IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei presides over the opening of his agency’s annual meeting today (Dieter Nagl/Getty Images). IAEA Members Prepare to Discuss Nuclear Fuel Bank Proposals Nations plan this week to discuss creating international nuclear fuel assurances, a measure intended to address nonproliferation concerns such as the Iranian nuclear crisis (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2005). A special meeting is scheduled to open tomorrow as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual conference in Vienna...Full Story

Iran Threatens to Curb IAEA Access Iran warned today that it would reduce its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions against Tehran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 15)...Full Story

U.S., Russia Reach Liability Agreement on MOX Plan The United States and Russia have resolved a major kink in an agreement to dispose of tons of weapon-grade plutonium, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Friday (see GSN, July 14)...Full Story

	Monday, September 18, 2006

IAEA Members Prepare to Discuss Nuclear Fuel Bank Proposals Nations plan this week to discuss creating international nuclear fuel assurances, a measure intended to address nonproliferation concerns such as the Iranian nuclear crisis (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2005). A special meeting is scheduled to open tomorrow as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual conference in Vienna. Agency officials have promoted the idea of a nuclear “fuel bank” that would ensure an international supply of nuclear power plant fuel as a way to dissuade nations from building their own fuel production facilities.  The technology to produce fuel can also be used to manufacture nuclear-weapon materials. “The importance of this step is that by providing reliable access to fuel at competitive market prices, we remove the need for countries to develop indigenous fuel-cycle capabilities,” said agency head Mohamed ElBaradei in a release last week.  “In doing so, we could go a long way towards addressing current concerns about the dissemination of sensitive fuel-cycle technologies.” The fuel bank would “assure a backup supply for power reactors throughout the world on a nondiscriminatory, nonpolitical basis, reducing the need for countries to develop their own uranium enrichment technologies at a time when concerns about nuclear proliferation are growing,” says the release (IAEA release, Sept. 15). Several agency member nations, including the United States, Russia, Japan and Germany have made related proposals. The United States has proposed a system in which only those nations that currently have advanced nuclear infrastructures would be permitted to produce nuclear fuel (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2005).  The plan has drawn criticism from some nonproliferation experts who have argued that it has already spurred some nations to seek uranium enrichment capabilities before the future ban would take effect. “Any arbitrary system that creates a new set of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is unsustainable, because nobody wants to be a have-not,” said Jon Wolfsthal, a nonproliferation fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Russia has proposed establishing international fuel production centers that would sell “nondisriminatorily” to any nation, the Christian Science Monitor reported today (see GSN, Nov. 9, 2005; Michael Jordan, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 18). In addition, Germany has recommended creating U.N.-controlled enrichment facilities that would be financed by fuel customers. “We need to have an international supply of nuclear fuel to stop countries feeling the need to build their own installations,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in today’s newspaper Handelsblatt (Agence France-Presse, News!Yahoo, Sept. 17). The international fuel bank concept faces many hurdles, but existing nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea have made the idea more attractive, according to one nonproliferation expert. “This idea has been discussed for a while, and I can understand when people say they’re skeptical,” said Vitaly Fedchenko, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.  “But it looks like the current state of play makes it a little closer to reality than ever before” (Jordan, Christian Science Monitor). Back to top       Iran Threatens to Curb IAEA Access Iran warned today that it would reduce its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions against Tehran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 15). There should “be no doubt that any hostile action by the U.N. Security Council would lead to limitation of cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh said today at the agency’s annual meeting in Vienna. The solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis “is accessible through negotiations, relying on good faith, political will and flexibility,” he added (Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 18). Reduced Iranian cooperation with the agency would severely limit the international community’s window on Iran’s nuclear activities, according to the Associated Press.  Iran has already scaled back the access it offers to nuclear inspectors, and the agency has complained that Iranian intransigence has limited its ability to confirm Tehran’s assertion that its nuclear program is peaceful. The United States continued to apply rhetorical pressure today, perhaps in part to help European leaders forge progress in their own talks with Iran, AP reported. “We believe it is their intention to make a nuclear weapon,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, in Vienna to address the conference (George Jahn, Associated Press I/San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 18). In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said Iran’s diplomatic strategy could be one of buying time to advance its nuclear technology.  Bush is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow. “My concern is that they’ll stall, they’ll try to wait us out.  So part of my objective in New York is to remind people that stalling shouldn’t be allowed — we need to move the process,” he said Friday during a news conference. “Should they choose to verifiably suspend their … enrichment program, we’ll come to the table,” he added. “The offer still stands,” he said, referring to a package of incentives offered to Iran by the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany earlier this year.  The deal requires Iran to suspend sensitive nuclear activities before the nations meet to complete the details, a condition Iran has consistently refused (Bohan/John, Reuters I, Sept. 15). Meanwhile, leading European nations have been considering the possibility of crafting an alternative meeting with Iran to shake free the current diplomatic standstill. The question is “whether there could be a meeting — not necessarily with the United States — that would allow the Iranians to say there was a process of negotiations that had started and as a result of this, they decided to resume the suspension of uranium enrichment,” a diplomat told Reuters Saturday.  “The pressure is mounting for it to happen next week, that’s an obvious opportunity” (Carol Giacomo, Reuters II, Sept. 16). French President Jacques Chirac suggested today that Iran would be free of Security Council sanctions if it returned to the negotiating table. “We must, on the one hand, together, Iran and the six countries, meet and set an agenda, then start negotiations.  Then, during these negotiations, I suggest that the six nations renounce referring (Iran to) the U.N. Security Council and that Iran renounce uranium enrichment during negotiations,” he said in a radio interview (Associated Press II/International Herald Tribune, Sept. 18). Israel yesterday urged the international community to act quickly against Iran, warning that Iran could soon master nuclear weapon technology. “The crucial moment is not the day of the bomb,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told CNN’s “Late Edition.”  “The crucial moment is the day in which Iran will master the enrichment (of uranium), the knowledge of enrichment,” she said. Iranian leaders, she said, “are trying to send a message that it’s too late, you can stop your attempts because it’s too late.  It’s not too late.  They have a few more months” (Reuters III, Yahoo!News, Sept. 18) Back to top       U.S., Russia Reach Liability Agreement on MOX Plan The United States and Russia have resolved a major kink in an agreement to dispose of tons of weapon-grade plutonium, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Friday (see GSN, July 14). The two nations negotiated an agreement in 2000 to convert 34 metric tons of plutonium each into a mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel that once irradiated in nuclear power reactors would be no longer be usable in weapons. The program, however, has been severely hampered since 2003 by a legal issue. Progress on the plan suffered significant delays as the two nations walked through torturous negotiations over the liability of U.S. workers involved in construction of the Russian facilities to convert and burn the plutonium. The agreement signed last week “formally resolves the issue of what liability framework would apply for cooperation between the two countries to eliminate this dangerous material from Russian and U.S. stocks,” National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Linton Brooks said in a statement  (Energy Department release, Sept. 15). Still, other issues remain to be worked out, including what form of reactor the Russians will use to burn the MOX fuel.  Recently, Moscow has said it would only contribute financially to the project if it is permitted to burn the excess plutonium in an existing fast-neutron reactor and build an additional fast-neutron reactor (see GSN, Aug. 11). Critics of that demand say using fast-neutron reactors could actually lead to the production of more weapon-grade plutonium, effectively eliminating any nonproliferation gains of the original agreement. In addition, delays in the MOX program and difficult negotiations with Moscow have led to frustrations in Congress and a significant question about funding for the coming fiscal year. A House version of the energy appropriations bill strips the program’s entire $368 million budget. The Senate version of the same legislation pulls U.S. financing for the Russian component but remains committed to full funding for a MOX production facility in Aiken, S.C. (see GSN, June 28). The different versions have yet to be resolved in conference (Jon Fox, Global Security Newswire, Sept. 18). Back to top       Ex-Malaysian Leader Calls for Muslim Nuclear Arms Islamic nations should acquire nuclear weapons to defend themselves against Western enemies, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told a Pakistani audience Friday.  “They should have tanks, warplanes, warships, guns and missiles,” Mahathir said to a conference on religious freedom in Islamabad.  “Yes, they need to have nuclear weapons too, because only with the possession of such would their enemies be deterred from attacking them.” Mahathir, who retired from office in 2003, has often made critical comments against the West and Israel, according to the Associated Press. Ideally, the world would be free of all nuclear weapons, he said, but “if you allow Israel to have them, why should the others [in the Middle East] not have them too?” (Associated Press/ninemsn.com, Sept. 16). “The best thing we could do is to say … that all nations should not have nuclear weapons and in particular this very, very, very belligerent United States,” he added (Simon Cameron-Moore, Reuters, Sept. 15). Back to top       Russian Lawmakers Approve Nuclear Terror Treaty Russian lawmakers approved a global treaty Friday to prevent nuclear terrorism, one year after Russia became the first nation to sign the pact, the Moscow Times reported (see GSN, Sept. 9 2005). The Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism criminalizes the possession of nuclear materials or weapons with the intent to commit a terrorist act.  Attacking a nuclear facility with the intent to kill or injure someone or damage the environment is also rendered illegal. Lawmakers in the Russian Duma voted unanimously to ratify the treaty after remarks from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Times reported. “Ratification of this document answers to the interests of Russian and the entire international community,” Lavrov said according to the paper. While more than 100 countries are signatories to the treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in April 2005, Russia became the sixth nation to ratify international document. By ratifying the pact Russia joined Austria, the Czech Republic, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico and Slovokia, according to a U.N. Web site. U.S. President George W. Bush signed the treaty shortly after it was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the United States has yet to ratify it. The pact will go into force 13 days after it is ratified by 22 nations (Moscow Times, Sept. 18). Back to top       North Korean Crisis Still Stalled One Year Later Nearly one year after a seeming diplomatic breakthrough, progress toward resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis remains stalled as North Korea refuses to return to the negotiating table until U.S. economic sanctions are lifted (see GSN, Sept. 14). “The D.P.R.K. will never go back to the talks under the U.S. sanctions,” North Korea’s second-ranking leader Kim Yong Nam told a summit of Nonaligned Movement nations in Cuba Saturday. “There is no justification whatsoever to urge the D.P.R.K. to return to the talks unconditionally,” he added (Reuters, Sept. 16). On Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea and five neighboring nations and major powers agreed to a set of principles to resolve the crisis.  Pyongyang agreed to end its nuclear-weapon ambitions in exchange for a series of economic and political incentives (see GSN, Sept. 19, 2005). “It seemed to be a good agreement at the time,” Don Oberdorfer, a Johns Hopkins University professor who specializes in North Korean studies, said in a recent interview. The deal, however, may have been “a bridge too far,” he said.  “It goes beyond what the U.S. or North Korea was willing to do.” Shortly after the deal was announced the United States effected a freeze on North Korean funds held by the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, claiming that the bank was assisting North Korean money-laundering activities.  Since then, North Korea has refused to return to the six-party talks, Yonhap reported. The U.S. move was a “broad-brush action” that failed to discriminate between legal and illicit funds, said Oberdorfer, who recommended that freeing up some of the funds could provide North Korea with a face-saving way to return to the negotiations. Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg has also encouraged the Bush administration to make some concessions by pursuing more dialogue. Gregg said that Pyongyang seeks a sustained relationship with U.S. officials who do not seek a North Korean regime change. On one visit to North Korea, Gregg said he encouraged North Korean officials to adopt the Libyan strategy of surrendering its WMD programs in exchange for Western trade and recognition. “Stop dreaming about Libya,” replied North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, according to Gregg. “He said that was done after months of substantive, sustained contact,” Gregg said, adding the Kim said North Korea wouldn’t consider a Libya-type move without the same attention from Washington. The Bush administration should adopt a similar policy toward North Korea as it did toward Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi’s government, Gregg said. “The problem, I think, among some in the Bush administration is that they are unwilling to contemplate a transformational change in North Korea that leaves (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il and his people in charge,” Gregg said.  “I think they are much more interested in pressure that would cause some kind of regime change” (Yonhap, Sept. 18). Back to top       Pakistani Nuclear Scientist Released from Hospital Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former Pakistani scientist who once led an international nuclear smuggling ring, was released from a hospital yesterday after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, wire services reported (see GSN, Sept. 11). Khan, 70, considered the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, underwent surgery last weekend in Karachi after being transferred from his home in Islamabad. Since 2004, Khan, revered by many as a national hero, has been under house arrest for his role in the nuclear black market.  U.S. and other international officials seeking access to Khan, have not been permitted by the Pakistani government to question the scientist. After his release, Khan was taken to his sister’s home in Karachi where intelligence agents and troops have been deployed, the Associated Press reported. Since his transfer to Karachi, only relatives have been allowed to visit Khan and the government has released little information about his movements. “He is doing fine despite some minor issues and is under intensive post-care treatment,” a doctor involved in Khan’s treatment told Reuters on the condition of anonymity. Khan will stay in Karachi for “a few weeks for postoperative care under the supervision of the team of doctors who operated on him,” according to a statement released late Saturday by the military-run Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate. “Dr. Khan is in good health and has shown rapid recovery,” the statement said (Reuters/News!Yahoo, Sept. 17). Back to top       Russia Scraps Six ICBM Launchers Six mobile launching systems for intercontinental ballistic missiles were destroyed at a Russian facility this month, Interfax reported (see GSN, Sept. 21 2005). The Topol missile launchers were scrapped at the Pibanshur disposal base in Udmurtia between Sept. 4 and 15, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told the news agency Friday. “The disposal effort proceeded in accordance with the procedures of the START Treaty and under the control of an American inspection group,” he said (Interfax, Sept. 15). Nine U.S. inspectors observed the destruction process, ITAR-Tass reported. Last year, 27 Topol launch platforms were destroyed, according to ITAR-Tass (ITAR-Tass, Sept. 16). Back to top

Japanese Officials Raid Aum Cult Sites Japanese authorities raided a number of Aum Shinrikyo facilities Saturday following a Supreme Court decision upholding the cult founder’s death sentence on Friday, the Asahi Shimbun reported (see GSN, Sept 15). Shoko Asahara, 51, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, has been convicted of planning a 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. Following last week’s rejection of his final appeal, Japanese officials led the raids amid concerns that cult members would react violently to the court’s decision. The Japanese intelligence agency dispatched 250 officers to search 25 Aum sites in Tokyo and sprawled across 16 prefectures. Japan, which executes condemned by hanging, does not announce date of executions before they are carried out (Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 18). Back to top

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