Thursday, March 02, 2006

Nuclear energy roleout commences

In the pathways identified in the Gleneagles energy announcement,and the 6 country agreement the US and India announced the cooperation for nuclear generation technology today.

The Washington post reports ...

Eight years after India startled the United States government by resuming testing of nuclear weapons, Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed off on a pact requiring India to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs to gain U.S. expertise and fuel to satisfy its energy rising needs.Under the deal, the United States offered India nuclear fuel and technology in return for India agreeing to put a wall between its civilian and military nuclear facilities and place its civilian program under international inspections.

The joint statement identifies the following issues..


1) Welcomed the successful completion of discussions on India's separation plan and looked forward to the full implementation of the commitments in the July 18, 2005 Joint Statement on nuclear cooperation. This historic accomplishment will permit our countries to move forward towards our common objective of full civil nuclear energy cooperation between India and the United States and between India and the international community as a whole.

(2) Welcomed the participation of India in the ITER initiative on fusion energy as an important further step towards the common goal of full nuclear energy cooperation.

(3) Agreed on India's participation in FutureGen, an international public-private partnership to develop new, commercially viable technology for a clean coal near-zero emission power project. India will contribute funding to the project and participate in the Government Steering Committee of this initiative.

(4) Welcomed the creation of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which will enable India and the U.S. to work together with other countries in the region to pursue sustainable development and meet increased energy needs while addressing concerns of energy security and climate change. The Partnership will collaborate to promote the development, diffusion, deployment and transfer of cleaner, cost-effective and more efficient technologies and practices.

In other news the Iranian negotiator in Moscow said

Iran will not oppose inspections by the UN's nuclear watchdog if its right to a civilian nuclear program is guaranteed, the country's top nuclear negotiator said Thursday.
"If the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and some leading states guarantee Iran's inalienable right for civilian nuclear energy there will be no obstacles to IAEA inspections," Ali Larijani told a news conference.
"We welcome any IAEA checks. Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons," Larijani said. He added that UN inspections and Iran's rights must be discussed as one issue.
Larijani also proposed creating a permanent security body in the Middle East.
"We have friendly relations with our neighbors, and believe we can establish a permanent security body in the region," Larijani said, adding this was only possible if the United States stopped creating tensions there.
Also on Thursday, Larijani accused the U.S. of attempting to block an initiative to open a joint uranium-enrichment venture with Russia.


US Ambassador to Russia William Burns told on air of Ekho Moskvy radio station, Russia and US have joint strategic interests in settlement of the Iranian nuclear program, so that Iran could not construct its own nuclear weapon. He also said that US is interested in diplomatic settlement of this conflict, and supports the Russian proposition to create the joint enterprise on uranium enrichment in the Russian territory, because it will lead Iran to understanding necessity to return on uranium enrichment moratorium. Burns said that it clearly represents high level of trust in cooperation around Iran, and denied Iranian accusation that US hampers establishment of Russian-Iranian joint enterprise on uranium enrichment at Russian territory.

President Chirac has praised the India /US agreement Chirac said the US-India deal marked progress both for nuclear non-proliferation controls and for efforts to curb global warming, according to a statement from his office.

Meanwhile in Moscow Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and representatives of the Russian nuclear industry will discuss the role of state bodies in ensuring nuclear and radiation safety and security at a conference in Moscow, Konstantin Pulikovsky, head of the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision, told journalists on Monday.
The IAEA International Conference on Effective Nuclear Regulatory Systems, “Facing Safety and Security Challenges,” will be held in Moscow February 28-March 2.
"Its main goal is to determine the role of state bodies in regulating nuclear and radiation security," Pulikovsky said.
The conference is held as part of Russia's Presidency in the Group of Eight to assess the state of nuclear and radiation security regulations in the world and exchange opinions on further cooperation in the sphere.

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