IAEA Gets $50 Million to Launch Nuclear Fuel Bank

The International Atomic Energy Agency today received a major boost to its plan to establish an international nuclear fuel reserve, announcing that it has received a $50 million pledge to kick start the effort.  The fuel bank would ensure a supply of uranium for nuclear power reactors in nations that meet their nonproliferation commitments (see GSN, Sept. 18).

The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based private organization, announced the pledge toward the effort today at special agency meeting in Vienna.  The grant is contingent upon the agency taking steps to create the reserve and on agency member nations raising an additional $100 million to fund the program within two years. 

The money has been provided by U.S. investor Warren Buffet, a key NTI advisor. 

“The pledge is an investment in a safer world,” Buffet said in a release.  “The concept of a backup fuel reserve has been discussed for many years.  Its creation is inherently a government responsibility, but I hope that this pledge of funds will support governments in taking action to get this concept off the ground” (IAEA release I, Sept. 19).

Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei welcomed the promised funds, saying that nuclear proliferation concerns required a new approach to encourage developing nations to restrain from building their own nuclear fuel production facilities.  The technology used to produce nuclear fuel can also be used to manufacture nuclear weapon materials.

“The increase in global energy demand is driving a potential expansion in the use of nuclear energy.  And concern is mounting regarding the proliferation risks created by the ongoing spread of sensitive nuclear technology, such as that used in uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing,” he said today.

The fuel bank concept is intended to ensure that nations continue to receive fuel in case commercial supplies are interrupted, ElBaradei said.

The plan would “make sure that all countries that fulfill their nonproliferation obligations are able to get the fuel and technology they need, without being subject to extraneous political considerations,” he said.

The reserve is the first step towards ElBaradei’s final goal of consolidating nuclear fuel production in multilateral operations (IAEA release II, Sept. 19).

NTI Co-Chairman Sam Nunn said the funds would help address “the top security priority” for the international community today.

“I believe that the gravest danger in the world today is that a nuclear weapon will be used by a state or a terrorist group,” he told the agency’s special meeting today.

Limiting the number of fuel production facilities would reduce the risk that they would be used to produce weapon-grade materials, he said.

“Some countries will consider building indigenous fuel cycle facilities — a costly choice that would spread those capacities throughout the world and add to the proliferation risks that are inherent to these technologies,” he said.  “Other states will prefer — for economic and security reasons — to import fuel from other suppliers.  I believe it is in our collective security interest to ensure that states have confidence in selecting this second path” (NTI release, Sept. 19).

Meanwhile, other nations continued to press for related proposals to help non-fuel-producing countries from joining the production club.

Russia, for example, announced today that it was prepared to open an international uranium enrichment center early next year.  The center would provide an assured source of fuel to nations that forgo their own enrichment plants and adhere to nonproliferation standards.

“We have chosen a site for it in Angarsk,” Russia civil nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters at the Vienna conference (RIA Novosti, Sept. 19).  The Siberian city is home to the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant, a facility that now produces low-enriched uranium for Russian nuclear power reactors, according to Russian news services (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Sept. 19).

Japan also endorsed the fuel assurance concept yesterday.  Science and Technology Minister Iwao Matsuda called for nuclear supplier nations to work through the U.N. nuclear agency to guarantee fuel to nations that experience supply disruptions (Mainichi Daily News, Sept. 19).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]

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