NTI Co-Chairman Sam Nunn speaks to reporters in Vienna today (Dieter Nagl/Getty Images). 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)...Full Story

Bush, Chirac Try to Restore Unified Front as EU Diplomats Resume Nuclear Contact With Iran U.S. and French leaders today sought to shore up a potential crack in their joint policy to address the Iranian nuclear crisis, after French President Jacques yesterday signaled that France would not support U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran (see GSN, Sept. 18; Anne Gearan, Associated Press/Forbes.com, Sept. 19)...Full Story

Australia, Japan Slap More Sanctions on North Korea Australia and Japan today emplaced sanctions against 11 North Korean companies and one Swiss firm in response to proliferation concerns over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported (see related GSN story, today)...Full Story

	Tuesday, September 19, 2006

U.S. Asks Industrial Nations to Crack Down on Illicit Banking by Iranian Front Companies The United States has asked leading economic powers to work harder to prevent Iranian front companies from using their banks to direct money to terrorist groups and WMD-acquisition efforts, the New York Times reported Sunday (see GSN, Feb. 13). U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met with finance minister from the G-7 industrial nations Saturday in Singapore, cautioning them that at least 30 Iranian firms were involved in illicit international financial transactions.  The ministers had gathered for the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (Steven Weisman, New York Times, Sept. 17). “These are not front companies that say ‘Nuclear Acquisition Corp.’ or ‘Weapons Production Corp.,’” Paulson told reporters.  “These are mundane-sounding companies that do many legitimate activities, but in addition, do some of these untoward and illicit activities” (Peter Goodman, Washington Post, Sept. 17). Paulson said he asked his counterparts to be “vigilant” about such activity and to avoid “inadvertently facilitating the kinds of activities that they wouldn’t want to facilitate.”  The Bush administration has charged that Iran uses “blue chip banks” to fund a secret nuclear weapons program and to support Islamic militant groups such as Hezbollah, the Times reported (Weisman, New York Times). The finance ministers supported with the U.S. goals after the meeting. “We agreed to intensify our efforts to combat money laundering, proliferation network(s), as well as terrorist and illicit financing by addressing global financial vulnerabilities, particularly those associated with jurisdictions that have failed to recognize international standards,” they said in a statement (Goodman, Washington Post). Back to top

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). Other Plans 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.] Back to top       Bush, Chirac Try to Restore Unified Front as EU Diplomats Resume Nuclear Contact With Iran U.S. and French leaders today sought to shore up a potential crack in their joint policy to address the Iranian nuclear crisis, after French President Jacques yesterday signaled that France would not support U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran (see GSN, Sept. 18; Anne Gearan, Associated Press/Forbes.com, Sept. 19). In a radio interview aired yesterday, Chirac said he is “never in favor sanctions,” and indicated that European nations could resume direct talks with Iran, thereby dropping an earlier demand that Iran freeze its nuclear activities first, the Washington Post reported (Kessler/Abramowitz, Washington Post, Sept. 19). “Those talks are going on now,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed this morning on the CBS “Early Show.”  Still, the United States would continue to pursue sanctions as a result of Iran’s decision to ignore a U.N. Security Council demand that Tehran suspend its uranium enrichment activities, she said. Chirac met with U.S. President George W. Bush this morning before Bush addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The two presidents see “eye-to-eye,” Chirac told reporters after the meeting, adding that they “share the same objective and we’re going to continue to strategize together.” Despite the European willingness to meet with Iran, any possible talks with the United States were still conditioned on Tehran freezing its sensitive nuclear programs, Rice said. “We have said that if Iran is prepared to suspend that, we’re prepared for the first time in decades, to sit down across the table from the Iranians and talk about ending their nuclear ambitions and providing a path for Iran’s entry into the international system,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I would meet anywhere with my counterpart at any time,” once Iran instituted the freeze, she said (Gearen, Associated Press) Back to top       Iran Plans Late-2007 Start for Nuclear Power Plant Iran plans to bring its Russian-built nuclear power reactor at Bushehr online in late 2007, a senior Russian official said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 26, 2005). Russian nuclear energy head Sergei Kiriyenko said the plant would see its “physical launch” in September 2007 and would go online in November 2007, Interfax reported.  Kiriyenko spoke to reporters in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency — responsible for overseeing Bushehr’s operation — is holding its annual general conference (Associated Press/Jerusalem Post, Sept. 18). Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh plans to visit Russia September 25 to discuss details of completing the long-delayed power plant. Russia has considered its role in building the power plant to be separate from the ongoing disagreement over Iran’s efforts to develop uranium enrichment technology. “As long as the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant remains within the framework of international law, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power will conduct the nuclear plant’s construction within the agreed timeframe,” agency spokesman Sergei Novikov said earlier this month (Ria Novosti, Sept. 18). The Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation was once a contentious issue between Moscow and Washington, but criticism of the deal has quieted as international attention has focused on Iran’s program to enrich its own uranium fuel. “Apparently everyone is aware once we build a nuclear reactor, provide nuclear fuel for it and then take the fuel back to Russia for processing and storing, there can be no talk about nonproliferation,” Kiriyenko said (Persian Journal, Sept. 18). Back to top

Hussein Trial Hears More Chemical Attack Witnesses As his genocide trial continued this week in Baghdad, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein heard more witnesses testify that they suffered chemical weapon attacks during the 1980s (see GSN, Sept. 12). One former Kurdish fighter today described his experience in 1998, when he said he was exposed to chemicals on Hussein’s orders “I began vomiting and I was dizzy, my eyes burned and I couldn’t stand,” said Iskandar Mahmoud Abdul-Rahman.  “I regained consciousness after 10 days and saw my body had been burned completely (Reuters, New York Times, Sept. 19). Yesterday, another former Kurdish fighter described the aftermath of what he said was a chemical attack against a village. “After two months, I regained consciousness.  I was disoriented. … I used to feel as if I was drunk the whole time.  I spent six months in the hospital, and in all that time I was unable to see,” said Karwan Abdallah Tawfiq (Jay Deshmukh, Agence-France Presse/News!Yahoo, Sept. 18). Hussein’s trial took an unexpected turn last week, when the presiding judge told Hussein that he had not been a dictator. “You were not a dictator.  People around you made you (look like) a dictator,” said Judge Abdullah al-Amiri, during an exchange Thursday between Hussein and a witness. “Thank you,” said Hussein. Prosecutors have complained that al-Amiri is favoring the trial’s defendants, who include Hussein’s cousin Ali al-Majid, famously known as “Chemical Ali” (Associated Press/MSNBC.com, Sept. 14). Back to top

Australia, Japan Slap More Sanctions on North Korea Australia and Japan today emplaced sanctions against 11 North Korean companies and one Swiss firm in response to proliferation concerns over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported (see related GSN story, today). The synchronized effort targeted North Korean companies in the high-technology, manufacturing and mining sectors as well as a bank and a hospital.  Also sanctioned were Swiss industrial supplier Kohas AG and its president Jakob Steiger.  The United States froze the assets of both Swiss entities in March, charging them with aiding North Korean efforts to proliferate weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, March 31). Follow North Korea’s test launch of seven ballistic missiles in July, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution urging other nations to clamp down on trade that could help Pyongyang acquire missile technology (see GSN, July 17). “I do not know how North Korea will respond, but I hope North Korea will accept the U.N. Security Council resolution in a sincere manner and respond to various concerns of the international community,” said Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. The Australian action “supports and complements similar action taken by Japan today and previous actions taken by the United States, and sends a strong message to North Korea,” said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in a statement (Kana Inagaki, Associated Press/Washington Post, Sept. 19). Back to top       More Details on Failed North Korean Missile Test Final technical analyses have shown that North Korea’s July attempt to launch a long-range missile failed rapidly after a major malfunction, Korea Times reported Sunday (see GSN, Sept 8). “The Taepodong 2 was confirmed to have crashed into a beach on the east coast about 2 kilometers from the launch site in North Hamkyong Province, after traveling for 40 seconds,” said South Korean Maj. Gen. Park Soo-keun, chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s defense analysis bureau. The missile suffered a “serious technical problem,” he said. Six other missiles launched the same day, three intermediate-range Nodongs and three short-range Scuds, were successfully launched, traveling as far as 400 kilometers, Park said (Jung Sung-ki, Korea Times, Sept. 17). Back to top

Bluegill Fish Protect New York Drinking Water New York City has used fish to test for contaminants in the city’s water supply since 2001, the New York Daily News reported today (see GSN, Sept. 6). Two tanks containing eight bluegill fish each have been placed in the city’s reservoirs and monitored with devices that can detect when the fish have trouble breathing. The fish would react to chemical or biological weapons, as well as pesticides, petroleum or heavy metals in the water, said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corp., a San Diego-based firm that operates the system for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. “We are measuring stress,” Lawler said.  “The idea is to have happy, stress-free fish.  Once we have minute toxins in the water, the fish will react.” Remote sensors monitor electrical signals emitted by the fish, and computer software alerts technicians when the sensors show the fish having difficulty (Austin Fenner, New York Daily News, Sept. 19). Back to top

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