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UN Agency To Turn Down Iranian Reactor Request
Vienna (AFP) Nov 22, 2006 The UN atomic agency has bridged sharp differences and is expected to turn down Iran's request for help in building a nuclear reactor that the West fears could provide plutonium for weapons, diplomats said Wednesday. The United States and the European Union argue that Iran, suspected of seeking nuclear weapons and threatened with United Nations sanctions, has no right to technical aid for the Arak reactor. But the Western states have struggled to persuade non-aligned countries at an ongoing meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors. The non-aligneds, led by Cuba, say Iran should get the aid it has requested as the IAEA has certified the project is not a proliferation risk. They have also invoked the principle of the transfer of peaceful nuclear technology to developing countries. Divisions caused a deadlock from Monday to Wednesday at the board meeting on technical cooperation, which has to recommend an aid package that is then rubber-stamped by an IAEA board political meeting. But diplomats said that the board was now expected to approve Thursday a list of some 800 aid projects for the coming two years, but to drop the item requesting safety expertise for the Arak reactor. US ambassador Gregory Schulte told reporters the expected consensus was due to "widespread mistrust of Iran's nuclear program and the risk of plutonium being diverted from this reactor for use in a weapon." Another Western diplomat said that "Iran was very isolated," in its request for technical help for a reactor to make medical isotopes. Many developing countries "didn't want Iran to jeopardize the (IAEA's) technical cooperation program," the unnamed source said. But several diplomats from developing countries disagreed, saying that Iran had been "realistic" and could resubmit its proposal for safety expertise for the heavy-water reactor it is building at Arak, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Tehran. "Iran has made it clear that they are proceeding with building the reactor but wanted to make clear their concern about safety," one non-aligned diplomat told AFP. Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh had complained Tuesday that a strictly technical matter was being politicised. But a diplomat from a non-aligned state said: "A compromise has been struck," namely to let the board handle the decision as a political matter in order not to jeopardize the cooperation program. The United States and the European Union, as well as Australia and Canada, are ready to accept the aid package, including seven less controversial programs for Iran, but have balked at help for the Arak reactor. "The reactor, once completed, will be capable of producing plutonium for one or more nuclear weapons each year," Schulte told the board Monday. Schulte said the IAEA secretariat had promised to monitor the remaining projects in Iran to ensure they "will not further Iran's efforts to develop enrichment, reprocessing or heavy water projects," such as providing training that could be used for such sensitive nuclear fuel work.
earlier related report The United States and the European Union argue that Iran, suspected of seeking nuclear weapons and threatened with UN sanctions, has no right to technical aid for a reactor the International Atomic Energy Agency has asked it to "reconsider" building. But the Western states have been unable to persuade non-aligned countries at an ongoing meeting on technical cooperation of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors. The non-aligneds, led by Cuba, say Iran should get the aid it has requested as the IAEA has certified the project is not a proliferation risk. They have also invoked the principle of the transfer of peaceful nuclear technology to developing countries. The United States and the EU, as well as Australia and Canada, are ready to accept a package of 832 aid projects, including seven less controversial programs for Iran, but refuse to offer Tehran safety expertise in building the heavy-water reactor at Arak, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Tehran. "The reactor, once completed, will be capable of producing plutonium for one or more nuclear weapons each year," said US ambassador to the IAEA Gregory Schulte. Diplomats said the plan now was for the technical session to make no recommendation and for the matter to be taken up fresh when the governing board meets in a regular political session Thursday and Friday. "G-77 nations (developing states) are saying that approving aid is a technical decision but that removing a project is a political decision," a Western diplomat said. The board ended debate Tuesday unable to reach agreement and was to resume the technical discussions the following day. "I think more time is needed," a senior EU diplomat told AFP. While Russia and China have spoken in favor of approving the whole aid package, including the Arak reactor, they will eventually support the naysayers, a Western diplomat said. Iran ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh on Tuesday blasted the holding up of aid to Arak -- which Iran is constructing in any case -- saying a strictly technical matter was being politicised. Soltanieh told the board that countries funding the aid "have assumed the role of supervising, even interfering and imposing their politically motivated and discriminatory policies in the technical evaluation process." He criticised states such as Canada and Australia for backing IAEA aid to Israel, which is not a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but not to a signatory like Iran. Diplomats said the compromise being hammered out was to defer a decision on Arak, rather than reject the idea of technical cooperation outright. The Western powers have a majority on the board and would win a vote, but are working for a consensus decision, they said. Finnish ambassador Kirsti Helena Kauppi had said Monday on behalf of the EU that Iran's request for IAEA funding was "not consistent" with the resolutions of the board of governors and the UN Security Council, which has threatened sanctions to get Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. A Security Council resolution in July called on Iran to suspend making enriched uranium, which like plutonium can fuel civilian reactors but can be used in highly enriched form to make atom bombs. Iran says it is building the Arak reactor to produce medical isotopes and to replace a smaller, ageing, light-water reactor in Tehran.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Japanese Company To Order Recycled Nuclear Fuel From France
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 22, 2006A regional Japanese power company said Wednesday it will order recycled nuclear fuel from France's Melox as resource-poor Japan steps up its use of nuclear energy despite controversy. Shikoku Electric Power Company, which manages power plants on Japan's southwestern island of Shikoku, said it will sign the contract next week for mixed plutonium-uranium oxide (MOX), which is made partially from spent nuclear fuel. |
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