The Ultimate Nuclear Test

By Sergio Duarte and Tibor Toth

NEW YORK – On 1 November, a team of over 35 experts will launch an exercise to inspect a simulated nuclear test site near the Dead Sea in Jordan—a step forward in completing the global  verification system of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Then on 12 November, the world’s Nobel Peace Laureates will hold a summit in Hiroshima to stress the priority of nuclear disarmament and affirm their commitment to promoting it.

Countless other international initiatives are also underway that reflect a wider revolution in thinking about nuclear weapons—a revolution that is welcome and long overdue.

After all, despite much talk of nuclear disarmament when the Cold War ended 20 years ago, more than 20,000 of these weapons still exist, with many on high alert, and each much larger than the devices that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nine countries are known or believed to possess them, and all are improving them in various ways.

Let’s be clear, the very existence of these weapons aggravates three global nuclear threats – from existing arsenals (accidents, miscalculations, unauthorized use, or willful use), from their proliferation to additional states, and from their acquisition by terrorists.

But now a new global consensus is emerging that these weapons are militarily irrelevant in dealing with emerging threats, impossible to use without violating international humanitarian law, a source of proliferation and terrorist threats, and a waste of money and scientific talent. More >>>

IEA releases World Energy Outlook 2010, “peak oil is an inevitability”

Thursday, November 11, 2010

IEA releases World Energy Outlook 2010, “peak oil is an inevitability”

November 9th, 2010 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) today launched its eagerly awaited World Energy Outlook 2010 at the Hotel Crowne Plaza Hotel in London. At the press conference, Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA, began by saying that “recent events have cast an veil of uncertainty over our energy future. 

In the wake of recession, the pace of economic recovery certainly promises to have a major impact on energy markets over the next few years.” He highlighted the importance of government actions to energy security and climate change and explained that while considerable progress has been made in the past 12 months in terms of reducing fossil fuel subsidies and the promotion of low carbon technologies (partly due to commitments made by Copenhagen), such policies are not binding. 

Mr Tanaka went on to say that the new edition of the WEO marks a departure from previous efforts, in that it makes projections not just based on current policies (the so-called business-as-usual scenario), but also on likely policy developments (the new policies scenario), as well as the 450ppm scenario in which global warming is kept below 2˚C, a result that is now “very very difficult” to obtain. In fact, the WEO 2010 indicates that thanks in part to the collective failure of Copenhagen, the cost of achieving this goal has increased by US$1tn, since the publication of the WEO2009. More >>>

Executive Summary of World Energy Outlook Click Here

Europe to Invest in Massive Solar Power Plants in India

The Asian Development Bank has roped in the European Investment Bank to invest in large-scale solar power plants in India. The ADB is committed to arrange finances for India’s ambitious National Solar  Mission projects.

The Asian Development Bank has been working closely with many Asian countries to provide them financial, technical and policy-related support for expanding solar energy infrastructure. The ADB is playing an active role in India to make solar energy more popular. In addition to the European Investment Bank, the ADB has also attracted funding from the US Import-Export Bank and Germany’s KWF.

Under the National Solar Mission, India plans to install 20,000 MW solar-based power generation capacity by 2022. The current install capacity is a dismal 14 MW. The 20,000 MW capacity also includes the off-grid rural power plants. In order to rapidly increase the installed capacity the Indian government has announced two massive solar farm projects, one each in Rajasthan and Gujarat. More >>>

Pakistan should be investing heavily in projects similar to this initiative, if it is not already doing so. See Editor

Transnational social uplift efforts vital to root out terrorism, says minister

ISLAMABAD: Transnational social uplift efforts are a must for rooting out the problem of terrorism from South Asian region, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Ammad Khan on Monday.

He stated this while addressing a one-day international workshop “Pakistan-Russia Collaboration and the Afghan Crises”, organised by South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI).

Welcoming the delegates from Russia and Afghanistan, the minister said Pakistan had transformed its relations with Russia and Afghanistan. He said Pakistan had suffered the most due to the contiguity issue. Pakistan welcomes any discourses from Russia and Afghanistan on sensitive issues as well, he said. More >>>