Nuclear energy or nuclear weaponry?

 

The following from the Global Security Newswire has to give everyone with a preference for peace pause.

It seems to this scrivener that many of the countries now queuing up to "go nuclear" would be better served by going solar. Less expense, less danger, less maintenance, less sophistication, less dependency on foreign governments and organizations.

Arab Nations Advance Quest For Atomic Power
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100715_5004.php

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A number of Arab governments have taken steps in recent months to set up and advance civilian nuclear power programs in their countries amid a backdrop of growing regional concerns over Iran's nuclear activities, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, June 29).

In the last four years, a total of 13 Middle Eastern countries have declared their intention to initiate or relaunch nuclear power projects (see GSN, June 23).

Saudi Arabia inked an atomic trade agreement with France last week and Jordan is in discussions with French nuclear giant Areva and the Japanese firm Mitsubishi to purchase technology that would enable the energy-hungry country to construct its first atomic power facility.

The United Arab Emirates, which is further along in its pursuit of atomic energy, authorized the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. to begin readying the chosen location for the nation's first nuclear reactor. At the end of last year, the Gulf state selected a South Korean-led business group to construct and run four atomic energy facilities (see GSN, June 4).

The surging Middle Eastern drive has caused some worry in the United States even as Washington publicly promotes the benefits of atomic energy to nations that are in good standing with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

While each Arab country has stated that it has no plan to pursue a nuclear weapons capability, there is fear that once a nation has acquired advanced atomic capabilities it would initiate weapons programs in an effort to achieve parity with Iran's suspected nuclear warhead drive. Tehran says its nuclear program has no military application (see GSN, July 14).

"The region looks around and they find all the non-Arabs have a nuclear program or are on their way," Dubai-based researcher Mustafa Alani said to the Financial Times. "They look at India, Pakistan, Israel and now Iran."

"There's a feeling this region made a mistake when they opted for zero nuclear energy for the last 40 years and the Iranian program was a wake-up call," he said. "The intention is civilian but you need the know-how at least."

The perception exists that U.S. President Barack Obama has not been able or is not willing to take steps that would decisively address Tehran's disputed nuclear program, UPI said. In June, Washington helped to lead an effort at the U.N. Security Council to pass a fourth round of sanctions target Iran's nuclear and missile operations (see GSN, June 9).

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah "fears that his country's historically closest ally is naive, and dangerously so, for putting so much faith in diplomacy," Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Simon Henderson said.

"On Iran, there is a widening if not unbridgeable gap between the two countries," he wrote in a June report.

Saudi Arabia's interest in atomic power "is a clear sign that Riyadh thinks that the United States cannot or will not stop Iran's program," Henderson said.

Washington has worked to make sure that no Arab nation gains mastery over the full atomic fuel cycle. Under a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States, the United Arab Emirates promised not to pursue uranium enrichment, Jordan, however, has maintained that it would not accept such a concession in its own trade pact with the United States, arguing the NPT accord guarantees signatory nations the right to enrich their own fuel.

Saudi Arabia could also pursue uranium enrichment, according to a British analyst hired by Riyadh to produce a nuclear feasibility study for the country (see GSN, June 18).

"The ability to make low-enriched uranium for power plants is but for a few technical tweaks, the same technology needed to make highly-enriched-uranium for an atomic weapon," Henderson said (United Press International, July 14).

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Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail dot com