Andrew Ferguson, who manages Geiger Counter, a nuclear investment fund, reckons that more than 200 uranium-mining firms have listed on stockmarkets around the world in the past 18 months.

ECONOMIST: Uranium

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment on U.S. efforts to counter Iran's nuclear program, but said that the focus of international talks was Iran's flouting of international requirements.

WSJ: U.S. Team Behind Computer Worm That Hit Iran

The new department would concentrate on safeguarding borders, working with first-responders such as local police and fire departments, analyzing threats and promoting technological changes to counter chemical, biological and nuclear threats.

CNN: Bush touts plans for new department

Germany's aversion to nuclear power may run counter to its desire for both cheap electricity and security of supplies.

ECONOMIST: Energy in Germany: Nuclear fallout | The

Strictly speaking, Germany has been part of the West's big four since at least 1979, when Chancellor Helmut Schmidt joined America, Britain and France for a summit conference in Guadeloupe to discuss how to counter the Soviet Union's nuclear plans in Europe.

ECONOMIST: Germany comes out of its post-war shell

Faced with the growing Soviet strategic nuclear threat, U.S. defense planners abandoned reliance on nuclear weapons alone for deterrence and planned instead to counter, at least initially, conventional aggression at the regional level.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | The Measure of a Superpower: A Two Major Regional Contingency Military for the 21st Century | Page: 2

On a fine summer day she drives to Nihonmatsu, 56km (35 miles) from the ruined nuclear plant at Fukushima, and notes her Geiger counter ticking higher: another step in the DIY defence against radioactivity.

ECONOMIST: Japan risks another crisis over decontamination

Wylfa is defended by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), an armed force dedicated to counter-terrorism.

BBC: Wylfa and other UK nuclear stations in 'safe hands'

Chief among these interests are: counter-terrorism, disposal of Soviet-built chemical and biological weapons, security of nuclear and radiological materials, arms control, nonproliferation, and the responsible withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan.

FORBES: What America's Russia Policy Should Look Like in Barack Obama's Second Term

America needs Pakistan to get the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network to talks, to do more on counter-terrorism, to allow drones to keep flying in its tribal areas and to keep its big nuclear arsenal safely locked up.

ECONOMIST: Relations between the two look increasingly poisonous