The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Friday to set up a global nuclear fuel bank. The Agency is an arm of the United Nations, and its board is made up of representatives of 35 nations.
The purpose is to provide a means of obtaining nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes by smaller nations that might otherwise be tempted to produce their own nuclear material, some of which could then be diverted to make nuclear weapons or possibly fall into terrorists' hands. The bank would provide nuclear fuel in the form of fuel rods, which are much more difficult to reprocess into weapons-grade material.
Sam Nunn's Nuclear Threat Initiative has worked for years to establish the bank and had secured a pledge from Warren Buffett in 2006 to give $50 million, provided that the atomic agency established the bank and that other nations contributed as much as $100 million or the equivalent in nuclear fuel. Contributors thus far include Kuwait, the European Union, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
Now that these conditions have been met, the project can move forward. Nunn hailed the IAEA vote to create the bank as a breakthrough in international cooperation. It will "enable peaceful uses of nuclear energy while reducing the risks of proliferation and catastrophic terrorism."
This is good news without any down side to it. How refreshing !
Ralph
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