1999

February 2
At the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) in
Geneva, delegates from Belgium, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, and Norway propose a panel to discuss (but not negotiate) steps leading toward global nuclear disarmament.

February 9
The sixth U.S. subcritical nuclear weapons test ,
called " Clarinet ," is conducted at the Nevada Test Site.

February 20
India and Pakistan sign a number of agreements designed to reduce tensions between the two countries that increased after nuclear tests were conducted in May 1998. Agreements include advance warning of ballistic missile tests and a pledge to reduce the risks of accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons.

March 31
In response to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Chairman of Russia's General Staff Anatoly Kvashin says that Moscow no longer rules out launching a preemptive nuclear strike against a potential enemy. The Boston Globe quotes him as saying, "If it comes to a matter of whether Russia will exist or not, then everything the military has, including nuclear weapons, should be used."

April 1
U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency merges into the State Department.

April 11
India successfully test-fires an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), the Agni II (Fire), from a rail platform located at a new test site on Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal. Agni II is believed to be the mainstay of India's nuclear delivery system.

April 12-23
The Third Preparatory Conference for the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is held at the UN in New York and concludes without progress.

April 14
Following the Indian Agni II launch on 11 April, Pakistan responds with the launch of its Ghauri II medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM). The missile is fired from the Tilla Firing Range at Malute in Jhelum District, 40 miles east of Islamabad. The name "Ghauri" is highly symbolic, referring to a Muslim historical figure who defeated a Hindu ruler in the 12th century.

April 15
Pakistan conducts its second test of a nuclear-capable missile successfully test-firing its Shaheen (Eagle) short-range ballistic missile (SRBM). The test is conducted at the Sonmiani naval base, about 30 miles (50 km) from the southern port city of Karachi on the Arabian Sea coast.

April 23
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) releases the Strategic Concept which outlines its nuclear weapons policy. Despite the end of the Cold War and subsequent changes in international security, NATO announces its continued reliance on nuclear weapons. As part of the Euro-Atlantic relationship, nuclear weapons will be deployed in Europe indefinitely.

April 24-25
At its 50th anniversary summit in Washington, D.C., NATO discusses its new identity as an "alliance of interests," which requires the adaptation of its military infrastructure to new challenges such as the proliferation of nuclear and ballistic missile technology.

April 29
Russia signs a decree providing for future development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.

May 11-16
Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) meet in The Hague, the Netherlands, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first International Peace Conference held in The Hague. The Conference issues a Hague Agenda for Peace.

June 10
At White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and a contractor team led by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space test the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system designed to defend against attacking theater ballistic missiles. The THAAD missile intercepts and destroys a target missile simulating a Scud Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM). The military claims its first successful THAAD intercept in seven attempts.

June 14
The U.S. and Russia conclude an agreement in Washington, which extends for seven years programs to reduce the threat posed by nuclear, biological, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction.

June 25
India seizes the Ku Wol San , a North Korean vessel believed to carry missile production blueprints, drawings and instruction manuals, in addition to a sizeable shipment of missile components and production materials bound for Pakistan.

July 19
An upgraded Patriot Anti-Cruise Missile (PACM) intercepts an MQM-107 drone simulating a cruise missile flying at low altitude at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The military considers the test a success and calls it a historical first. The new missile is part of the Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2), an updated version of the Patriot Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system.

July 21
Capt. Alexei Konkov , a Russian military officer who works at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a Russian
space complex in Kazakhstan, tries to smuggle a small amount of nuclear fuel into Uzbekistan. At the time of his detention by customs officers Konkov carries a round lead plated tin container emitting more than 50 times natural radiation levels.

July 23
Pakistan reportedly tests the engine for a new IRBM called the Ghauri III. According to an Urdu-language report in Islamabad's Ausaf newspaper on 24 June 1999, the Ghauri III has a range of 2,700-3,500 km (1,674-2,170 miles).

July 25
Tokyo Forum for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament releases report, "Facing Nuclear Dangers: An Action Plan for the 21st Century."

July 27
The first of three Dolphin-class submarines for Israel's Navy arrive in Israel. According to defense experts, the submarine could be outfitted to give Israel a second-strike nuclear capability.

August 2
China test-fires its Dongfeng-31 (DF-31) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) within Chinese territory. The missile is reportedly launched from the Wuzhai Missile & Space Center in northern central China, about 250 miles southwest of Beijing, to a remote interior area, possibly near the Lop Nor nuclear test site in Xinjiang province, in northwestern China. The DF-31 is a three-stage, solid fuel, road mobile missile system with a range of 8,000 km (approx. 5,000 miles). It can hold a nuclear warhead weighing up to 1,500 pounds. Deployment is expected to begin within three years.

The U.S. Army, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), and a contractor team led by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space test the U.S. Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system (a TMD system) at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The system's second intercept of a target missile in less than two months is called a success.

August 17
An officially constituted advisory panel to the Indian National Security Council releases a draft nuclear doctrine according to which nuclear weapons would be delivered by aircraft, submarines, and mobile land-based ballistic missiles.

August 18
The Cassini probe, a plutonium-powered U.S. spacecraft, engages in a "slingshot maneuver," returning into Earth's orbit to increase its velocity on its way to Saturn.

September 9
In an important assessment of the ballistic missile threat to the United States,the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency projects that "during the next 15 years the United States most likely will face ICBM [intercontinental-range ballistic missile] threats from Russia, China, and North Korea, probably from Iran, and possibly from Iran."

September 22
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev sign a formal agreement establishing the Joint Center for Y2K Strategic Stability to be located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, designed to detect false missile attack alarms caused by the year 2000 (Y2K) computer bug.

September 24
Negotiations with U.S. diplomats result in the announcement by North Korea that it will cease its missile testing program. North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles, Taepo Dong II , with an estimated-range of 3,700 to 5,000 miles, could carry nuclear, chemical or biological warheads as far as Japan, Hawaii, or Alaska. The U.S. promises in turn to lift its trade embargo against North Korea.

September 27
The U.S. conducts its seventh subcritical nuclear weapons test with the code-name "Oboe" underground at the Nevada Test Site, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

September 30
Radiation leaks from a JCO Ltd. uranium-processing (MOX) plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo. Radiation measures at 10,000 times above normal near the leak site. Three workers are hospitalized, two in critical condition. A worker put 35 pounds instead of 5.2 pounds of uranium nitrate solution into a tank, ignoring control limits. The uranium, which went critical, was imported from France in the form of UF6 fluoride gas. Workers say they saw a blue light and then became ill . Neutrons pass through almost all substances, causing ionization all the way- for instance making table salt radioactive. Thousands of nearby residents are evacuated and 667 are exposed to dangerous levels of radiation as outside monitors register levels of 15,000 times higher than usual.

India successfully test-fires its multi-target surface-to-air missile Akash at Chandipur-on-Sea in Balasore, Orissa. The Akash SAM, which has a range of 25 km, compares to the U.S. Patriot missile.

October
Russia and China introduce a UN Resolution demanding strict compliance with the ABM Treaty.

October 2
A missile sent from the U.S. Army Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands is unsuccessful in intercepting a Minuteman 3 missile launched at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. The test is a National Missile Defense (NMD) component of the Ballistic Missile Defense plan.

October 5
India test-fires again its medium range surface-to-air missile, Akash , from the interim test range at Chandipur-on-Sea, about 15 km from Balasore.

October 6-8
The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is held in Vienna. Its purpose is to consider and decide on measures, consistent with international law, to facilitate the early entry into force of the CTBT. Under Article XIV paragraph 2 of the treaty, if the CTBT has not entered into force three years after the anniversary of its opening for signature, the Depositary shall convene such a Conference at the request of a majority of States that have already deposited their instruments of ratification.

October 18
The U.S. Senate rejects the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) , drawing widespread international condemnation . 51 senators were against while 48 voted for ratification.

October 20
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi reaffirms Japan's commitment to not possess, produce, or introduce nuclear weapons, after dismissing vice-defence minister Shingo Nishimura who advocated a rethinking of Japan's nuclear weapons policy in the Japanese-language magazine Weekly Playboy .

In landmark ruling Sheriff Margaret Gimblett throws out a case against three women accused of causing damage to the Faslane Trident base. Gimbett rules that the Trident 2 were illegal under International Law , United Kingdom Law, and Scottish Law. She says: "The three [ Angie Zelter , Ulla Roder , and Ellen Moxley ] took the view that if Trident is illegal, given the horrendous nature of nuclear weapons, they had the obligation in terms of international law to do whatever little they could to stop the deployment and use of nuclear weapons in situations which could be construed as a threat." The Scottish Parliament will debate the legal and constitutional implications of Gimblett's ruling.

November
The U.S. Defense Department declassifies documents according to which the U.S. deployed nuclear weapons in 27 different global locations, including 18 countries and U.S. controlled territories during the Cold War. Among others, the U.S. stored nuclear weapons secretly in Japan. Nuclear weapons were stored on Chichi Jima and on Iwo Jima, two Pacific islands that the United States tried to avoid giving back to Japan. President Eisenhower approved extensive nuclear deployments in the Pacific, totaling about 1,600 weapons on Japan, Okinawa, Guam, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan. Although Japan's non-nuclear policy of not possessing, not producing, and not introducing nuclear weapons had been in effect since 1959, indeed nuclear weapons were indeed stored in Japan until 1965. Claims of Japan's nuclear-free status by Japanese leaders were technically if not wholly truthful since the bombs stored on Japan's main island lacked plutonium and/or uranium cores; meanwhile, complete warheads and whole bombs were kept on US Navy ships offshore Sasebo and Yokosuka.

November 1
Activists walk onto the property of Alliant Techsystems, Inc. in suburban Minnetonka,Minnesota to protest manufacture of depleted uranium-238 (DU) weapons. Alliant Techsystems assembled 15 million rounds of PGU-14,a "depleted uranium penetrator" for the U.S. A-10 Warthog planes used in Iraq in 1991 and during NATO Kosovo operations in 1999. Depleted uranium is made from uranium hexafluoride, a non-fissionable byproduct of the uranium enrichment process used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons and reactor fuel. When it smashes a target, the DU bullet burns into a fine mist of toxic and radioactive uranium oxide, which can drift 25 miles and can lodge in lungs and liver to cause cancer, birth defects and immune dysfunction.

The United States and Russia open a U.S.-funded nuclear security center to train Russian officers to
guard atomic weapons storage sites and use high-tech detection equipment.

An Arrow II missile successfully strikes a target missile over the Mediterranean and is officially declared capable of intercepting and destroying incoming ballistic missiles. The joint U.S.-Israeli Arrow II program is the only anti-ballistic-missile defense system under active development with the capacity to demolish warheads high in the stratosphere.

November 3
Breaking a six-year moratorium, Russia test-fires one of its short-range anti-missile rockets. The test comes amid mounting U.S.-Russian differences over the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty which Washington wants changed to allow deployment of a new missile defense system.

A U.S. federal appeals court allows nearly 2,000 people to revive lawsuits over health problems they blame on the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

November 9
The Pentagon announces it will sell to South Korea 14 of the latest Patriot air defense systems, including air-defense missiles, radars, fire control stations, electrical generators, trucks, trailers, maintenance equipment and other supplies.

The U.S. conducts its 8th Subcritical Nuclear Weapons Test, code-named "Oboe 2." The test is conducted underground at the Nevada Test Site, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

November 10
Russia's Foreign Ministry threatens to scrap talks on nuclear arms reduction if the United States does not uphold the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

November 13
An authoritative source associated with India's Defence Research and Development Organisation indicates that the development of India's 5,000 km range intercontinental ballistic missile, code-named Surya , is at an advanced stage.

November 16
After protests from Mohawk Indians and some Canadian mayors, the U.S. Department of Energy decides not to ship to Canada as much as 33 tons of plutonium from old nuclear weapons for use in commercial reactors to produce electricity.

November 17
President Boris Yeltsin signs a bill approving the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) , a global nuclear test ban and sends it to the Duma, the lower house of parliament, for ratification.

Russia test-fires two nuclear-capable ballistic missiles from a submarine in the Barents Sea in the Arctic north.

During a training flight a British Tornado fighter plane crashes into the North Sea, a half-mile off-shore from a Scottish nuclear power plant. In their official report, British officials put the distance at one mile, which is the statutory distance military aircraft have to maintain from nuclear power plants.

The CIA declassifies new documents showing that the Soviet Union had the capability of striking all U.S. missile silos with two warheads each near the end of the Cold War, but was wary of escalating the arms race for economic reasons.

December
Four Plowshares activists, among them the longtime peace activist, Philip Berrigan , 77, cut a fence on a U.S. Air National Guard base, pour blood, hang a rosary, drape a banner, and hammer on A-10 Warthog fighter jets to the extent of $88,622 in damages. The group protests the use of anti-tank bullets containing depleted uranium (DU). Such bullets were used extensively by Warthog aircraft in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and last year in Kosovo. The DU bullets pollute ground and air with radioactive particulates that can cause birth defects and other devastating health and environmental effects. The judge would not allow defense witnesses to testify about the hazards of depleted uranium.

Andreas Toupadakis , an environmental scientist employed at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco, resigns his well-paid permanent position for reasons of conscience. Toupadakis opposed working in the Stockpile Stewardship Program which according to the Department of Energy is to maintain the reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

After reviewing the nine year, $18 million Hanford Thyroid Disease Study, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences declares its conclusions to be in error. The study conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (CDC) had found no thyroid harm from Hanford's radioiodine releases.

A U.S. Department of Energy report to the U.S. Congress finds that there are 14,890 pages of declassified U.S. government documents containing nuclear weapons secrets that should not have been declassified and placed in the National Archives. The information included test results and weapons utilization information such as yields, deployment, and storage locations.

December 7
Taiwan military reports confirm that China is building a new type of nuclear submarine slated to be put into service in the year 2005 and capable of carrying a smaller underwater variant of China's new DF-31 international ballistic missile called the Julang II with a range of about 7,400 miles (11,935 km).

December 8
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) approves a plan to produce tritium for nuclear weapons from a commercial nuclear reactor. This breaches a long-standing wall in the U.S. between civilian and military nuclear power.

December 9
Reviewing the U.S. nuclear stockpile, a U.S. Congressional panel chaired by John S. Foster , former head of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a former senior U.S. Defense Department official, makes the provocative recommendation that the Department of Energy design new warheads. The panel members included former U.S. Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and Harold Agnew , a former Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory director. The Foster panel suggests that work start immediately to design a plant to replace the Rocky Flats, Colorado facility which closed in 1989 and is in the process of a remediation cleanup.

December 17
A U.S.-led consortium signs a $4.6 billion contract to build two nuclear reactors in Kumho, in northeastern North Korea. The deal rewards North Korea for keeping its promise to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons program.

December 20
Hisachi Ouchi , a MOX plant worker who was severely injured in the nuclear accident at the JCO Co. Tokaimura plant in September 1999, dies from radiation exposure of 17,000 times the maximum annual permissible exposure.

December 23
Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin assumes the presidency of Russia. Putin promises to push for ratification of the START II nuclear arms reduction treaty as well as for long-stalled economic reforms.

December 29
Aleksandr Nikitin is acquitted of charges. Nikitin , an environmentalist and retired Soviet Navy officer, had been charged with espionage and disclosure of state secrets for revealing dangerous storage practices of nuclear waste by the Russian Navy that abandoned nuclear submarines in a shipyard near Russia's border with Norway. Nitkin was co-author of "Bellona Report on the Russian Northern Fleet- Sources," a publication that was declared illegal literature in Russia. [See Related Sites upper right column for the report]