Nuclear Energy

General Electric Co. and Hitachi Ltd. on Monday launched a joint nuclear business to capitalize on rising demand for electricity and increasing concerns about carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. John Krenicki, president and chief executive of GE Energy, said that nuclear plants produced virtually no carbon gases and that reactors could take the place of aging power plants that rely on fossil fuels.

Iranian officials said Sunday that any further United Nations Security Council sanctions on the country could jeopardize its recent decisions to grant international inspectors greater access to nuclear sites and disclose information about past activities. Iran last week announced a decision to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, to monitor its heavy-water reactor near the western town of Arak, after having barred them this year.

The Bush administration announced Friday that it had reached agreement with India on the terms of a controversial nuclear cooperation pact after India offered to permit international monitoring of a new fuel reprocessing facility. The agreement, which has been under negotiation for two years, would provide technical aid and fuel to India's civilian nuclear power program for the first time since 1978, when the United States halted such assistance to protest India's development of nuclear weapons.

The political tussle in India over a landmark nuclear cooperation deal with the United States has reached a fevered stage, prompting warnings that the dispute could topple the Indian government and force early elections. Raucous debates in Parliament and recriminations in the media have rocked the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has staked much of his country's foreign policy and his own political capital on the agreement going through.

The Energy Department's controversial plan to build a nuclear waste dump in Nevada was trumped by Western water law Tuesday, when a federal judge rejected the agency's demand for 8 million gallons of water that state officials have refused to release. Energy officials said they needed the water to drill test holes at Yucca Mountain, the site about 90 miles north of Las Vegas where the government wants to store about 70,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste from across the nation.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, appearing side by side with his Iranian counterpart at a five-nation summit here Tuesday, made a powerful show of support for America's regional archenemy, drawing the line against any attack on Iran and reaffirming Tehran's right to a civilian nuclear program.

Re "Putin stands by Iran on hot issues," Oct. 17 The U.S. discouraging Iran from developing "peaceful" nuclear energy because it could lead to the development of nuclear weapons is a genuine concern. After all, the U.S. and the Soviet Union did just that, amassing stupendous nuclear arsenals. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin asserts: "We believe all countries have the right to a peaceful nuclear energy program."

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, a relative moderate who struggled against the uncompromising agenda of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has resigned his high-profile post, government officials announced Saturday. The resignation of Ali Larijani dealt a major setback to Iranian moderates trying to forge a compromise over Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology, which is strongly opposed by the West.

Rock musicians Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash are putting a new millennium twist on their 1970s anti-nuclear message, urging Congress not to approve federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. Nearly three decades ago, the three were prominent in the anti-nuke movement, helping organize the "No Nukes" concerts at Madison Square Garden that stirred public opposition to nuclear power.