Atomic energy chief in Moscow proposes global moratorium on new nuclear sites

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] "suggests imposing a moratorium for 5-10 years on the construction of new nuclear facilities", IAEA chief Muhammad al-Baradi'i said in Moscow recently at a meeting of the nuclear threat reduction initiative foundation.

"This will become possible once an IAEA programme, under which guarantees of fuel and technology supply will be given to certain countries in exchange for abandoning the reprocessing of nuclear materials, has started operating," he said.

"This will resolve 80 per cent of problems in the nuclear sphere," he noted. "Countries will find it difficult to argue with the international community if these supplies are guaranteed to them." "The IAEA is willing to act as a guarantor of agreements of this sort," Al-Baradi'i assured the meeting.

Furthermore, the IAEA chief pointed out, "about 50 countries possess spent nuclear fuel and do not know what to do with it". "The IAEA, as well as the USA and Russia, are discussing the possible creation of a so-called fuel bank. Thus the USA has already put 17 tonnes of low enriched uranium in this bank," he revealed.

Russia "is displaying considerable interest in becoming an international depositary", Al-Baradi'i added. He said that "there are currently over 30,000 warheads on the planet and about 10 countries possess nuclear weapons". "The IAEA intends to stop the process of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to bring these dynamics to a halt," he stressed.