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Energy Bill Would Ease U.S. Uranium Export Controls
A provision in the energy bill Congress is expected to approve today would ease export controls on weapon-grade uranium, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, July 25). An amendment sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) would end a 13-year U.S. ban on bomb-grade uranium exports to recipients that have not agreed to convert their reactors to use uranium enriched to a lower level. Supporters of the new measure have argued that eliminating the restriction would ensure a supply of medical isotopes used for treatments for cancer, heart disease, epilepsy and other diseases. Critics, on the other hand, warn that the move would send the wrong nuclear proliferation message at a time the United States is promoting efforts to remove weapon-grade uranium from other parts of the world. Moreover, because the Canadian company MDS Nordion is the world’s leading producer of those isotopes and would have to spend millions of dollars to convert its reactor to use low-enriched uranium, some have criticized the measure for indulging special interests at the expense of security. “To save one Canadian company some money, we’re willing to blow a hole in our nonproliferation policies,” said Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.). The amendment applies only to exports to Canada and four European allies, according to the Post. Nordion produces isotopes for the U.S. market, so pushing the company to convert its reactor could create shortages in the United States of a medical product used to help 14 million Americans annually, said industry officials. “Our industry shares the concern about nonproliferation; we don’t have our heads in the sand,” said Roy Brown, federal affairs director for the Council on Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals. “When the technology is there, we’ll all be willing to switch.” The provision, however, would eliminate the financial incentives to make the change, critics said. “To get something as outrageous as this, that’s skillful lobbying,” said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists (Michael Grunwald, Washington Post, July 29).
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