Row awaits future IAEA chief

Developing nations comprise about half the IAEA board, which makes key decisions by diplomatic consensus. Despite the setback, diplomats said, the plan will remain on the table.

“Many countries recognize that the extra energy security that would be afforded by fuel assurances may make nuclear power more feasible,” a senior Western diplomat said.

ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has argued that all new and existing enrichment and reprocessing facilities should eventually come under multilateral control — but has recognized just how politically sensitive this idea could be.

“Make no mistake — any mechanism that smacks of inequality or dependency will never get off the ground,” he told the U.N. General Assembly in October.

There are two main draft plans for the fuel bank, which would be the first step towards full multilateral ownership.

An IAEA proposal says US$150 million in donations pledged for the initiative could buy 60-80 tons of low-enriched uranium that would be offered to member states at market prices.

Russia has offered to host an 120-ton LEU reserve to supply the IAEA.

The debate over the plan highlights a divide on the IAEA board between countries with nuclear power, who stress the agency's anti-proliferation watchdog role, and developing nations who focus on the IAEA mandate to promote peaceful uses of the atom — the 52-year-old agency's original purpose.

But the IAEA sees fostering peaceful applications of nuclear energy as inseparable from its higher-profile mandate to stop the illicit spread of nuclear weapons capability.

“Whoever is the next director-general will have to realize that the IAEA's role is not just as the policeman of nuclear material but as the facilitator for making the best use of it in a sustainable manner,” IAEA nuclear power expert Ian Facer said.

1|2

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email