|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
IAEA Could Approve Saudi Bid for Minimal Oversight
The International Atomic Energy Agency appears set to recommend approval of a request from Saudi Arabia to sign a Small Quantities Protocol, an agreement that would limit agency oversight of Saudi nuclear activities, the Associated Press yesterday (see GSN, May 5). An IAEA document, provided to AP by a diplomat at the agency, requests that board members “conclude ... and subsequently implement” the agreement and adds that monitoring of Riyadh’s activities would be held to “a minimum.” The Small Quantities Protocol allows Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty member states to forgo reporting possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium and 2.2 pounds of plutonium. The rule also allows new nuclear facilities to be kept secret until six months prior to operation. Under the deal, Saudi officials would inform the U.N. nuclear watchdog of their nuclear status, but the agency would not have immediate authority to contest or verify that information. Diplomats said the agency’s Board of Governors is expected to approve the arrangement at its June 13 meeting, AP reported. While Riyadh has denied pursuing a nuclear weapons program, links over the last 20 years have been found to prewar Iraq’s nuclear program and to former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, AP reported. It also has shown interest in Pakistani nuclear-capable missiles, according to AP. Several diplomats said the agency preferred a stricter monitoring system and remained concerned about potential abuses. The agency has “recently drawn member states’ attention to a remaining weakness in the safeguards system, namely the problems posed by Small Quantities Protocols,” said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky. He said “possible remedies” would be discussed at the agency’s next Board of Governors meeting slated to begin June 13 (George Jahn, Associated Press/ABCNews.com, May 31). While there has been no recent indication of a nuclear effort by Saudi Arabia, according to several Western diplomats based at the agency, Iran’s nuclear status could alter regional security expectations, the New York Sun reported. “They are certainly behaving like they have something to hide,” Gerald Posner, author of Secrets of the Kingdom, said of Saudi Arabia. “Even a rudimentary [nuclear program]” should raise alarm, according to Posner. It “might have been acceptable in the pre-9/11 world, but should not be tolerated by the United States government or any European government now,” he said (Benny Avni, New York Sun, June 1).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
