Russian President Vladimir Putin is again threatening the use of nuclear weapons – this time overtly – after suggestions from European leaders that Western troops could be deployed to Ukraine in non-combat roles.
During his annual State of the Nation address to the country’s Federal Assembly on Thursday, Putin warned NATO countries that Russia would retaliate if they sent troops to intervene in its war on Ukraine, the Washington Post reported.
“They must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” Putin was quoted as saying. He threatened “tragic consequences” if NATO forces are deployed to Ukraine, as French President Emmanuel Macron suggested earlier in the week. “All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization,” Putin said.
National Nuclear Security Administrator Jill Hruby on Feb. 26 welcomed the upcoming International Physical Protection Advisory Service, or IPPAS, Mission, hosted by the Sandia Pulsed Reactor Facility at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Hruby spoke at the opening ceremony for what is the second IPPAS mission at a U.S. nuclear facility, and the first at a secure U.S. National Laboratory.
“Both NNSA and the U.S. remain committed to responsible nuclear security citizenship,” she said. “We consistently aim to hold ourselves to the highest possible nuclear security standards, not only to maintain and enhance national and international nuclear security, but also to serve as a model to our allies, partners, and the global community on what robust nuclear security measures look like.”
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant the go-ahead to increase the maximum number of tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) from 1,792 to 2,496 next year.
The NRC found the boost in TPBAR irradiation in the plant’s two reactors would have no environmental impact, according to a Feb. 16 letter to Tennessee Valley Authority Vice President James Barstow.
TPBARs are inserted into nuclear fuel assemblies as substitutes for fuel rods. Tritium produced in the rods during a nuclear power cycle ultimately gets transferred to reservoirs that are installed in nuclear weapons. Modern thermonuclear weapons use tritium to increase the efficiency of nuclear explosions.
The NNSA intends to grant SHINE Technologies cost-share funding to build and operate a new facility for producing the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without the use of highly-enriched uranium, according to a Feb. 27 filing in the Federal Register.
The company received a construction permit for the facility in 2016 and an operating license in 2019. This week’s announcement of a modification to that deal follows an environmental study that shows the modified facility’s impact will not differ from an initial study drawn up in 2015.
Mo-99 decays into technetium-99, commonly used for medical diagnostic procedures. The byproduct’s primary uses include diagnosing heart disease and cancer and studying organ structure and function.
Los Alamos National Laboratory operations contractor Triad National Security on Feb. 27 cut the ribbon on a soon-to-open childcare facility at 3500 Trinity Drive to serve about 150 children of site employees.
The event marked the completion of the first stage of construction of the center. Triad parent entity the University of California provided $2 million for remodeling and furnishings at the center, and Triad’s board of directors has pledged ongoing financial support for its operations, which will be run by Bilingual Montessori School (BMS), the company said in a statement. The center will give priority to children of lab employees, especially those whose children presently lack care.
“There has been a persistent and pressing need for more child care centers to serve the community in Los Alamos, but now what was a dream is on the brink of becoming a reality, thanks to the huge efforts of many people and organizations,” said Odalys González, director of BMS.
