A nuclear fuel bank on the anvil

The Nuclear Threat Initiative has announced that it will give $50 million to the International Atomic Energy Agency to help create a nuclear fuel bank for nations deciding not to build indigenous nuclear fuel cycle capabilities.

The goal of the proposed initiative, which has financial backing from American entrepreneur Warren Buffett, is to help make fuel supplies from the international market more secure by offering customer states that are in full compliance with their non-proliferation obligations, reliable access to a nuclear fuel reserve under impartial IAEA control in case their supply arrangements be disrupted.

IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei said the generous pledge by NTI, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, will jumpstart the nuclear fuel bank initiative.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative has Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen among its international board of directors.

'It will provide urgent impetus to our efforts to establish mechanisms for non-discriminatory, non-political assurances of supply of fuel power plants," El Baradei said, reacting to the announcement made by NTI on Tuesday at a special meeting of IAEA.

NTI co-chairman Sam Nunn said a country's decision to rely on imported fuel, rather than to develop an indigenous enrichment capacity may be based on one point -- whether or not there is a mechanism that guarantees an assured international supply of nuclear fuel on a non-discriminatory, non-political basis to states that are meeting their non-proliferation

obligations.

"We believe that such a mechanism can be achieved, and that we must take urgent, practical steps to do so," Nunn said.

The proposal comes ahead of an expected United States Senate nod on the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation. It was also tabled at a time when many countries, including Iran, are seeking nuclear energy to meet their development needs.

"This pledge is an investment in a safer world. Its creation is inherently a governmental responsibility, but I hope that this pledge of funds will support governments in taking action to get this concept off the ground," Buffett said.

The proposal for contribution is contingent on two conditions, including that IAEA takes actions to approve establishment of this reserve and that one or more member states contribute an additional $100 million funding or an equivalent value of low enriched uranium to jump-start the reserve.

"We must find new and better answers to the imperatives of the nuclear age -- how to maximize the value of nuclear power and minimize proliferation dangers," Nunn said.