
    (AP, 7/17/18)

2018        Jul 18, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's atomic agency, said Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.
    (Reuters, 7/18/18)

2018        Jul 31, Japan pledged to reduce its controversial stocks of plutonium, the world's biggest inventory of the highly toxic material held by a state without nuclear weapons, following pressure from the United States, China and other countries.
    (Reuters, 7/31/18)

2018        Aug 3, UN experts said in a new report that North Korea has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs and is violating UN sanctions including by "a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products".
    (AP, 8/4/18)

2018        Aug 4, In France a spokesman said EDF has halted four nuclear reactors at three power plants because of the current heatwave affecting Europe.
    (Reuters, 8/4/18)
2018        Aug 4, Top Asian diplomats pressed North Korea to turn a pledge to completely dismantle its nuclear arsenal into reality amid concerns that it's proceeding with its programs.
    (AP, 8/4/18)

2018        Aug 12, The United States urged Britain to ditch its support for a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and instead join forces with Washington to counter the global threat it says Tehran poses.
    (Reuters, 8/12/18)

2018        Aug 20, The UN nuclear watchdog said it did not find any indication that North Korea had stopped its nuclear activities, adding to doubts about the country's willingness to abandon its arsenal.
    (Reuters, 8/21/18)

2018        Aug 25, Iran said it has resumed talks with Russia to build a new nuclear power plant capable of generating up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity.
    (Reuters, 8/25/18)

2018        Aug 30, The UN atomic watchdog (IAEA) said Iran continues to comply with the nuclear deal reached in 2015 with major powers  even after the withdrawal of the US.
    (SFC, 8/31/18, p.A2)

2018        Aug 31, Iran's foreign ministry dismissed a French call for more negotiations with Tehran over the international nuclear accord and said some of France's partners are "bullying and excessive," a seeming reference to the United States.
    (Reuters, 8/31/18)

2018        Sep 6, Seoul officials said North Korea's Kim Jong Un has given his first time line for denuclearization, aiming for the end of US President Donald Trump's first term, prompting thanks from Trump who said they would "get it done together".
    (Reuters, 9/6/18)

2018        Sep 18, President Vladimir Putin, standing next to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, said that the Russian state atomic energy firm Rosatom would start the construction of two new reactors at the Paks power nuclear plant in Hungary soon. Orban told reporters that they had agreed on gas supplies for 2020.
    (Reuters, 9/18/18)

2018        Sep 27, A new US federal plan was announced to clean up illegally dumped nuclear waste in Missouri buried near St. Louis' long-smoldering West Lake Landfill.
    (SFC, 9/28/18, p.A4)
2018        Sep 27, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu described to the UN General Assembly what he said was a secret atomic warehouse in Tehran and accused Europe of appeasing Iran as he sought to rally support for US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
    (Reuters, 9/28/18)

2018        Oct 1, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told parliament the estimates on the size of North Korea's nuclear arsenal range from 20 bombs to as many as 60.
    (AP, 10/2/18)

2018        Oct 19, European and Asian leaders gave their backing to the Iran nuclear deal, saying the pact is good for global security and that it's important to respect international agreements.
    (AP, 10/19/18)
2018        Oct 19, In Uzbekistan Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered the start of preliminary work at the ex-Soviet republic's first nuclear power plant. The $11 billion plant will have two 1,200-megawatt nuclear reactors and was set to begin operating in 2028.
    (AP, 10/19/18)

2018        Oct 20, President Donald Trump said Washington would withdraw from a landmark 1987 Cold War-era treaty that eliminated nuclear missiles from Europe because Russia was violating the pact, triggering a warning of retaliatory measures from Moscow.
    (Reuters, 10/21/18)

2018        Oct 21, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that a unilateral withdrawal by the United States from a landmark 1987 Cold War-era treaty that eliminated nuclear missiles from Europe would be "very dangerous" and lead to a "military-technical" retaliation.
    (Reuters, 10/21/18)

2018        Nov 2, North Korea warned it could revive a state policy aimed at strengthening its nuclear arsenal if the US does not lift economic sanctions against the country.
    (AP, 11/3/18)

2018        Nov 15, French Polynesian President Edouard Fritch said the leaders of the French collectivity of islands in the South Pacific lied to the population for three decades over the dangers of nuclear testing. From 1960 to 1996, France carried out 193 nuclear tests in French Polynesia. In 2010 the French government offered millions of euros in compensation for the government's 201 nuclear tests in the South Pacific and Algeria.
    (AP, 11/16/18)

2018        Nov 27, President Emmanuel Macron said France would reduce the share of nuclear in the power mix to 50 percent by 2035, down from 75 percent today, rather than the total phasing out planned by neighbor Germany.
    (Reuters, 11/27/18)

2018        Dec 12, Eight European Union nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) underlined their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal while urging Tehran to stop its "destabilizing regional activities" especially the launch of ballistic missiles.
    (AP, 12/12/18)

2018        Dec 20, North Korea said it will never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States first removes what Pyongyang called a nuclear threat.
    (AP, 12/20/18)

2018        Dec 22, Russia's state-controlled Rosatom corporation said that Reactor No. 1 at the Leningrad nuclear power plant has been shut down as planned. It said it will take until 2023 to fully unload its uranium fuel. Launched in 1973, the reactor became the first unit of the RBMK-1000 type to be built in the Soviet Union. A reactor of the same type exploded in Chernobyl in April 1986.
    (AP, 12/22/18)

2019        Jan 17, Japan-based Hitachi said it has suspended work on a major new nuclear power station, the Horizon Project, located in Wylfa, on the Welsh island of Anglesey, because it had been unable to agree on financing with the UK government. Hitachi said it will also suspend work on another site located in England.
    (AP, 1/17/19)

2019        Jan 28, In Japan Toshiba Corp. unveiled a remote-controlled robot with tongs that it hopes will be able to probe the inside of one of the three damaged reactors at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant and grip chunks of highly radioactive melted fuel.
    (AP, 1/28/19)

2019        Jan 29, US intelligence agencies told Congress that North Korea is unlikely to entirely dismantle its nuclear arsenal.
    (AP, 1/29/19)

2019        Feb 1, The United States announced that it was pulling out of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, accusing Moscow of violating the Cold War-era pact with "impunity" by continuing to develop banned missiles.
    (AP, 2/1/19)

2019        Feb 2, China called for Washington to negotiate with Russia instead of pulling out of the 1987 nuclear arms treaty the Trump administration sees as a restraint on its ability to compete with Beijing and Moscow.
    (AP, 2/2/19)
2019        Feb 2, President Vladimir Putin said Russia will abandon a centerpiece nuclear arms treaty but will only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington does so. US President Donald Trump accused Moscow a day earlier of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with "impunity" by deploying banned missiles.
    (AP, 2/2/19)

2019        Feb 14, US Vice President Mike Pence demanded that Europeans drop a nuclear deal with Iran and join in seeking to cripple the regime, a cause that united Israel with longtime Arab rivals at a conference in Warsaw.
    (AFP, 2/14/19)

2019        Feb 16, German Chancellor Angela Merkel robustly defended European nations' decision to stand by the Iran nuclear deal in comments at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top global defense and foreign policy officials.
    (AP, 2/16/19)

2019        Feb 25, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the international arms control system is facing collapse and urged Russia and the US to stop the imminent demise of a crucial nuclear treaty.
    (AFP, 2/25/19)

2019        Mar 4, Lithuanian PM Saulius Skvernelis said he will ask Belarus to convert its Russian-built nuclear power plant to gas provided by Lithuania's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and a planned gas link between Lithuania and Poland.
    (Reuters, 3/4/19)

2019        Mar 7, South Korea's military said it is carefully monitoring North Korean nuclear and missile facilities after the country's spy agency told lawmakers that new activity was detected at a research center where the North is believed to build long-range missiles targeting the US mainland.
    (AP, 3/7/19)

2019        Mar 13, Georgia said it had detained two people for handling and trying to sell $2.8 million worth of radioactive uranium-238, which can be developed into nuclear bomb material.
    (AP, 3/13/19)

2019        Apr 15, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, began removing fuel from a cooling pool at one of three reactors that melted down in the 2011 disaster, a milestone in what will be a decades-long process to decommission the facility.
    (AP, 4/15/19)

2019        Apr 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed during their first summit he is willing to give up his nuclear weapons, but only if he gets an ironclad guarantee of security beforehand.
    (AP, 4/25/19)

2019        Apr 27, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen reaffirmed her opposition to nuclear power before marching with anti-nuclear protesters, reviving an issue that has proven politically divisive in the past.
    (AP, 4/27/19)

2019        May 8, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced steps that stop short of violating its 2015 deal with world powers for now, but threatening more action if countries did not shield it from US sanctions. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran's decision to scale back some curbs to its nuclear program was legal and reversible.
    (Reuters, 5/08/19)
2019        May 8, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weaponry.
    (Reuters, 5/08/19)

2019        May 9, US Pres. Donald Trump urged Iran's leadership to sit down and talk with him about giving up Tehran's nuclear program and said he could not rule out a military confrontation given the heightened tensions between the two countries.
    (Reuters, 5/10/19)

2019        May 24, North Korea said that nuclear negotiations with the United States will never resume unless the Trump administration moves away from what Pyongyang described as unilateral demands for disarmament.
    (AP, 5/24/19)

2019        May 31, A South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea executed a senior envoy involved in nuclear negotiations with the US as well as four other high-level officials [see July 16].
    (AP, 5/31/19)

2019        Jun 10, The head of the UN atomic watchdog urged world powers to continue dialogue with Iran to keep it in the landmark 2015 deal aimed at preventing the country from building nuclear weapons, and to help defuse mounting tensions in the region.
    (AP, 6/10/19)

2019        Jun 17, Iran said it will surpass from June 27 its uranium stockpile limit set under the nuclear deal with world powers, turning up the pressure after the US walked away from the landmark pact last year.
    (AFP, 6/17/19)

2019        Jun 25, Iran warned that new US sanctions targeting its supreme leader and other top officials meant "closing the doors of diplomacy" between Tehran and Washington amid heightened tensions. Iran said it will further free itself from the 2015 nuclear deal in defiance of new American sanctions.
    (AP, 6/25/19)(AFP, 6/25/19)

2019        Jun 28, In Vienna, Austria, senior officials from Iran and the remaining signatories to its 2015 nuclear deal met with the future of the accord under threat as Tehran was poised to surpass a uranium stockpile threshold.
    (AP, 6/28/19)

2019        Jul 1, Iran acknowledged it had exceeded the limit set on its low-enriched uranium stockpiles by a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, its first major departure from the agreement a year after Washington unilaterally withdrew from it.
    (AP, 7/1/19)
2019        Jul 1, Fire broke out on one of the Russian navy's deep-sea research submersibles, and toxic fumes from the blaze killed 14 sailors aboard. The fire occurred on a nuclear powered AS-31 deep-water research submarine in the Barents Sea.
    (AP, 7/2/19)(AP, 7/4/19)

2019        Jul 3, Iran ignored US and EU warnings and vowed to exceed within days the maximum uranium enrichment level it agreed to in the landmark 2015 nuclear accord. Iran warned it will restore a mothballed reactor and step up enrichment if European nations fail to offer it economic guarantees by a July 7 deadline.
    (AFP, 7/3/19)
2019        Jul 3, President Donald Trump warned Iran against stepping up uranium enrichment, the latest escalation of the conflict over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program that has plunged the Gulf into renewed uncertainty.
    (Bloomberg, 7/4/19)
2019        Jul 3, President Vladimir Putin signed a bill suspending Russia's participation in a pivotal nuclear arms treaty. The decree formalizes Russia's departure from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with the US following Washington's withdrawal from the pact.
    (AP, 7/3/19)

2019        Jul 4, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is willing to mediate between the United States and Iran to ease tensions over Iran's nuclear program.
    (AP, 7/4/19)

2019        Jul 7, Britain warned Iran to "immediately stop and reverse all activities" violating the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 7/7/19)
2019        Jul 7, The French government said it will not trigger the Iran nuclear deal's dispute resolution mechanism for now, instead giving itself one week to try to get all parties talking again after Iran decided to enrich uranium above limits agreed in 2015.
    (Reuters, 7/7/19)
2019        Jul 7, Iran announced it will increase its uranium enrichment to an unspecified level beyond the terms of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, breaking another limit set under the accord and furthering heightening tensions with the US.
    (AP, 7/7/19)

2019        Jul 8, Iran began enriching uranium to 4.5%, just breaking the limit set by its nuclear deal with world powers, while it is still seeking a way for Europe to help it bypass US sanctions amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.
    (AP, 7/8/19)

2019        Jul 9, European powers urged Iran to reverse its move to increase uranium enrichment, as a French envoy was due in Tehran to boost efforts to save a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
    (AFP, 7/9/19)

2019        Jul 10, The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran is enriching uranium to 4.5% purity, above the 3.67% limit set by its deal with major powers.
    (Reuters, 7/10/19)
2019        Jul 10, French President Emmanuel Macron's top diplomatic advisor held high-level talks in Tehran aimed at saving the 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Iran and the US.
    (AFP, 7/10/19)

2019        Jul 12, Sweden said that it will refrain from signing a United Nations convention on nuclear weapons, with the foreign minister arguing that the treaty "in its current form is not ready".
    (AP, 7/12/19)

2019        Jul 13, Leaked documents published today said Britain's ambassador to Washington believed US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 because it was associated with his predecessor Barack Obama.
    (AFP, 7/14/19)

2019        Jul 15, European Union nations threw their diplomatic weight behind the unraveling Iran nuclear deal, trying to rescue the pact from collapsing under US pressure.
    (AP, 7/15/19)

2019        Jul 16, South Korean intelligence said Kim Hyok Chol, a North Korean nuclear negotiator who was reported to have been executed over the failure of the February Hanoi summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, is still alive.
    (The Telegraph, 7/16/19)

2019        Jul 18, Yukiya Amano (72), the Japanese diplomat who led the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a decade, died. He was extensively involved in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and the cleanup of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
    (AP, 7/22/19)
2019        Jul 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French leader Emmanuel Macron agreed via phone on the need to "consolidate efforts" to save the Iran nuclear deal following months of soaring tensions.
    (AP, 7/18/19)
2019        Jul 18, The US Treasury named a group of companies in Iran, Belgium and China to its sanctions blacklist for acting as a supply network for Tehran's nuclear enrichment program.
    (AFP, 7/18/19)

2019        Jul 22, Iran said it has arrested 17 Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on the country's nuclear and military sites, and that some of them have already been sentenced to death.
    (AP, 7/22/19)

2019        Jul 24, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said it will decommission four more reactors  at the Fukushima Dai-ni plant in addition to those already being scrapped at the nearby Fukushima Dai-ichi, wrecked by a 2011 earthquake. The process was expected to take decades.
    (SFC, 7/25/19, p.A5)

2019        Jul 28, Representatives from Europe, China and Russia, which are still committed to the Iran nuclear deal, met with Iran's representative in Vienna to discuss how to salvage the unraveling accord.
    (AP, 7/28/19)

2019        Jul 29, Iran said the US had rejected an offer from Tehran for more robust nuclear inspections in exchange for lifting sanctions because Washington is "not seeking dialogue".
    (AFP, 7/29/19)

2019        Jul 31, The United States said it was extending waivers for three civilian nuclear projects in Iran by 90 days, despite Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement. The Trump administration extended waivers allowing foreign firms to work at Iranian nuclear facilities without US penalties.
    (AFP, 8/1/19)(AP, 8/1/19)

2019        Aug 8, In Russia two people died and four others were wounded when a rocket engine exploded during a test at a military shooting range in Nyonoksa in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region. On August 9 US-based nuclear experts said they suspected the accidental blast and radiation release occurred during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile vaunted by President Vladimir Putin last year. Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom later said that five of its staff members died in the accident. Pres. Vladimir Putin later hailed the five nuclear engineers as heroes and patriots.
    (AP, 8/8/19)(Reuters, 8/10/19)(AP, 11/22/19)

2019        Aug 10, US President Donald Trump said that Kim Jong Un told him North Korea was ready to resume talks on its nuclear and missile program as soon as US-South Korea military exercises ended.
    (Reuters, 8/10/19)

2019        Aug 18, The US military successfully tested a ground-launched, intermediate-range, nuclear-capable cruise missile. It was exactly the kind of kind of missile that the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, or INF, had banned before the administration of US Pres. Donald Trump in early August 2019 formally withdrew from the treaty.
    (The National Interest, 8/19/19)

2019        Aug 19, The Lithuanian government said it has decided to purchase more than 4 million iodine tablets, estimated to be worth 900,000 euros ($1 million), because of plans in neighboring Belarus to launch a nuclear power plant.
    (AP, 8/19/19)

2019        Aug 26, Russia's state weather agency said it had found the radioactive isotopes of strontium, barium and lanthanum in test samples after a mysterious accident on August 8 during a test at a military site.
    (Reuters, 8/26/19)

2019        Aug 28, Japanese companies Tokyo Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, Hitachi and Toshiba said they have agreed to consider cooperating on their nuclear plant businesses.
    (Reuters, 8/28/19)

2019        Sep 2, France proposed offering Iran credit lines worth about $15 billion until the end of the year in return for Tehran coming fully back into compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal, an offer that hinges on Washington not blocking it.
    (Reuters, 9/3/19)
2019        Sep 2, Japan's nuclear policy-setting body adopted a report saying the country is entering an era of major nuclear plant decommissioning.
    (SFC, 9/3/19, p.A5)

2019        Sep 4, Iran said it would take another step away from a 2015 nuclear deal by starting to develop centrifuges to speed up its uranium enrichment but it also gave European powers two more months to try to save the multilateral pact. President Hassan Rouhani ordered all limits on nuclear research and development to be lifted, the country's third step in scaling down its commitments to a 2015 deal with world powers.
    (Reuters, 9/4/19)(AFP, 9/5/19)

2019        Sep 5, A UN report said North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear weapons program while evading sanctions.
    (AFP, 9/6/19)

2019        Sep 7, Iran said it was no longer abiding by limits imposed on its uranium enrichment and centrifuge research by the 2015 nuclear accord, throwing down a new challenge to European leaders struggling to sustain their diplomatic push to calm the Gulf.
    (Bloomberg, 9/7/19)

2019        Sep 8, Iran's atomic agency chief hit out at European powers, saying their broken promises gave the Islamic republic little choice but to scale back its commitments under a nuclear deal.
    (AFP, 9/8/19)

2019        Sep 9, Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled what he said was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons site, further escalating a showdown between the two enemy countries.
    (AP, 9/10/19)
2019        Sep 9, Saudi Arabia said it wants to enrich uranium for its nuclear power program, potentially complicating talks with Washington on an atomic pact and the role of US companies.
    (Reuters, 9/9/19)
2019        Sep 9, The United Nations' atomic watchdog (IAEA) confirmed that Iran is preparing to use more advanced centrifuges, another breach of limits set in the country's unraveling nuclear deal with major powers.
    (AP, 9/9/19)

2019        Sep 12, One of Bosnia's two regional governments designated the Una river a nature park, seeking to head off plans being considered by Croatia to build a landfill site for radioactive waste near the border between the two countries.
    (Reuters, 9/12/19)

2019        Sep 14, Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said the country's first-floating nuclear power plant, known as "Akademik Lomonosov," has arrived to its permanent base near an isolated Russian town across the Bering Strait from Alaska. The plant will replace a coal-fired power plant and an aging nuclear power plant supplying more than 50,000 people with electricity in Chukotka.
    (Reuters, 9/14/19)

2019        Sep 18, Uganda said it had signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia to help the East African country build capacity to exploit nuclear technology for energy, medical and other peaceful purposes.
    (Reuters, 9/18/19)

2019        Sep 24, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he was open to discuss small changes, additions or amendments to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers if the United States lifted sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic.
    (Reuters, 9/24/19)

2019        Sep 25, Ministers from the five powers that support the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and the Iranian government say they are striving to preserve it.
    (AP, 9/25/19)

2019        Sep 26, The UN International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran has committed a further breach of its nuclear deal with major powers by enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges, and plans to install more of those advanced machines than previously announced.
    (Reuters, 9/26/19)

2019        Sep 27, In northwest Bosnia hundreds of people rallied against plans by neighboring Croatia to store part of the waste from the region's only nuclear plant near its border with Bosnia and a main river known for its natural beauty.
    (AP, 9/27/19)

2019        Oct 2, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran supports a plan by European countries to bolster a nuclear deal that Tehran reached with the West in 2015 and from which the United States withdrew last year. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran will continue reducing its commitments under its 2015 nuclear deal until it reaches the "desired result".
    (AP, 10/2/19)(Reuters, 10/2/19)

2019        Oct 5, North Korean and US officials gathered for new nuclear talks in Stockholm after months of deadlock and Pyongyang's defiant test of a sea-launched ballistic missile this week.
    (AP, 10/5/19)

2019        Oct 7, Iran said it plans to start using a new array of advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium, in a move likely to intensify pressure on Europe to save Tehran's collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 10/7/19)

2019        Oct 9, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran could have taken the step to develop nuclear weapons but will not because their use is "haram", or forbidden in Islam.
    (AFP, 10/9/19)

2019        Oct 10, North Korea threatened again to resume nuclear and long-range missile tests, accusing the US of having instigated some members of the UN Security Council to condemn its recent weapons tests.
    (AP, 10/10/19)

2019        Oct 14, A team of British experts arrived in Iran to begin work to upgrade the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor under a deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
    (AP, 10/14/19)

2019        Oct 15, The US Supreme Court shut down South Carolina's attempt to complete the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River site near Aiken. The government has already spent $8 billion on the nuclear fuel facility.
    (SFC, 10/16/19, p.A5)

2019        Oct 22, Poland said local Synthos SA has signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to cooperate on the construction of a 300 MW small nuclear reactor in Poland by 2029.
    (SFC, 10/23/19, p.A2)

2019        Oct 28, Iran blocked a female UN inspector from touring its Natanz nuclear facility. Iran alleged the inspector tested positive for suspected traces of explosive nitrates.
    (AP, 11/9/19)

2019        Oct 29, Argentine diplomat Rafael Mariano Grossi (58) was chosen to head the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, succeeding the late Yukiya Amano.
    (AP, 10/29/19)

2019        Nov 4, Iran announced a more than tenfold increase in enriched uranium production following a series of steps back from commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by the United States.
    (AFP, 11/4/19)

2019        Nov 5, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran would resume uranium enrichment at an underground plant south of Tehran in its latest step back from a troubled 2015 agreement with major powers.
    (AFP, 11/5/19)

2019        Nov 6, Iran said it'll start injecting uranium gas at midnight into 1,044 centrifuges at the underground Fordo facility. The centrifuges there will enrich uranium up to 4.5%.
    (AP, 11/6/19)

2019        Nov 7, Idaho granted a conditional waiver to the US Department of Energy that could allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into the state after years of blocking such shipments. The waiver requires the Energy Department to first prove it can process 900,000 gallons (3.5 million liters) of high-level radioactive liquid waste that sits above a giant Idaho aquifer that supplies water to farms and cities.
    (AP, 11/7/19)
2019        Nov 7, Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant south of Tehran in a new step back from its commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, raising alarm from Western powers.
    (AFP, 11/7/19)

2019        Nov 10, Iran began pouring concrete for a second nuclear reactor at its Bushehr power plant, a facility Tehran points to as its reason to break the enrichment limit set by its unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 11/10/19)

2019        Nov 16, Iran informed the UN IAEA that its stock of heavy water, a moderator used in a type of reactor it is developing, had exceeded 130 metric tons.
    (Reuters, 11/18/19)

2019        Nov 17, North Korea said nuclear issues will not be discussed when talks with the United States restart unless the withdrawal of US "hostile policy" was put on the agenda.
    (Reuters, 11/17/19)

2019        Nov 18, A UN nuclear watchdog IAEA report showed that Iran has breached another limit of its nuclear deal with major powers by accumulating slightly more than 130 tons of heavy water, a substance used in a type of reactor it is developing.
    (AP, 11/18/19)
2019        Nov 18, The US announced it would halt sanctions waivers for Iran's Fordow plant, ending a key part of a landmark nuclear deal after Tehran said it had resumed enrichment activities.
    (AP, 11/18/19)

2019        Nov 25, In Japan Pope Francis appealed to world leaders to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again, a day after he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities ever to be hit by atomic bombs.
    (Reuters, 11/25/19)

2019        Dec 5, Russian state nuclear company Rosatom said it has suspended work on revamping a factory at Iran's Fordow nuclear complex due to an issue with uranium compatibility.
    (Reuters, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 6, In Austria the remaining signatories to the faltering Iran nuclear deal began crunch talks in Vienna with questions over the survival of the landmark agreement after Tehran vowed to continue to breach the deal's limits on its nuclear program. Envoys from Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and Iran took part in the meeting.
    (AFP, 12/6/19)

2019        Dec 12, North Korea said the United States had nothing to offer it in possible renewed talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs after Washington said it was ready to take "concrete steps" towards securing a deal.
    (Reuters, 12/12/19)

2019        Dec 16, China and Russia proposed easing sanctions against nuclear-armed North Korea, in response to steps the North takes towards denuclearization. The US knocked back the call to ease sanctions on North Korea despite threats of further provocations, as President Donald Trump said he would “take care of” any threats the regime had in the works.
    (AFP, 12/16/19)(Bloomberg, 12/17/19)

2019        Dec 19, Speaking in Malaysia the president of sanctions-hit Iran called for Muslim countries to cooperate in fighting US "economic terrorism" at the opening of a summit aimed at tackling the Islamic world's woes. Pres. Rouhani also said his country's nuclear experts are testing a new type of advanced centrifuges.
    (AFP, 12/19/19)(AP, 12/19/19)

2019        Dec 23, Iran began new operations at a heavy water nuclear reactor, the head of the country's nuclear agency said. The move was seemingly designed to intensify pressure on Europe to find an effective way around US sanctions that block Tehran’s oil sales abroad.
    (AP, 12/23/19)

2020        Jan 10, Wisconsin political activist Jeremy Ryan (31), accused of trying to buy a lethal dose of a radioactive substance online, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving a nuclear material. His attorneys said he had cancer and intended to use the material to kill himself.
    (AP, 1/10/20)

2020        Jan 14, Britain, France and Germany triggered a dispute resolution mechanism under the already tattered 2015 nuclear deal, prompting Iran to warn them of unspecified "consequences".
    (AFP, 1/14/20)

2020        Jan 16, Iran accused European governments of sacrificing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal to avoid trade reprisals from US President Donald Trump who has spent nearly two years trying to scupper it. Pres. Hassan Rouhani declared that his country is now enriching more uranium than it was before agreeing to a nuclear accord with world powers in 2015.
    (AFP, 1/16/20)(The Telegraph, 1/16/20)

2020        Jan 21, A UN-backed Conference on Disarmament opened in Geneva. The United States urged China to join trilateral nuclear arms talks with Moscow, calling Beijing's secrecy around growing stockpiles a "serious threat to strategic stability".
    (Reuters, 1/21/20)

2020        Jan 29, It was reported that the US has deployed its first low-yield Trident nuclear warhead on a submarine that is currently patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, in what arms control advocates warn is a dangerous step towards making a nuclear launch more likely.
    (The Guardian, 1/30/20)

2020        Jan 30, US officials said the United States will allow Russian, Chinese and European firms to continue work at Iranian nuclear sites to make it harder for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but will impose sanctions on its nuclear entity and top official.
    (Reuters, 1/30/20)

2020        Feb 3, It was reported that the US military has deployed a new addition to its nuclear arsenal — a long-range missile armed with a nuclear warhead of reduced destructive power. The so-called low-yield missile joins other, more powerful weapons aboard stealthy submarines prowling the oceans.
    (AP, 2/3/20)

2020        Feb 7, French President Emmanuel Macron called for European nations to play a more direct role in halting a new nuclear arms race, saying they "cannot remain spectators" against a threat to the continent's collective security.
    (AFP, 2/7/20)

2020        Feb 17, The UAE’s regulatory watchdog gave long-awaited approval to the operator of the Barakah reactor, nudging the Emirates to the brink of membership in an elite club of 30 countries that make nuclear power. This is Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power plant.
    (Bloomberg, 2/17/20)

2020        Feb 19, French PM Edouard Philippe said that the Fessenheim nuclear reactor will be shut down at the end of June.
    (SFC, 2/20/20, p.A2)

2020        Mar 3, UN watchdog IAEA, policing Iran's nuclear deal with major powers, admonished Tehran for failing to provide access to two undeclared locations or fully answer its questions about past activities there and at a previously known site. The IAEA said Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since last November.
    (Reuters, 3/3/20)(SFC, 3/4/20, p.A3)

2020        Mar 4, Japan's government opened part of Futaba, the last town that had been off limits due to radiation since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
    (SFC, 3/5/20, p.A3)

2020        Mar 16, In Japan Kyushu Electric Power Co., the opeator of a nuclear power plant in Kagoshima, was forced to shut a down one of its reactors because of failure to meet a deadline for adding anti-terror safety measures.
    (SFC, 3/17/20, p.A2)

2020        Mar 19, In Russia riot police stormed a protesters' makeshift command post near a radioactive waste. More than 60 people were detained. Activists in Moscow vowed to persist with their campaign against plans to bulldoze a highway through the waste site.
    (SFC, 3/21/20, p.A2)

2020        Mar 30, The Trump administration renewed several waivers on US sanctions against Iran, allowing Russian, European and Chinese companies to continue to work on Iran's civilian nuclear facilities without drawing American penalties.
    (AP, 3/30/20)

2020        Apr 6, Emergency teams in Ukraine continued battling a forest fire in the contaminated area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A man (27) said he burned grass “for fun” and then failed to extinguish the fire when the wind caused it to expand quickly. The blaze had spread to about 250 acres and was within the 1000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
    (AP, 4/6/20)(SFC, 4/6/20, p.A2)

2020        Apr 28, Russia's President Vladimir Putin extended a non-working period aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus until May 11. The head of Russia's state atomic corporation expressed concern about the spread of the new coronavirus to three 'nuclear cities', including one that houses a top-secret research institute that helped develop the Soviet atomic bomb. Russia now ranks eighth worldwide with 93,558 confirmed cases, though its death toll of 867 is still far below that of many other nations.
    (Reuters, 4/28/20)

2020        Apr 29, In New York the aging Unit 2 nuclear reactor of the Indian Point Energy Center along the Huson River was closed down. Unit 3 wasscheduled to close in april 2021.
    (SFC, 4/30/20, p.A3)

2020        May 27, The United States said it was ending waivers in its sanctions for nations that remain in the Iran nuclear accord, bringing the deal further to the verge of collapse.
    (AFP, 5/27/20)

2020        May 29, Iran said its experts would continue nuclear development activities, despite sanctions imposed earlier this week on their fellow scientists by the United States.
    (AP, 5/29/20)

2020        May 30, The western European parties to the landmark nuclear deal with Iran criticized a US decision to end nearly all of the last vestiges of sanctions relief provided under the 2015 pact.
    (AP, 5/30/20)

2020        Jun 2, President Vladimir Putin endorsed Russia's nuclear deterrent policy which allows him to use atomic weapons in response to a conventional strike targeting the nation's critical government and military infrastructure.
    (AP, 6/2/20)

2020        Jun 5, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran has now accumulated enriched uranium at nearly eight times the limit of a 2015 deal and has for months blocked inspections at sites where historic nuclear activity may have occurred.
    (AFP, 6/5/20)

2020        Jun 15, IAEA Director General Mariano Grossi said that Iran must provide inspectors access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material.
    (SFC, 6/16/20, p.A2)

2020        Jun 19, The board of the United Nations' atomic watchdog agency adopted a resolution calling for Iran to provide inspectors access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material. Russia and China voted against the IAEA resolution.
    (AP, 6/19/20)

2020        Jun 26, Nevada ended a two-year legal battle with the US Energy Department over the secret shipment of weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Las Vegas. The state's lawyers said they would drop their lawsuit after the federal government agreed to remove the highly radioactive material already trucked there and abandon any future plans to send more.
    (AP, 6/26/20)

2020        Jul 2, In Iran a fire and an explosion struck a building above Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility early today, a site that US-based analysts identified as a new centrifuge production plant. The fire appeared to have been the result of sabotage. A previously unknown group calling itself the Homeland Cheetahs, apparently a dissident group, claimed responsibility for the incident.
    (AP, 7/2/20)(Reuters, 7/2/20)

2020        Jul 5, Iran confirmed that a building, damaged by fire on July 2 at the underground Natanz nuclear site, was a new centrifuge assembly center.
    (AP, 7/5/20)

2020        Jul 6, Israel launched a new spy satellite that could help monitor Iran’s nuclear activity, as Israeli officials remained evasive about recent incidents at Iranian industrial facilities that have raised suspicions of foreign sabotage.
    (The Telegraph, 7/6/20)

2020        Jul 28, In southern France scientists and technicians began assembling huge parts of a nuclear fusion device, an international experiment aimed to develop the ultimate clean energy source. World leaders involved in the project appeared virtually at a ceremony for the start of the new stage of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER.
    (AP, 7/28/20)

2020        Jul 31, The Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE's far western desert near the border with Saudi Arabia reached what scientists called its “first criticality.” That's when the nuclear chain reaction within the reactor is self-sustaining. This is the first nuclear power plant on the Arabian Peninsula.
    (AP, 8/1/20)

2020        Aug 3, A confidential new UN report warned that several countries believe North Korea has likely developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its nuclear devices.
    (The Telegraph, 8/3/20)

2020        Aug 13, A US-based think-tank said satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility.
    (Reuters, 8/13/20)

2020        Aug 19, UAE authorities said that its Barakah nuclear power plant has been connected to the country's power grid.
    (AP, 8/19/20)

2020        Aug 21, It was reported that Iran has offered to allow UN nuclear inspectors to visit two controversial nuclear sites as part of its diplomatic charm offensive to have the international arms embargo against Tehran lifted.
    (The Telegraph, 8/21/20)

2020        Aug 25, Iran's nuclear body said it held "constructive" talks with the visiting head of the International Atomic Energy Agency amid tensions over a US bid to reimpose UN sanctions.
    (AFP, 8/25/20)

2020        Aug 26, The IAEA said Iran has agreed to allow inspectors in to two sites where the country is suspected of having stored or used undeclared nuclear material.
    (AP, 8/26/20)

2020        Sep 4, The International Atomic Energy Agency reported (IAEA) that Iran continues to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium in violation of limitations set in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, but has begun providing access to sites where the country was suspected of having stored or used undeclared nuclear material.
    (AP, 9/4/20)

2020        Sep 8, Iran said it is building a sophisticated new building near its underground Natanz nuclear site. The new structure is being built in the wake of a July explosion that damaged a building that housed centrifuge machines.
    (AP, 9/8/20)

2020        Sep 30, The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said it has inspected the second of two suspected former secret atomic sites in Iran, as agreed with Tehran last month in a deal that ended a standoff over access.
    (Reuters, 9/30/20)

2020        Oct 9, It was reported that US and Russian negotiators have agreed in principle to continue freezing their nuclear warhead stockpiles in a bid to salvage their last remaining arms control pact before it expires next year.
    (AP, 10/9/20)

2020        Oct 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a strong call to save the last existing nuclear arms control pact between his country and the United States, proposing to extend it at least for one year.
    (AP, 10/16/20)

2020        Oct 20, Russia said it’s ready to accept a US proposal to freeze the number of nuclear warheads and extend the two nations’ last arms control pact for one year and Washington responded that it's prepared to make a quick deal.
    (AP, 10/20/20)

2020        Oct 24, The United Nations announced that 50 countries have ratified a UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons triggering its entry into force in 90 days, a move hailed by anti-nuclear activists but strongly opposed by the United States and the other major nuclear powers.
    (AP, 10/24/20)

2020        Oct 26, Japan said it will not sign a UN treaty that bans nuclear weapons and does not welcome its entry into force next year, rejecting the wishes of atomic bomb survivors in Japan who are urging the government to join and work for a nuclear-free world. PM Suga Yoshihide promised to reduce Japan's net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050.
    (AP, 10/26/20)(Econ., 10/31/20, p.36)

2020        Oct 27, Inspectors from the UN's atomic watchdog have confirmed Iran has started building an underground centrifuge assembly plant after its previous one exploded in what Tehran called a sabotage attack over the summer.
    (AP, 10/27/20)

2020        Nov 7, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko formally opened the country’s first nuclear power plant, a project sharply criticized by neighboring Lithuania. The Russian-built and financed Astravyets plant is located about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Vilnius.
    (AP, 11/7/20)

2020        Nov 8, Belarus' first nuclear power plant stopped generating electricity a day after it was formally opened by President Alexander Lukashenko and some of its equipment needs to be replaced.
    (AP, 11/10/20)

2020        Nov 11, A report by the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA) said Iran has installed a first cascade of advanced centrifuges in the underground Natanz uranium enrichment plant that its deal with major powers says can only be used for first-generation IR-1 machines.
    (AP, 11/11/20)

2020        Nov 14, The IAEA verified that Iran has begun feeding uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas feedstock into the advanced IR-2m uranium-enriching centrifuges installed at its underground plant at Natanz.
    (Reuters, 11/18/20)

2020        Nov 19, Belarus' nuclear power plant, which went out of service a few days after it started operating, resumed producing electricity at 40% capacity. Lithuanian authorities have said construction of the Russian-built and -financed plant was plagued by accidents, stolen materials and the mistreatment of workers.
    (AP, 11/19/20)

2020        Nov 27, Iran said Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, one of its most prominent nuclear scientists, was assassinated in an attack on his car outside Tehran. Iran accused arch foe Israel of being behind the attack.
    (AFP, 11/27/20)

2020        Nov 30, Iran’s defence minister vowed to double spending on the nuclear research organization once headed by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, during a fiery speech at the funeral for the assassinated scientist described as Iran’s nuclear weapons guru.
    (The Telegraph, 11/30/20)

2020        Dec 1, Iran’s parliament approved a bill that would suspend UN inspections of its nuclear facilities and require the government to boost its uranium enrichment if European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal do not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all nuclear policies.
    (AP, 12/1/20)

2020        Dec 2, Iran's watchdog body approved a law that obliges the government to halt UN inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in a month.
    (Reuters, 12/2/20)

2020        Dec 3, Iran's Pres. Hassan Rouhani rejected a bill that would have suspended UN inspections and boosted uranium enrichment saying it was harmful to diplomatic efforts to ease US sanctions.
    (SFC, 12/3/20, p.A2)

2020        Dec 4, It was reported that Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog it plans to install three more cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
    (Reuters, 12/4/20)

2020        Dec 8, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will build a new, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to replace its Charles de Gaulle carrier by 2038.
    (AP, 12/8/20)

2020        Dec 18, Satellite photos showed that Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic program.
    (AP, 12/18/20)

2021        Jan 2, Iran said it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility “as soon as possible,” pushing its program a technical step away from weapons-grade levels as it increases pressure on the West over the tattered atomic deal.
    (AP, 1/2/21)

2021        Jan 4, Iran said it has resumed enriching uranium up to 20 percent in the country’s biggest breach yet of the landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 1/4/21)

2021        Jan 5, The European Union said it would redouble its efforts to save the Iran nuclear agreement despite what it calls Tehran’s “important breach” of commitments made in the 2015 deal by starting to enrich uranium to new levels.
    (AP, 1/5/21)

2021        Jan 6, Britain, France and Germany pressed Iran to reverse a decision to start enriching uranium to levels beyond the limits of a 2015 nuclear agreement, a move which they said “risks compromising” chances of diplomacy with the incoming US administration.
    (AP, 1/6/21)

2021        Jan 13, Iran said it has started research on uranium metal-based fuel for its research reactor in Tehran.
    (Reuters, 1/13/20)

2021        Jan 14, The United Nations' atomic watchdog agency confirmed that Iran has informed it the country has begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal, which would be another violation of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 1/14/20)

2021        Jan 16, Britain, France and Germany pressed Iran to back off the latest planned violation of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, saying that Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for uranium metal.
    (AP, 1/16/21)

2021        Jan 21, The Biden administration proposed to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty limiting strategic nuclear weapons, due to expire on Feb 5.
    (SFC, 1/22/21, p.A4)(Econ., 1/23/21, p.7)

2021        Jan 22, The first-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons entered into force, hailed as a historic step to rid the world of its deadliest weapons but strongly opposed by the world's nuclear-armed nations. The treaty, approved in 2017, received its 50th ratification on Oct. 24, 2020, triggering a 90-day period before its entry into force on Jan. 22. None of the nine countries known or believed to possess nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — supported it and neither did the 30-nation NATO alliance.
    (AP, 1/22/21)

2021        Jan 27, Russian lawmakers quickly approved the extension of the last remaining nuclear Russia-US arms control treaty, a fast-track action that comes just days before it’s due to expire. The Kremlin said they agreed to complete the necessary extension procedures in the next few days.
    (AP, 1/27/21)

2021        Jan 28, State TV reported that Iran has exceeded 17 kg of 20% enriched uranium within a month's time, moving its nuclear program closer to weapons-grade enrichment levels amid heightened tensions with the US.
    (AP, 1/28/21)

2021        Jan 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill extending the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the US a week before the pact was due to expire.
    (AP, 1/29/21)

2021        Jan 30, China National Nuclear Corp. said its first nuclear power unit that uses Hualong One, a third-generation nuclear reactor, has started commercial operations southeastern Fujian province. The reactor was designed to have a 60-year lifespan.
    (AP, 1/30/21)

2021        Feb 3, The United States and Russia said they had extended the New START arms control treaty for five years, preserving the last treaty limiting deployments of the world's two largest strategic nuclear arsenals.
    (Reuters, 2/3/21)

2021        Feb 7, President Biden said the US will not lift sanctions against Iran unless the country stops enriching uranium, continuing a standoff with the country's supreme leader, who has demanded that sanctions be lifted before the country returns to its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.
    (CBS News, 2/7/21)

2021        Feb 8, The IAEA confirmed that Iran has begun production of uranium metal, a further violation of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 2/11/21)

2021        Feb 10, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani urged the West to restore the 2015 nuclear deal as the nation marked the anniversary of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
    (AP, 2/10/21)

2021        Feb 18, New satellite images published by the International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM), an independent expert group, indicated that Israel is carrying out a major expansion of its Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert.
    (AP, 2/18/21)

2021        Feb 19, Tehran repeated its assertion that the United States must lift sanctions before Iran will return to the 2015 nuclear accord, but said it was ready to comply “immediately” once this was done.
    (The Telegraph, 2/19/21)
2021        Feb 19, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage.
    (AP, 2/19/21)

2021        Feb 24, Kevin Marsh (65), the former CEO of the now-defunct SCANA electric utility, pleaded guilty in federal court to an array of conspiracy fraud charges involving a cover-up of financial troubles connected to the failure of the South Carolina company’s $10 billion nuclear project.
    (Raleigh News & Observer, 2/24/21)

2021        Feb 25, France’s nuclear safety authority agreed to extend the operational lifetime of the country’s 32 oldest nuclear reactors by a decade to as much as 50 years.
    (AP, 2/25/21)

2021        Feb 28, Iran rejected an offer by the European Union to set up direct talks with the United States on reviving a nuclear deal with Tehran.
    (WSJ, 2/28/21)

2021        Mar 4, The head of the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA) said Iran has agreed to sit down with international technical experts investigating the discovery of uranium particles at three former undeclared sites in the country.
    (AP, 3/4/21)

2021        Mar 10, The presidents of Russia and Turkey remotely inaugurated the construction of a third nuclear reactor at the Akkuyu power plant in southern Turkey, vowing to continue their close cooperation.
    (AP, 3/10/21)

2021        Mar 16, PM Boris Johnson said Britain will grow its nuclear warhead stockpile by more than 40% to ensure its security in a more risky global environment and as it faces new technological threats. The government said it would create a new homeland security headquarters as part of plans to improve its response to the "major threat" from terrorism, saying a successful chemical, biological or nuclear was likely by the end of the decade.
    (Reuters, 3/16/21)

2021        Mar 17, The United Nations' nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said it has confirmed that Iran has begun operating a cascade of advanced centrifuges at an underground site.
    (AP, 3/17/21)

2021        Mar 27, North Korea announced it will continue to expand its nuclear weapons program after President Biden criticized Pyongyang's most recent missile test this week.
    (AP, 3/27/21)

2021        Mar 30, Iran said it will not stop its 20% uranium enrichment before the US lifts all sanctions, after a US media report said Washington would offer a new proposal to jump-start talks.
    (Reuters, 3/30/21)

2021        Apr 6, Washington and Iran began indirect talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the nuclear deal.
    (The Telegraph, 4/6/21)
2021        Apr 6, It was reported that Japan has extended its own sanctions against North Korea for another two years as Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear weapons without any progress in resolving the abductions of Japanese nationals.
    (AP, 4/6/21)

2021        Apr 10, Iran said it has begun mechanical tests on its newest advanced nuclear centrifuge, even as the five world powers that remain in a foundering 2015 nuclear deal with Iran attempt to bring the US back into the agreement.
    (AP, 4/10/21)

2021        Apr 11, A "suspicious" blackout struck Iran's underground Natanz nuclear facility. Iran said that a problem with the electrical distribution grid of the Natanz site had caused an incident. The country's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the accident was the result of a "terrorist" act.
    (AP, 4/11/21)

2021        Apr 12, Iran accused arch-foe Israel of sabotaging its key Natanz nuclear site a day earlier and vowed revenge in the latest episode of a long-running covert war.
    (Reuters, 4/12/21)
2021        Apr 12, Japan said it had decided to gradually release tons of treated wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean.
    (SFC, 4/13/21, p.A4)

2021        Apr 13, Iran said it will start enriching uranium at 60 percent purity, higher than ever before, following the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility.
    (NBC News, 4/13/21)

2021        Apr 14, Iran's supreme leader dismissed initial offers being made at talks in Vienna aimed at saving Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.
    (AP, 4/14/21)

2021        Apr 16, Iran said it has begun 60% uranium enrichment at its Natanz plant, days after an explosion at the site that Tehran blamed on Israel.
    (Reuters, 4/16/21)

2021        Apr 17, Iran named Reza Karimi (43) as a suspect in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country “hours before” the sabotage happened.
    (AP, 4/17/21)

2021        Apr 26, Ukraine's Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled a new nuclear waste repository at Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster that unfolded exactly 35 years ago.
    (AP, 4/26/21)

2021        Apr 29, In New York the Indian Point Energy Center permanently stopped producing nuclear power. The plant, 25 miles north of NYC, has been called a threat to millions living in the region.
    (SFC, 4/30/21, p.A4)

2021        May 1, In Vienna high-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain made progress at talks focused on bringing the US back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran, but said they need more work and time to bring about a future agreement.
    (AP, 5/1/21)

2021        May 7, In Austria the fourth round of talks between world powers on Iran's nuclear program opened in Vienna.
    (AFP, 5/7/21)

2021        May 12, The UN's atomic watchdog (IAEA) said Iran has enriched uranium to slightly higher purity than previously thought due to “fluctuations” in the process.
    (AP, 5/12/21)

2021        May 16, It was reported that fission reactions appear to be occurring in an inaccessible chamber of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Scientists could not say whether the slow rise in neutron emissions will fizzle out or increase.
    (SSFC, 5/16/21, p.B8)

2021        May 19, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin joined in a videoconference to initiate a series of nuclear energy projects, an event intended to display warming ties between two nations that have paired-up as the chief geopolitical rivals to the US.
    (AP, 5/19/21)

2021        May 23, Iran’s parliament speaker said that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran's atomic accord with world powers.
    (AP, 5/23/21)

2021        May 24, Iran agreed to preserve surveillance footage from its nuclear sites for another month, extending a temporary arrangement with the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency (IAEA) that is seen as essential to eventually salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal.
    (The Telegraph, 5/24/21)

2021        May 25, In Austria world powers opened a fifth round of talks with Iran aimed at bringing the United States back into the landmark 2015 nuclear deal meant to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining an atomic bomb.
    (AP, 5/25/21)

2021        Jun 12, Talks between Iran and global powers restarted with the goal of trying to restore a landmark agreement to contain Iranian nuclear development that the Trump administration abandoned in 2018.
    (AP, 6/12/21)

2021        Jun 16, China's government said the No. 1 reactor of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong had five broken fuel rods but tha no radioactivity had leaked.
    (SFC, 6/17/21, p.A4)

2021        Jun 20, Top diplomats in Vienna said further progress had been made at a 6th round of talks between Iran and global powers to try to negotiate and restore a landmark 2015 agreement to contain Iranian nuclear development that was later abandoned by the Trump administration. Iran will continue talks aimed at reviving a nuclear deal during its transition to a new government.
    (AP, 6/20/21)(Bloomberg, 6/20/21)

2021        Jun 21, President-elect Ebrahim Raisi backed talks between Iran and six world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal but flatly rejected meeting US President Joe Biden.
    (Reuters, 6/21/21)
2021        Jun 21, The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said its sole nuclear power plant is experiencing an emergency shutdown due to a "technical fault".
    (Business Insider, 6/21/21)

2021        Jun 23, Iran's state TV reported that authorities have thwarted what they called a "sabotage attack" targeting a civilian nuclear facility.
    (SFC, 6/24/21, p.A2)

2021        Jul 1, Diplomats said Iran has been restricting UN nuclear inspectors' access to its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, citing security concerns after what it says was an attack on the site by Israel in April.
    (AP, 7/1/21)

2021        Jul 6, Iran’s outgoing Pres. Hassan Rouhani offered a rare apology for the country’s most severe summer power outages in recent memory, as blackouts cripple businesses and darken homes for hours a day. Iran accused Israel of mounting a sabotage attack on a nuclear facility near Tehran last month.
    (AP, 7/6/21)
2021        Jul 6, The United Nation’s top nuclear watchdog announced that Iran has taken steps to enrich uranium metal to a 20 percent purity and manufacture nuclear reactor fuel.
    (AP, 7/6/21)

2021        Jul 8, The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said it reached an agreement with Japan on helping monitor and review the release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean.
    (AP, 7/8/21)

2021        Jul 17, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said that the next round of talks in Vienna must wait until the new Iranian administration takes office in early August.
    (Reuters, 7/17/21)

2021        Aug 4, Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz reportedly warned the UN Security Council diplomats that Iran is "only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon".
    (Fox News, 8/5/21)

2021        Aug 17, The United Nation’s atomic watchdog (IAEA) said Iran continues to produce uranium metal, which can be used in the creation of nuclear bombs.
    (AP, 8/17/21)

2021        Aug 24, Israel's PM Naftali Bennett said he opposed US efforts to restore a nuclear deal with Iran and ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians.
    (NY Times, 8/24/21)

2021        Aug 25, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said it plans to build an undersea tunnel so that massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant can be released into the ocean about 1 km (0.6 mile) away from the plant to avoid interference with local fishing.
    (AP, 8/25/21)

2021        Aug 27, The UN atomic watchdog IAEA reported that North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.
    (Reuters, 8/29/21)

2021        Sep 12, Iran said it will is to allow the UN nuclear watchdog to service monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites following talks with IAEA head Rafael Grossi. Iran agreed to allow international inspectors to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there.
    (Reuters, 9/12/21)(AP, 9/12/21)

2021        Sep 15, India's cabinet approved an incentive scheme for the automobile sector aimed at boosting production of electric and hydrogen fuel-powered vehicles and promoting the manufacture of drones.
    (Reuters, 9/15/21)

2021        Sep 17, It was reported that recent satellite images show North Korea is expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, a sign that it’s intent on boosting the production of bomb materials.
    (AP, 9/17/21)

2021        Sep 26, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran has failed to fully comply with the terms of a recently reached nuclear monitoring agreement.
    (Reuters, 9/26/21)

2021        Sep 27, The US nuclear power regulator suspended the shipment of radioactive materials and a hydrogen isotope used in reactors to China's largest state-owned nuclear company, CGN, reflecting Washington's concerns about the country's buildup of atomic weapons.
    (Reuters, 10/5/21)

2021        Sep 28, Iran rejected a US call to grant UN inspectors access to a nuclear site, saying Washington was not qualified to demand inspections without condemning a sabotage attack on the facility.
    (Reuters, 9/28/21)

2021        Sep 30, The United States and Russia said they have held "intensive and substantive" talks in their second meeting within the Strategic Stability Dialogue framework, aimed at easing tensions between the world's largest nuclear weapons powers.
    (Reuters, 9/30/21)

2021        Oct 1, Senior Russian envoy Sergei Ryabkov said President Vladimir Putin is no longer interested in a joint freeze of nuclear weapons production with the United States. Ryabkov protested American inspections requests and a recent agreement to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
    (Washington Examiner, 10/2/21)

2021        Oct 9, Iran said it has produced more than 120 kg (265 pounds) of 20% enriched uranium, far more than what the UN nuclear watchdog reported last month.
    (AP, 10/10/21)

2021        Oct 10, In Pakistan Abdul Qadeer Khan (85), lionized at home as the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb despite admitting he was at the center of a nuclear proliferation ring, died.
    (Reuters, 10/10/21)

2021        Oct 12, President Emmanuel Macron said France wants to be a leader in green hydrogen by 2030 and build low-carbon planes and small nuclear reactors as part of a 30 billion euro ($35 billion) investment plan dubbed "France 2030".
    (Reuters, 10/12/21)

2021        Nov 4, The United Arab Emirates' Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said it has completed construction of Unit 3 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the Arab world's first multi-unit operating nuclear energy plant.
    (Reuters, 11/4/21)

2021        Nov 5, Iran’s atomic agency said that its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has reached over 210 kg (463 lbs), the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West.
    (AP, 11/5/21)

2021        Nov 17, The UN's nuclear watchdog IAEA reported that Iran has again boosted its stock of highly enriched uranium.
    (AP, 11/17/21)

2021        Nov 29, Negotiators in Vienna resumed talks over reviving Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, with hopes of quick progress muted after a hard-line new government in Tehran led to a more than five-month hiatus. The US remained outside of the negotiations as it has for other talks since leaving the deal under then-President Donald Trump's “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.
    (AP, 11/29/21)

2021        Nov, A company started by Bill Gates, TerraPower, announced it had chosen Kemmerer, Wyoming, for a nontraditional, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor that will bring on workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.
    (AP, 1/17/22)

2021        Dec 1, The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said Iran has started the process of enriching uranium to 20% purity with advanced centrifuges at its Fordow facility buried inside a mountain.
    (Reuters, 12/1/21)

2021        Dec 2, Israel on urged world powers to halt nuclear talks with Iran immediately, citing a UN watchdog's announcement that Tehran has started producing enriched uranium with more advanced centrifuges.
    (Reuters, 12/2/21)

2021        Dec 5, It was reported that an underground ice wall in Japan, created to contain contaminated groundwater from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, has itself partially melted. Remedial work was in process.
    (SSFC, 12/5/21, p.B10)

2021        Dec 15, Iran and a UN watchdog said they have reached agreement on replacing cameras at a nuclear complex, as Western powers warn time is running out to revive a deal on Tehran's atomic program.
    (AFP, 12/15/21)

2021        Dec 17, Talks aimed at salvaging Iran's tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers adjourned to allow the Iranian negotiator to return home for consultations after a round marked by tensions over new demands from Tehran.
    (AP, 12/17/21)

2021        Dec 28, Iran and Russia both gave upbeat views about talks that kicked off this week to salvage Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with global powers, although Western nations have said the negotiations are going too slowly.
    (Reuters, 12/28/21)
2021        Dec 28, Japan's government mapped out a plan for releasing contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, including compensation standards for local industry and the compilation of a safety assessment report.
    (Reuters, 12/28/21)

2021        Dec 31, Germany began shutting down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power. The remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland, Isar and Neckarwestheim — will be powered down by the end of 2022.
    (AP, 12/31/21)

2022        Jan 1, Japan's daily Yomiuri reported the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd are set to cooperate with the United States and Bill Gates' venture company to build a high-tech nuclear reactor in Wyoming.
    (Reuters, 1/1/22)

2022        Jan 7, In Scotland EDF’s Hunterston B nuclear power plant closed after some 46 years of operation. France's EDF is building Britain’s first new nuclear plant in more than two decades, Hinkley Point C, with backing from China's CGN.
    (Reuters, 1/7/22)

2022        Jan 27, Britain said it will give 100 million pounds ($135 million) of support to France’s EDF to help it build the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, England and encourage new investors in the project.
    (Reuters, 1/27/22)

2022        Feb 4, President Joe Biden's administration restored sanctions waivers to Iran to allow international nuclear cooperation projects, as indirect American-Iranian talks on reviving the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran enter the final stretch.
    (Reuters, 2/4/22)

2022        Feb 8, Japan's health ministry said it had ordered the suspension of shipments of black rockfish caught off Fukushima prefecture after radiation exceeding an upper limit was detected in a catch late last month.
    (Reuters, 2/8/22)
2022        Feb 8, North Korea boasted that it is one of only a handful of countries in the world to field nuclear weapons and advanced missiles and the only one standing up to the United States by "shaking the world" with missile tests.
    (Reuters, 2/8/22)

2022        Feb 9, European scientists said they have made a major breakthrough in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion - the energy process that powers the stars. The experiments produced 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds (11 megawatts of power).
    (https://tinyurl.com/yck93sd7)

2022        Feb 18, The Russian military announced massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces for Feb. 19, a stark reminder of the country’s nuclear might amid Western fears that Moscow might be preparing to invade Ukraine.
    (AP, 2/18/22)

2022        Feb 20, It was reported that Iranian lawmakers have laid out six conditions for the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with global powers in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi.
    (Reuters, 2/20/22)

2022        Feb 25, Iran said it will continue to enrich uranium to 20% purity even after sanctions on it are lifted and a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers is revived.
    (Reuters, 2/25/22)

2022        Feb 27, Iran said it will not accept any deadline set by the West to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and wants "politically motivated" claims by UN watchdog IAEA about Tehran’s nuclear work to be dropped.
    (Reuters, 2/27/22)
2022        Feb 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military command to put nuclear-armed forces on high alert as Ukrainian fighters defending the city of Kharkiv said they had repelled an attack by invading Russian troops. Russian troops blew up a natural gas pipeline in Kharkiv before daybreak.
    (Reuters, 2/27/22)

2022        Feb 28, In Austria diplomats from Iran and world powers reconvened in Vienna to seek a deal reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear accord, with pressure mounting for results soon.
    (AP, 2/28/22)

2022        Mar 3, A report by the IAEA said the stock of enriched uranium amassed by Iran in breach of its 2015 nuclear deal is growing to the point that its most highly-enriched material is most of the way to a common bomb yardstick.
    (Reuters, 3/3/22)
2022        Mar 3, The UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors backed a resolution that "deplores" Russia's invasion of Ukraine and urges it to let Ukraine control all its nuclear facilities. Russia and China voted against the resolution. The UN human rights office said that it had confirmed 249 civilians have been killed and 553 injured in Ukraine during the first week of the conflict following Russia's invasion.
    (Reuters, 3/3/22)

2022        Mar 4, Japan's Supreme Court upheld an order for utility Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to pay damages of 1.4 billion yen ($12 million) to about 3,700 people whose lives were devastated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the first decision of its kind. Public broadcaster NHK said the average payout of about 380,000 yen ($3,290) for each plaintiff covered three class-action lawsuits.
    (Reuters, 3/4/22)
2022        Mar 4, Russian troops in Ukraine seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. International monitors said there was no sign that radiation had leaked.
    (AP, 3/4/22)
2022        Mar 4, Analysts said a deal to limit Iran's nuclear program would lead to sanctions on its oil sector being lifted but it could take several months for any more Iranian crude to flow, and even then it may only offer short-term respite to tight oil markets.
    (Reuters, 3/4/22)
2022        Mar 4, Images were captured by commercial satellite showing very early signs of construction activity at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear testing site for the first time since it was closed in 2018.
    (Reuters, 3/8/22)

2022        Mar 5, Iran said it had agreed a roadmap with the UN nuclear watchdog to resolve all outstanding questions about the country's nuclear program by late June.
    (Reuters, 3/5/22)

2022        Mar 7, Iran said it would not be dictated to by foreign interests, while Russia stuck to its position of linking the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal to Western sanctions over Ukraine by saying the pact cannot discriminate between participants.
    (Reuters, 3/7/22)

2022        Mar 9, Ukraine said there was a danger of a radiation leak at the Chernobyl nuclear power station after electricity was cut off to the plant, but the UN nuclear watchdog saw "no critical impact on security".
    (Reuters, 3/9/22)

2022        Mar 10, The US Energy Department announced $36 million for projects addressing toxic waste expected to come from a new generation of nuclear reactors, plants the Biden administration sees as a crucial to fight climate change.
    (Reuters, 3/10/22)
2022        Mar 10, Iran raised the stakes in nuclear talks with world powers, saying the United States had to drop "unacceptable proposals" just as the prospects of reaching an accord were thrown into uncertainty by last-minute Russian demands.
    (Reuters, 3/10/22)

2022        Mar 11, The EU announced a pause in the talks it is chairing on the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, days after fresh Russian demands complicated negotiations which had appeared close to completion.
    (AP, 3/11/22)
2022        Mar 11, The head of Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said Russian officials have attempted to enter and take full operational control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
    (Reuters, 3/11/22)

2022        Mar 12, Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor started test production, delivering power to the national grid, which over time is expected to reduce the need for electricity imports and lead to lower prices.
    (Reuters, 3/12/22)

2022        Mar 14, Forty-nine of the 50 Republican US senators said they will not support an emerging new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, underscoring their party's opposition to attempts to revive a 2015 accord amid fears talks might collapse.
    (Reuters, 3/14/22)
2022        Mar 14, Iranian state television reported that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard arrested members of a “network" working for Israel that planned to sabotage Iran’s major underground nuclear facility at Fordo.
    (AP, 3/15/22)

2022        Mar 18, An Iranian media report and the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran has converted a fraction of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium into material crucial for detecting cancers and other diseases.
    (AP, 3/18/22)

2022        Mar 20, In Ukraine some 50 staff members who have been held hostage for weeks by Russians at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were rotated out and replaced by a group of 46 employees.
    (Fox News, 3/20/22)

2022        Mar 21, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom warned that radiation levels around the occupied Chernobyl nuclear plant risked rising because its radiation monitoring system and forest fire-fighting service were not working.
    (Reuters 3/21/22)

2022        Mar 22, It was reported that forest fires have erupted in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, with Ukraine claiming that Russian control of the abandoned power plant is hampering efforts to control the flames.
    (The Guardian, 3/22/22)

2022        In Germany all nuclear power plants were expected to be switched off by this time.
    (Econ, 6/15/13, SR p.11)

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