Manila (AFP) Jul 30, 2007 - Southeast Asian nations will look at toughening security rules for atomic energy when they meet next week to review a treaty on keeping nuclear weapons out of the region, diplomats said Saturday. With several countries looking at nuclear power to meet their energy needs, the 10-member ASEAN bloc wants to ensure atomic material and technology does not get used for non-peaceful ends, they said.
Berlin (AFP) Jul 30, 2007 - German opposition mounted Saturday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's new venture on the world stage in agreeing to build a nuclear reactor in Libya, despite efforts by Paris to reassure Berlin. The French government on Friday had sought to allay German fears of recklessness by assuring Berlin that all guarantees had been taken with regard to nuclear non-proliferation. The French-Libyan accord, which envisions building a nuclear reactor for a water desalination plant, is a bitter pill for the EU, said Ruprecht Polenz, conservative head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, in the newspaper Tagesspiegel am Sonntag.
Berlin (AFP) Jul 30, 2007 - The German environment ministry warned German engineering giant Siemens Monday against participating in a French deal to build a nuclear reactor in Libya. Siemens holds a 34-percent stake in the Franco-German nuclear engineering joint venture Areva NP, which is to supply the nuclear technology to Libya in a deal that has drawn criticism from throughout the European Union. We must know what Siemens will say about this immoral deal, the parliamentary state secretary at the ministry, Michael Mueller, told the Handelsblatt business daily.
Washington DC (UPI) July 30, 2007 - The sudden flurry of controversy that erupted over France's new deal to supply a nuclear power station to Libya may have missed the point. It was a striking coup by France's new President Nicolas Sarkozy to make the sale as part of the agreement he helped engineer to release the Bulgarian nurses from their long and unjust detention in Libya. It was also a characteristic piece of French presidential practice that likes to mix diplomacy with pourboires, the French word for a waiter's tip.
New Delhi (AFP) Jul 30, 2007 - Indian and French officials held talks on nuclear energy cooperation Monday and pledged to work on an accord similar to ones New Delhi has signed with the United States and Russia. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic adviser met with India's national security advisor M.K. Narayanan and exchanged invitations for state visits to each country, a statement from the French embassy said. Both parties stressed their common endeavour to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including power generation plants, and agreed to conclude expeditiously a bilateral co-operation agreement thereof, the statement said.
Paris (AFP) Jul 30, 2007 - The planned signing Tuesday of a letter of intent by China and France on the construction in China of two nuclear reactors by the French group Areva has been postponed, a French source said Monday. But he stressed that the principle of a letter of intent remains intact, with the date (of the signing) to be decided. The initial date of July 31... was postponed for technical and calendar reasons. Areva declined to comment on the report.
Vienna (AFP) Jul 29, 2007 - The International Atomic Energy Agency celebrated its 50th anniversary Sunday as it continues to face the dilemma of preventing the spread of nuclear technology for military purposes while condoning it for civilian purposes. In a congratulatory note to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei posted on the agency's website, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: the IAEA has strived to accelerate and expand its contributions to security and development. I applaud the ceaseless efforts made by the IAEA towards this end.
Manila (AFP) Jul 29, 2007 - Southeast Asian nations on Sunday urged the world's nuclear powers to sign on to a regional treaty aimed at keeping their corner of the world free of atomic weapons. Ahead of the Asian security summit, the 10-country Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said the five nuclear powers that are permanent UN Security Council members should sign a protocol to the treaty. The call came as ASEAN approved a plan to strengthen safeguards against proliferation as part of its review of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone treaty, 10 years after it came into force.
Salzburg, Austria (SPX) Jul 26, 2007 - A trio of security vulnerabilities surrounding the use of nuclear power are highlighted today in research papers online with Inderscience Publishers. The first threat is at the source of the raw material for nuclear power itself, the uranium mine, processing plant, and transport route. Here, physical protection and security are at a much lower level than at a nuclear installation in the developed world, according to Austrian scientists writing in today's issue of the International Journal of Nuclear Governance, Economy and Ecology.
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jul 26, 2007 - The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran cannot be completed by the fall of 2007 as suggested by Iranian authorities and will only be commissioned a year later, a Russian subcontractor said. Russia is building the $1-billion facility, Iran's first nuclear power plant, in the south of the country in accordance with a 1995 contract, and under UN supervision as Iran is under international scrutiny over its compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Kiev (RIA Novosti) Jul 26, 2007 - Ukraine could sign a contract with a French firm in September to build a giant protective shield over a damaged reactor in Chernobyl, the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster, the emergencies minister said Wednesday. The Assembly of Chernobyl Shelter Fund Donors made a decision in London July 17 to give its approval to the contract to build the shelter with the Novarka concern, with a preliminary cost of 490 million euros (about $680 million), Nestor Shufrych said.
Paris (AFP) July 26, 2007 - French green groups Thursday attacked plans to build a French reactor in Libya for water desalination as a perilous masquerade that would encourage Moamer Kadhafi to get a nuclear bomb. Sortir du Nucleaire (Get Out of Nuclear) said the official reason for the reactor was a deception as the civilian and military uses of nuclear technology were indissociable.
Sydney (AFP) July 26, 2007 - Australia is considering selling uranium to India after New Delhi finalises a landmark civilian nuclear deal with the United States, the government said Thursday. Australia has the world's largest known reserves of uranium and has been under pressure sell the nuclear fuel to India since it agreed last year to supply rival Asian giant China.
Washington (AFP) July 25, 2007 - A bi-partisan group of lawmakers warned Wednesday that Congress could block a landmark US-India nuclear cooperation deal if it sidesteps safeguards to prevent military uses of the technology. The 23 legislators sent a letter to President George W. Bush saying the so-called 123 operating agreement, which reportedly allows India to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, could end up violating US law.
Washington (AFP) July 25, 2007 - US lawmakers have warned President George W. Bush of inconsistencies amid reports Washington has agreed in principle to allow India to reprocess spent nuclear fuel under a landmark deal. The warning came after US and Indian officials finalized last week the implementing agreement for Washington to provide nuclear technology and fuel to India under a deal agreed upon by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two years ago to highlight ties between the world's two biggest democracies.
Tokyo (AFP) July 25, 2007 - The operator of Japan's largest nuclear plant, which was damaged in a powerful earthquake, said Wednesday it had nothing to hide as UN inspectors prepared to visit. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team is set to arrive in Japan in the next few weeks to look at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). Asked to promise the company would not hide anything, TEPCO vice president Ichiro Takekuro said: If we did, we would lose the value of our company. It would be a tremendous bill to pay in the future.
