Energy News  
NUKEWARS
Yemen nuclear material 'easy target for terrorists': cable

by Staff Writers
London (AFP) Dec 20, 2010
A Yemen government official warned US diplomats that poor security meant there was little to stop terrorists getting their hands on the country's nuclear material, a US cable showed Monday.

At one point there was practically nothing protecting the material at Yemen's National Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), according to the diplomatic dispatch dated January 9 this year.

The lone security guard at the facility had been removed and the only closed circuit TV security camera had broken six months earlier and had never been fixed, said the cable.

"Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen's nuclear material," the official warned American diplomats, according to the cable released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks and revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The cable revealed, however, that in the days following the official's warning, the radioactive material was moved to a more secure facility and the remainder of it was likely to follow, said the Guardian.

The dispatch was sent in the aftermath of the plot to bomb a plane trying to land in Detroit on Christmas Day last year and describes the worried official imploring the US to help find a swift solution to the problem.

It showed him asking the US to "convince the Yemen government to remove all materials from the country until they can be better secured, or immediately improve security measures at the NAEC facility."

According to the cable, classified as secret by the US ambassador Stephen Seche, the material included products used in a hospital, in universities and for agricultural research.

There are fears radioactive isotopes could be used to make a dirty bomb, according to the Guardian. This mixes simple explosives with radioactive materials, which it would then disperse over a wide area, said the paper.

Although unlikely to kill a large number of people, the device could contaminate large areas with radioactivity.

Yemen is home to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the failed bid on December 25, 2009, to blow up a US-bound airliner.

The group also claimed responsibility for October's failed cargo plane parcel bomb plot.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


NUKEWARS
Myanmar officials talked of 'going nuclear': US cable
Bangkok (AFP) Dec 17, 2010
Myanmar's military regime suggested six years ago it might "go nuclear" to gain the attention of the United States, according to a senior Indian diplomat quoted in a leaked US cable. The memo from the US embassy in New Delhi also quoted the diplomat as saying Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's "day has come and gone" and that only engagement with the junta could bring meaningful chang ... read more







NUKEWARS
Algeria pushes to revive energy industry

Policies To Spur Renewable Energy Can Lower Energy Costs

Who Uses The Most Electricity In Germany

How Can Urban Areas Efficiently Save Energy

NUKEWARS
A New Electronic Structure For Generating Spin Current

EU denies funding for fusion reactor

Electric Current Moves Magnetic Vortices

Computer Memory Takes A Spin

NUKEWARS
Nordex USA Wins 41MW Order For Iowa Wind Farm

Wind Turbines On Farmland May Benefit Crops

Massive offshore wind proposed for R.I.

Repair And Inspection Services For The Expanding Wind Power Industry

NUKEWARS
Xcel Energy And SunEdison Break Ground On Solar Deployment In New Mexico

SunReports Approved By California Solar Initiative's Thermal Program

Kalahari Greentech Tests Gas Turbine

Solopower Offers World's Most Powerful Certified Flexible CIGS Module

NUKEWARS
Malaysia aims to build two nuclear power plants

Russia, Mongolia set terms for uranium mining venture

Mitsubishi to produce nuclear fuel in US with AREVA

Areva head opposes new capital increase

NUKEWARS
Champion Hydrogen-Producing Microbe

"Green genes" In Yeast May Boost Biofuel Production By Increasing Stress Tolerance

Seaweed As Biofuel? Metabolic Engineering Makes It A Viable Option

Doubling Import Tax On Ethanol Will Escalate Brazil-US Trade Conflict

NUKEWARS
China Builds Theme Park In Spaceport

Tiangong Space Station Plans Progessing

China-Made Satellite Keeps Remote Areas In Venezuela Connected

Optis Software To Optimize Chinese Satellite Design

NUKEWARS
California approves first broad US climate plan

Polar Bears Still On Thin Ice

Climate change worse for Southeast Asia

Police wrongly arrested Copenhagen climate protesters: court


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement