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Germany Calls For An International Uranium Enrichment Centre
Berlin (AFP) Sep 20, 2006 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has proposed setting up uranium enrichment centres under UN control to end nuclear disputes like the one over Iran, a newspaper reported. Steinmeier said such centres could be used by several nations and placed under control of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. "Interested countries like Iran could in this way obtain nuclear fuel for civilian use under strict control," Steinmeier told the daily Handelsblatt in an advance extract of its Monday edition newspaper. "It could be financed by countries that claim the right to buy nuclear fuel," he added. "We need to have an international supply of nuclear fuel to stop countries feeling the need to build their own installations." Steinmeier said the Vienna-based IAEA had the right to build and run nuclear installations. According to the Handelsblatt, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been informed of the proposal and Germany is planning to promote it when the country takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January 2007. In a bid to resolve the standoff over Iran's suspect nuclear actitivities, Russia has offered to provide the Islamic Republic with enriched uranium. Tehran, which denies Western allegations that it is seeking to produce nuclear weapons, has turned down the offer and violated a UN deadline to stop enriching uranium by the end of August. The IAEA starts a general conference on Monday that will be dominated by the Iranian crisis and will consider a proposal, backed by Russia and the United States, for an international fuel bank. "I want to make sure that every country that is a bona fide user of nuclear energy and that is fulfilling its non-proliferation obligations is getting fuel," ElBaradei said at the weekend.
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First Test-Run At Japan Nuclear Reactor Since 2004 Accident
Tokyo (AFP) Sep 21, 2006A Japanese nuclear reactor was turned on Thursday for the first time since it witnessed the country's worst-ever nuclear plant accident more than two years ago, the Kyodo news agency reported. The No.3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear plant, owned by the Kansai Electric Power Co., was restarted for a 13-day test run as a prelude to full commercial operation, company spokesman Masaru Hamano was quoted as saying. |
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