Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: European Union

Showing posts with label European Union. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Iran invites foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear sites (Update 1)

Iran's Bushehr nuclear power. © RIA Novosti.Andrey Reznichenko

Iran invites foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear sites (Update 1)

Iran offers tour to foreign officials of its nuclear facilities

Iran has offered to give EU representatives, the Non-Aligned Movement and other parties a tour of its nuclear facilities on Jan. 15 and 16. The U.S. State Department said the invitation in nothing but a "public relations stunt" and "not a substitute for Iran's responsibilities" to the International Atomic Energy Agency. RIA Novosti (Russia)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Japan, S.Korea seal civilian nuclear pact

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Japan_SKorea_seal_civilian_nuclear_pact_999.html Tokyo (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 Japan and South Korea sealed a civilian nuclear pact on Monday, paving the way for the Asian neighbours to share nuclear-power technologies and equipment, Japan's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and South Korean ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-Hyun signed the agreement in Tokyo, the ministry said in a statement.
"Japan and South Korea are good partners to promote peaceful use of nuclear power while ensuring nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear energy safety and security," Maehara told the ambassador, quoted in the statement.
Japan and South Korea have been rivals in international biddings for nuclear power plants in emerging nations.
In October Japan secured a contract for building two nuclear reactors in Vietnam while South Korea won a deal in December to build four reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
But under the pact, which will take effect after parliaments of both countries endorse it, mainly Japanese firms with a longer history of developing nuclear power plants are expected to start exporting technologies and equipment to South Korea.
Japan, which was eclipsed this year by China as Asia's biggest economy and has a shrinking population because of its low birth rate, is searching for new markets to export infrastructure technologies, including power plants.
Japan has concluded a bilateral nuclear energy pact with six countries and the European Union while South Korea has a similar deal with 14 states, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

USA and Czech Republic sign joint declaration

The USA and the Czech Republic have signed a joint declaration on civil nuclear power that will strengthen commercial relations between the two countries and help to develop new nuclear energy opportunities, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) has announced. The declaration was signed by US commerce secretary Gary Locke and Czech minister of industry and trade Martin Kocourek as well as US energy secretary Steven Chu. The agreement expresses both nations' commitment to commercial cooperation on existing and future nuclear projects as well as encouraging cooperation in science and research, including training and human resource development.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/IT-USA_and_Czech_Republic_sign_joint_declaration-0912107.html

Monday, December 6, 2010

UN watchdog approves nuclear fuel bank

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/UN_atomic_watchdog_approves_nuclear_fuel_bank_999.html Vienna (AFP) Dec 3, 2010 The UN atomic watchdog on Friday voted to set up a nuclear fuel bank, under its auspices, to allow countries access to nuclear energy without risking the spread of atomic weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member governing board approved a United States-sponsored proposal for a 150-million-dollar (112-million-euro) fuel bank, with 28 countries in favour.
No country voted against the resolution, but six developing countries -- Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Tunisia and Venezuela -- abstained.
One country's delegation, Pakistan, chose to be absent when the vote was held in a gesture showing it was disassociating itself from the project.
The resolution was based on an original proposal by former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, but which ran into stiff resistance last year.
Developing nations saw it as a way for the existing western nuclear powers to curtail other countres' right to acquire and develop nuclear technology of their own for peaceful purposes.
The resolution stipulated that only countries whose supplies were halted for political reasons and which had a clean non-proliferation record would access to the bank.
But such conditions were rejected by Pakistan, one of only a handful of nations which refuse to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"We are thus obliged to disassociate ourselves from such specific elements of the draft resolution," said Pakistan's ambassador Khurshid Anwar. Accordingly, the Pakistan delegation was absent when the vote was held.
Among those countries in favour, the EU said such a fuel reserve "can bring benefits for energy security and for non-proliferation, without distorting the existing well-functioning market."
Possessing the uranium-enriching technology used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants is a major proliferation concern because it can also be used to manufacture the fissile material for an atomic bomb.
The proponents of the fuel bank believe that such a mechanism will mean that the increasing number of nations interested in using nuclear power to meet their growing energy needs can still do so without having to possess the sensitive uranium-enrichment technology.
Earlier this week, Russia already announced that it had created the world's first such fuel bank in Angarsk.
The Rosatom state atomic energy corporation said the Siberian fuel reserve would have enough material to refuel two civilian nuclear power plants. It too will also operate under the auspices of the IAEA.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Germany faces massive power grid overhaul

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Germany_faces_massive_power_grid_overhaul_999.html Berlin (UPI) Nov 30, 2010 Germany is facing an unprecedented overhaul of its power grid, a new study suggests. Investments of at least $13 billion are required over the next 10 years to modernize the German power grid as an increasing amount of renewable power is threatening the aging 22,000-mile network, the public German energy think tank Dena said in a study.
Onshore turbines are installed in northern and eastern Germany, while new offshore wind farms are mushrooming along the North and Baltic Sea coastlines.
Dena claims some 2,240 miles of new transmission lines are needed to transport the fluctuating renewable electricity south and southwest to Germany's industrial hubs, where most of the power is needed. Dena forecasts renewables to account for 39 percent of the German power mix in 2020, up from around 16 percent today.
"Germany is right to bank on renewables," Dena head Stephan Kohler said in a statement. "But the expansion of renewables puts the energy system before great challenges. We must bring wind power from the North and Baltic Sea to consumers in the South. Conventional power plants need to be modernized and operated in a way that they complement renewables well and remain economic at the same time."
Grid expansion in Germany has been slow and tedious, with massive public opposition to new high-voltage transmission lines. In 2005 Dena urged the government to build some 530 miles of new infrastructure, but less than 60 miles have actually been built.
Kohler said Germany needs an "acceptance offensive" that communicates to the population that Germany "needs a network expansion."
Building new sub-ground lines would be less controversial, but also more costly -- up to $38 billion, Dena says.
The government's recent decision to prolong the life of the German nuclear reactors by an average of 12 years won't affect the grid expansion plan, the think tank added.
Conducted by scientists from Cologne University and the Fraunhofer Institute, the study was funded by the German government, the energy industry and the network operators.
It comes a few weeks after the European Union outlined its energy infrastructure priorities for the next two decades, saying some $270 billion has to be invested into "smart" power grids, electricity highways as well as new oil and gas pipelines.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Iran and the West: Next steps

Dealing with Iran’s nuclear program is one of the most important foreign policy issues of the day. Years of stalled talks, diplomatic dead-ends, and sanctions have made it difficult to see exactly where progress has been made with Iran and what efforts are worth pursuing. In “The Iranian quagmire: How to move forward” (November/December 2010 Bulletin), leading foreign policy experts weigh in from around the world on how to proceed with Iran -- from clear diplomacy to fuel swaps to the darkest scenario of military strikes. Whatever their proposed solutions, the writers express one common theme: We ignore Iran at our own peril. From the US, Thomas R. Pickering, Lawrence J. Korb, and Bennett Ramberg; from Turkey, Mustafa Kibaroglu; from Iran, Kayhan Barzegar; and from Israel, Emily B. Landau.

Below, more experts explore the options, their strengths and weaknesses, and propose various structures and points to consider as the West and Iran are set to re-enter talks in November.

http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/roundtables/iran-and-the-west-next-steps?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_content=micheletkearney%40gmail.com&utm_campaign=Nuclear+news+Issue+%234-+FAS+Podcast+7

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Biofuel worse for climate than fossil fuel: study

European plans to promote biofuels will drive farmers to convert 69,000 square km of wild land into fields and plantatons, depriving the poor of food and accelerating climate change, a report warned on Monday.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=biofuel-worse-for-climate-than-foss

Monday, November 8, 2010

Iran ready to hold nuclear talks in Turkey

Turkey ready to host Iran nuclear talks: reportAnkara (AFP) Nov 7, 2010 - Turkey is ready to host talks between Iran and six world powers over its disputed nuclear programme after a receiving a request from Tehran, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. "Turkey has made lots of efforts since the start of the process for a diplomatic solution to be found," the news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying. "We are ready to do whatever is in our power," the source said. The date and location of the talks is still to be determined, the report added. An Iranian conservative newspaper, Vatan Emrouz, on Sunday reported that the negotiations would be held by the end of November, without quoting a source.

At the same time, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the world powers in the Iran negotiations, said Sunday that she was still waiting for official word from Tehran. "We have taken note of these reports. But we have not yet received an official proposal from Iran in this regard," a spokesman for her office said. The spokesman said the EU would respond once it had received an official proposal including a specific time and place to meet. The nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States -- have been deadlocked since October 2009 when the two sides met in Geneva.

by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Nov 7, 2010 Iran said on Sunday it was ready to hold talks in Turkey with the six world powers on its controversial nuclear programme following a one-year break, turning to a neighbour seen as an ally. The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the world powers in the negotiations, said she was awaiting official word from Tehran on a specific time and venue.
A response would follow after consultations with the major powers, her office said in Brussels.
Ashton proposed last month to hold the talks in Vienna -- headquarters of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency -- starting from November 15.
"In the last two or three days, we informed our Turkish friends that we agree to hold negotiations in Turkey," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.
Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili informed Ashton in October that his country was prepared to resume nuclear talks after November 10 at a time and place agreed by both sides.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

EU battles to lock down radioactive waste forever

Brussels (AFP) Nov 3, 2010 Europe offered new plans Wednesday to lock away forever lethal radioactive waste, but the proposals attacking hopelessly inadequate disposal facilities drew a stinging rebuke from environmentalists. Half a century after atomic power was first produced in Britain, the European Union's nuclear energy-producing countries stand accused of future negligence without a single "deep geological disposal" site equipped to withstand up to an estimated one million years of decay.
As a result, the EU's executive arm tabled for the third time legislative proposals that would see states pushed to build the kind of facility deep in the earth's crust that it says scientists claim is the only way to protect nature's balance.
"We have to make sure that we have the highest safety standards in the world to protect our citizens, our water and the ground against nuclear contamination," said EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, specifying that depths should be "a minimum of 300 metres (990 feet)."
The proposals immediately fell foul of anti-nuclear Greenpeace, whose "dirty energy" campaigner Jan Haverkamp termed them "sub-standard."
"It would take an engineering genius to safely bury white-hot, highly-dangerous nuclear waste deep underground for longer than mankind has been on the planet," he said.
"We fear a disposal facility could rupture high-level nuclear waste into the water table for hundreds of thousands of years."
Quite simply, added leading German Green EU lawmaker Rebecca Harms, the plans "do not address citizens' concerns given the danger posed by radioactive waste."
Oettinger acknowledged that two similar initiatives were previously batted away by states, but insisted this one "will not be blocked" under post-Lisbon treaty majority voting.
The commission is targeting adoption next year, and said states would then have four years to nail down a "concrete timetable" for constructing facilities, including "the financing schemes chosen."
The commission wants nuclear power plant operators "to put money aside for the financing of future disposals."
Producers would not be allowed to export nuclear waste to countries outside the EU for final disposal.
Current schemes offering so-called "interim storage" are given a lifespan of "maximal 50-100 years," the commission said, meaning waste "has to be retrieved and repackaged."
Spent fuel and radioactive waste "need continuous maintenance and oversight," it said.
As the material is typically near the surface, "there is in addition a risk of accidents, including airplane crashes, fires or earthquakes."
Each year, 7,000 cubic metres (247,000 cubic feet) of "high-level" waste that cannot be re-used are produced in the EU, and by 2020, a definitive solution must be found for 1.8 million cubic metres.
Once the rules are adopted, Brussels would be able to fine states that miss targets.
Finland plans to have the sort of repository the commission says science recommends operational in 2020, Sweden in 2023 and France in 2025, Oettinger's office said.
There are 143 nuclear power reactors in use across 14 of the EU's 27 states, with another two, Italy and Poland, planning to build their first.
Not every country would need to host a disposal site, should cross-border public support emerge for sharing.
Most European nations have settled on maintaining nuclear energy at the core of their power needs for coming generations, as oil threatens to run dry and new green technologies have yet to deliver their full potential.
The first nuclear plant to enter service in the EU was Calder Hall, which came on line in northwest England in 1956.

EU’s Oettinger Wants Plans for Nuclear Waste Storage, Welt Says

European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger wants EU countries with nuclear power plants to submit plans to the regulator for how they will manage final storage of radioactive waste, Die Welt said.
The affected member states would have to detail their plans within four years after a draft law Oettinger will present tomorrow takes effect, the German newspaper said, citing an interview with the commissioner.
The law would also ban exports of nuclear waste to third party countries, Welt reported.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-02/eu-s-oettinger-wants-plans-for-nuclear-waste-storage-welt-says.html

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Iran Primer: Power, Politics & U.S. Policy - U.S. Institute of Peace

“The Iran Primer” brings together 50 top experts—both Western and Iranian—to offer comprehensive but concise overviews of Iran’s politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program. Each link on this site connects to a complete chapter on one of 62 subjects in 10 categories. Printable PDF attachments also are at the bottom of each chapter.The book chronicles U.S.-Iran relations under six U.S. presidents. It probes five policy options. And it offers a data base of chronologies, nuclear sites, sanctions resolutions and other information. Since Iran's 1979 revolution, the West has struggled to understand the Islamic Republic and how to deal with it. The challenge looms even larger in the face of Iran’s controversial nuclear program, disputed 2009 election, growing human rights violations, and angry rhetoric. “The Iran Primer” offers context and analysis for what lies ahead.
http://iranprimer.usip.org/

U.S. Will Address Rare Earths at Asia Summit from the CFR

U.S. Will Address Rare Earths at Asia Summit

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she will urge China to clarify its policy (WSJ) on the export of rare-earth minerals this week at a regional Asia summit amid concerns China could use the exports as a political tool. China's recent restrictions on the commercial inputs--used to produce computers and other electronic parts--have raised alarm about shortages of the materials in Japan, the United States, and the EU. China controls roughly 97 percent of the supply of rare earths. It announced curbs on the minerals' export quotas in July amid rising tensions between China and Japan over islands jointly claimed by the two countries. A spokesman for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday China would not use (Reuters) rare earths as a bargaining chip. "Instead, we hope to cooperate with other countries in the use of rare earths on the basis of win-win outcomes and jointly protecting this unrenewable resource," he said. But a recent article published by China's ministry of commerce urged China to stand strong (Telegraph) in the "rare earth wars" and resist calls from the "big powers" to relax quota restrictions. The issue is expected to feature prominently at next month's G20 leader's summit, but Japanese media reported that China already cancelled a meeting of trade ministers from China, Japan, and South Korea in order to avoid the issue.

Analysis:

In the China Post, Frank Ching says the recent rise in Sino-Japan tensions has pushed Japan closer to the United States and strengthened their security alliance.

In the New York Times, Paul Krugman says China's restriction of rare earths shows its government is "dangerously trigger-happy, willing to wage economic warfare on the slightest provocation."

On CFR's Asia Unbound blog, Elizabeth Economy writes the official reason China has severely capped rare-earths exports is concern about its environment and its own future supply. "It estimates that if it doesn't take action, it won't have any rare earths left in twenty years," she says.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Time to look beyond Chinese rare earths, says EU trade boss

India agrees to long-term supply of rare earths for JapanTokyo (AFP) Oct 26, 2010 - Tokyo said Tuesday that India has agreed to provide a stable supply of rare earth minerals to Japan as the high-tech economy looks to diversify sources after a spat with key provider China. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who wound up his three-day visit to Japan on Tuesday, made the pledge during talks with the Japanese side on Monday, industry minister Akihiro Ohata said at a news conference. "Prime Minister Singh told us that he will cooperate in long-term supply of rare earth minerals," Ohata said, according to a trade ministry official. On Monday, Singh met Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Ohata and other Japanese officials and agreed to broadly cooperate in rare earth deals.

In a statement, the premiers "decided to explore the possibility of bilateral cooperation in development, recycling and re-use of rare earths and rare metals and in research and development of their industrial substitutes." On Sunday, Ohata met China's commerce minister in Tokyo and urged Beijing to normalise rare earth exports after Japan said shipments were blocked during a diplomatic row sparked by the arrest of a Chinese trawlerman in disputed waters. Japan's stockpile of rare earth minerals, used in the manufacture of high-tech goods, could be exhausted by March or April without fresh imports from China, officials have said. China, which controls more than 95 percent of the global market, has repeatedly denied it curbed exports in retaliation over the dispute, but all 31 Japanese companies handling the minerals have reported disruption to shipments. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Tuesday that he wants to raise the issue if he meets his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a 16-nation Asian summit in Vietnam later this week.

by Staff Writers Brussels (AFP) Oct 26, 2010 European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht on Tuesday urged global partners to diversify mining sources for prized rare earths as a battle with China deepened over scarce supplies. De Gucht spoke out as a row that began between China and Japan over access to 17 essential minerals used in high-tech products ranging from flat-screen televisions to hybrid cars threatened to turn into a worldwide protectionist rallying cry.
"This is going to become a very, very difficult problem if we don't find a way out," De Gucht told an EU-China conference in Brussels.
He insisted that a string of mine closures elsewhere was "very closely linked to the price policy of rare earths by China" and stressed: "I think we should come to a global understanding."
The United States and Australia have 15 and five percent respectively of global reserves, but stopped mining them mainly because of cheaper Chinese competition.
"It cannot be a (Chinese) tool in industrial policy, because that would have very large ramifications," De Gucht warned, fresh from an EU-China summit that broke down amid fears of a "war" on currency exchanges.
"It's obvious that we cannot continue being completely dependent on China," he underlined.
The EU and Washington are already pursuing China in the World Trade Organization over policies on other raw materials, and a European source did not rule out similar action eventually on rare earths, depending on how that case progresses.
The United States has also said it will raise the rare earths issue at the summit of Group of 20 major and emerging nations in South Korea next month.
China recently imposed restrictions on exports of rare earths in what experts say is a bid to maximise profit and strengthen its homegrown high-tech companies.
Last year, it produced 97 percent of the global supply of rare earths, although it is home to just a third of reserves.
China's commerce ministry has said it reserves the right to slash rare earths exports again to "protect exhaustible resources and sustainable development".
Tokyo said on Tuesday that India had agreed to provide a stable supply of rare earth minerals to Japan as the high-tech economy looks to diversify its sources.
De Gucht worries that the rare earths row is just one of many "hints that China is developing an industrial policy aiming at transferring as much as possible production to China".

Friday, October 22, 2010

Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia sign nuclear fuel transit deal

Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia sign deal on fuel shipments
The governments of Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia have signed a deal to ease the transportation of nuclear fuel through Ukraine, according to Russia's Rosatom. The agreement would also ensure that Slovakian nuclear plants would receive continuous supplies of the material from Russia. RIA Novosti (Russia)http://en.rian.ru/world/20101021/161043820.html

France seeking nuclear energy deals with Libya

France, Libya are looking to enter into nuclear energy agreement
France is in talks with Libya to secure a nuclear energy agreement, according to French officials. The details on the degree of cooperation remain unclear. France joins Italy and other countries looking to strike deals after sanctions against oil-rich Libya were lifted in 2004. Reuters http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE69L02H20101022

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ahmadinejad endorses new nuclear talks

TEHRAN. With the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ah...

Image via WikipediaIran signals readiness to resume nuclear talks with West
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has indicated that he is ready to resume international negotiations regarding his country's nuclear program. The negotiations stalled in 2009, shortly before Iran was dealt a fourth set of U.N. sanctions for continuing to process uranium. The Washington Times/The Associated Press

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Russia Is Seeking to Build Europe’s Nuclear Plants

Rosatom to bid for Czech project, aims to expand EU market share
Russia's Rosatom, the world's largest builder of nuclear plants, is planning to expand its presence in the EU. The company is preparing a bid on its second EU project -- an expansion of the Temelin nuclear plant in the Czech Republic. Aside from expanding its reactor-construction business in Europe, Rosatom aims to boost its position in the worldwide fuel market from 17% now to 25% by 2025. The New York Times (free registration)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Environmentalists decry risks of new Armenia nuclear reactor

by Staff Writers Yerevan (AFP) Oct 3, 2010 A short drive from the Armenian capital, the enormous cooling towers of the Metzamor nuclear power station sit in a seismic zone that has suffered one of the worst earthquakes in modern history. The international community has long pleaded with Armenia to shut down the Soviet-era plant, which is only 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Yerevan and its 1.1 million residents, and close to the border with eastern Turkey.
But now the controversial station is being given a new lease on life. Under a recent deal, Russia has agreed to help build a new reactor unit for Metzamor that will extend its life by decades.
Armenian authorities insist that the resource-poor country, which relies on Metzamor for 40 percent of its electricity needs, has no choice but to keep the plant alive.
Local environmentalists, however, are calling on the government to drop the plan, saying the risk of a nuclear accident so close to the capital is too high.
"Those who are deciding to build a nuclear power station in such a place are simply not thinking about the future of the Armenian people and don't realise the catastrophic consequences it could have," said Hakob Sanasarian, the chairman of the Yerevan-based Green Union environmental group.
Launched in 1976, the Metzamor plant featured two VVER nuclear reactors, a design that continues to be used throughout the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe.
The plant was shut down in 1988 following the Spitak earthquake in Armenia, which killed 25,000 people and caused widespread devastation. But Armenian authorities restarted one reactor unit at the plant in 1993 following energy shortages that were causing heavy deforestation.
Suffering from an economic blockade imposed by neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan over its support for ethnic Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region, Armenia also needed to restart the plant to generate much-needed revenues from electricity exports.
Concerned over the plant's high-risk location and ageing facilities, the European Union in 2004 offered to provide 100 million euros (135 million dollars) in compensatory aid if Yerevan agreed to shut down the reactor.
Authorities have instead decided to upgrade the facility, approving the construction of the new 1,060-megawatt reactor unit at an expected cost of up to five billion dollars (3.7 billion euros).
Armenia signed an agreement with Russia to form a joint venture to build the unit during a visit by President Dmitry Medvedev in August and construction is expected to begin next year.
"For a country like Armenia, which has no great energy resources such as oil and gas but does have an education in producing nuclear power, atomic energy is the best solution," Energy Minister Armen Movsisian told AFP.
He said the reactor, based on a design similar to other reactors being built in China and India, would meet the latest safety standards and have a service-life of 60 years.
Environmentalist Sanasarian, however, said the government is being short-sighted and should instead be focusing on alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.
"The territory (where the plant is located) is like a broken plate," he said, adding that there are five tectonic faults near Metzamor. "This is the worst place you could put a nuclear power station."
Aside from the danger of potential earthquakes, critics have also raised concerns about the environmental effects of launching the new reactor and have accused the government of failing to provide full information about its impact.
"We have never received answers from the government," said Inga Zarafian of environmental group Ecolur.
"From where will they take the huge amounts of water needed for the reactor to work at such capacity? Where will the nuclear waste be buried? What will they do with the old plant?"
On the streets of Yerevan, residents said they had mixed feelings about keeping the plant alive. Many were worried about the risks it posed but also said they had no desire to return to the power shortages of the early 1990s, when Yerevan often had electricity for only an hour or two per day.
"We all live in constant fear since there is always the danger of an earthquake and of course there is a huge risk from the nuclear station," said Ashot Sagatelian, a 53-year-old shop owner.
"But what are we supposed to do if we have no other source of energy? My children grew up in the darkness and cold of the nineties.... It was a complete nightmare."

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

U.N. Powers Aim to Defuse Iranian Atomic Standoff

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010

The five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany were set today to inform Iran of their hope to promptly resolve a long-running dispute over the Middle Eastern nation's disputed nuclear work, Reuters reported (see GSN, Sept. 21).

(Sep. 22) - Workers last month move nuclear fuel into the reactor building of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. Six world powers were today expected to call on Iran to join new talks over its disputed atomic policies (Getty Images).

"Our objective continues to be a comprehensive long-term negotiated solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," says a draft statement due to be made public following talks today in New York between delegates from the six countries (Andrew Quinn, Reuters I, Sept. 22).
"We reaffirmed our determination and commitment to seek an early negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and focused our discussion on further practical steps to achieve it at an early date," Agence France-Presse quoted the document as saying.
The statement also refers to new economic penalties against Iran, which included a fourth U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution and unilateral measures enacted by the European Union and a number of countries in recent months.
"We confirmed the need for Iran to comply with the U.N. Security Council, and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors requirements," the document says. Iran has rebuffed Security Council calls to halt uranium enrichment -- a process that can produce civilian fuel as well as nuclear bomb material -- and stonewalled an IAEA probe of its past nuclear work. The nation has maintained its atomic ambitions are strictly peaceful.
"Iran has not removed doubts" over its nuclear intentions, and further defiance would place the nation at risk of additional "isolation and the pursuit of new sanctions," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
"If Iran is ready for serious discussions, all they have to do is let us know," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told AFP by e-mail (Lachlan Carmichael, Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Sept. 22).
The world powers' statement also welcomes new negotiations with Iran on a potential exchange of Iranian uranium for higher-enriched material to fuel a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran, Reuters reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency last year proposed exchanging a quantity of Iranian low-enriched uranium for material enriched to 20 percent.
More at link

Monday, September 20, 2010

Iranian President Defends Nuclear Work

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100920_3100.php

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday reaffirmed his denial of international suspicions that Tehran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 17).
"We are not afraid of nuclear weapons. The point is that if we had in fact wanted to build a nuclear bomb, we are brave enough to say that we want it. But we never do that. We are saying that the arsenal of nuclear bombs (worldwide) have to be destroyed as well," Ahmadinejad told AP in New York, where he will attend this week's U.N. General Assembly session (Daniszewski/Lederer, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Sept. 20).
The Iranian leader also played down the effect of international economic penalties on his nation's economy, Agence France-Presse reported. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring Iran to halt elements of its nuclear program that could support bomb development; a number of countries and the European Union have since enacted unilateral punitive measures to the same end.
"These sanctions will definitively mark a new level of progress in our economy," Ahmadinejad told ABC News. "We have turned sanctions around and created opportunities out of this."
The increasing number of countries seeking to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear work "is meaningless to us," he said.
"We do take sanctions seriously, but taking it seriously is different from believing that they are effective," Ahmadinejad said. "We consider this and have recorded it as a serious violation of international law. It was illegal. It was wrong. It wronged the people of Iran by insulting them."
Addressing the penalties' potential impact on Iran's shipping sector, he said, "None of this is a problem."
"I want to stress, it is not a problem. If you want to say it's effective, why not wait for the next six months or a year to see with your own eyes whether there are effects or not? And I tell you there are none," he said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 19).
The Iranian president avoided suggesting a specific schedule for new negotiations over his nation's nuclear program with the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, AP reported. He said in July such discussions could begin this month.
"We have placed no restrictions on negotiations," Ahmadinejad said. "If they tell us officially that there's a joint meeting, we'll make the preparations for it."
He said Iran still seeks answers from the six powers to a number of questions ahead of the talks: whether the nations intend "to create the circumstances for further friendship or for further confrontation"; whether they intend to fully implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and "what the group's opinion is regarding the atomic bombs that [Israel] holds" (see related GSN story, today).
"Their response does not prevent the resumption of negotiations, but it certainly will define the framework for those talks when they resume," he said (Daniszewski/Lederer, AP I)
"We're always prepared to talk, but under fair conditions and respectful conditions," the Xinhua News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "If somebody thinks that they can, like, order us around or rule us and talk -- call it a talk, that wouldn't work. But if they are ready to sit down, respect the law, be fair and just, we're always prepared to talk" (Xinhua News Agency I, Sept. 20).
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday told Ahmadinejad he "hoped that Iran will engage constructively in negotiations" on the atomic dispute, AFP reported.
The negotiations should yield "a mutually acceptable agreement in conformity with relevant Security Council resolutions," a U.N. spokesman said in a statement. The resolutions call for Iran to end its uranium enrichment program, an effort that can produce nuclear-weapon material as well as fuel for civilian applications (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 19).
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was in communication with senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on reconvening the talks, Iran's Fars News Agency reported Friday.
"Our communications continue and there is hope for the resumption of talks," Ashton told the al-Alam News Network, noting the importance of "going back to the negotiating table at the first opportunity" (Fars News Agency, Sept. 17).
Ahmadinejad also addressed the charge that Tehran had impaired an ongoing investigation of its nuclear program by vetoing the appointment of two veteran inspectors, Xinhua reported. The officials had identified unreported atomic work in the nation, but Iran said the two were banned because their findings were incorrect.
Iran's nuclear program is "being controlled by cameras," and the nation's atomic resources are monitored to prevent their diversion for military use, Ahmadinejad asserted. "So as far as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is concerned, there's no blockage of that supervision."
The inspectors' release of nuclear data provided by Iran was "illegal," he said.
"The IAEA is required by a statute to protect that information, not to release it," Ahmadinejad added. "And plus, the IAEA is aware of several other violations that they have permitted" (Xinhua News Agency I).
"It appears that the agency is suffering from (a) moral authority and credibility crisis," Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi added today, according to Reuters (Dahl/Westall, Reuters, Sept. 20).
Meanwhile, Tehran on Saturday asserted it had ended all purchases from abroad of gasoline, AFP reported. Iran has sought to increase its production of gasoline in response to economic penalties targeting the country's ability to import refined petroleum products.
"No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Sept. 18).
Elsewhere, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday expressed doubt that "the stars are lining up" for U.S. or Israeli military action on Iranian nuclear facilities, AP reported (Anne Gearan, Associated Press II/Google News, Sept. 19).
The deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, though, yesterday said Washington and Jerusalem are "daily beating on their war drums" and speculated that an attack by one of the governments was likely, Xinhua reported.
Iran's army and Revolutionary Guard were prepared for any possible scenario, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid said (Xinhua News Agency II, Sept. 19).