Yahoo! News: U.S. hopes to unveil defense, nuclear deals in India
’WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hopes to unveil agreements that would help U.S. firms sell sophisticated arms and nuclear power plants to India when she visits next week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. One would be an "end-use monitoring" agreement under which the United States would have the right to make sure U.S. arms sold to India are used for their intended purpose and that the technology does not leak to third countries. Under U.S. law, such a pact is necessary for U.S. firms to bid on India's plan to buy 126 multi-role fighters, which would be one of the largest arms deals in the world and could be a boon to Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. "We hope to be able to sign that," Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake told reporters as he previewed Clinton's trip to India. She arrives in Mumbai on Friday for a two-night visit and then goes to New Delhi for Monday talks.’

Indybay: Marylanders today announced launch of a citizens' organization to stop the proposed experimental French, double-sized nuclear reactor in order to save the dead and dying Chesapeake Bay.
’(Baltimore, MA) Concerned Marylanders from around the state have come together to launch People Against A Radioactive Chesapeake (PAARC). The grassroots citizens group brings together members from local anti-nuclear organizations: Southern Maryland CARES, the Crabshell Alliance, and the Chesapeake Safe Energy Coalition in an effort to halt construction of a Giant 1,710 Megawatt EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR REACTOR proposed for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant on the Chesapeake Bay. UniStar Nuclear Energy, LLC is a proposed joint venture partnership between Maryland-based Constellation Energy and a 49.99 percent ownership by the Electricite de France (EDF). EDF is over 84 percent owned by the French state. The Constellation- EDF joint venture issue is currently unresolved. PAARC protests the use of the Chesapeake Bay, protected under a recent Executive Order, as dumping grounds when there are other available methods of power generation that are far cleaner, safer, and environmentally sustainable.’

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: Factsheet on the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT)
’A fissile material cutoff treaty would ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons purposes. Fissile materials, principally highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium, are the essential ingredients for building nuclear weapons and powering nuclear reactors. The effective control and elimination of fissile materials is an essential step toward nuclear disarmament. In mid-2008, the global stockpile of HEU was approximately 1670 tons. According to the IAEA, 25 kg of HEU is necessary to make a first-generation implosion bomb of the Nagasaki-type. Approximately 99 percent of the global stockpile of HEU is located in the Nuclear Weapon States: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China. The global stockpile of separated plutonium is about 500 tons. About half of this stockpile is used for civilian purposes and continues to grow.’

Reuters: French minister resists EDF calls for tariff hike
’PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) - The potential for French electricity tariffs to rise will hinge on energy production costs rather than the corporate strategy of power giant EDF, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. The head of EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Pierre Gadonneix, has expressed hopes for a rise in state-controlled electricity tariffs and warned that his company might have to slash investment if a 20-percent rise did not materialise over the next three years. Lagarde, who has ignored such calls from the EDF chief in the past, told a session of parliament that the government had yet to reach any conclusions, but that the criteria for making decisions was clear. "The tariffs will only be raised in accordance with higher costs for producing our electricity in France," she said.’