US, Russia to unveil nuclear initiative soon

Kennebunkport (Maine), June 30: The United States and Russia are expected to announce an agreement within days aimed at enhancing civilian nuclear cooperation and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, a White House official said.

''It's likely that it will come to a conclusion in the next few days,'' the official told Reuters yesterday, adding that an announcement may come on Tuesday.

Under the initiative, the United States and Russia would guarantee countries access to nuclear power and fuel to be used for reactors that are designed to be ''proliferation resistant.'' In return, those countries would need to give up nuclear enrichment.

US President George W Bush is to host Russian President Vladimir Putin meet at the Bush family retreat at Kennebunkport, Maine, for a two-day summit beginning on Sunday.

The meeting is aimed at soothing tensions between the two countries that have developed over issues such as a proposed US missile shield, human rights and the Iraq war.

The US official said the initiative was not specifically tied to the Kennebunkport meeting but was part of an effort to cooperate on nuclear power issues.

For more than a year, the United States and Russia have discussed ways to expand peaceful nuclear energy development.

Bush has a policy goal of promoting a major expansion of nuclear power in the United States and around the world.

Cooperation Plans

One area of previously-announced US-Russian cooperation is the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, which seeks to minimize two serious nuclear challenges by developing new technologies to deal with nuclear waste and with fuel production that can abet weapons proliferation.

Experts and officials say these new technologies could take decades to develop.

The new initiative would offer a more immediate option to countries interested in acquiring nuclear power.

Instead of producing their own nuclear fuel, which could also be used in weapons, countries would be encouraged to obtain fuel from international fuel centers or by leasing from countries that already produce nuclear fuel.

The United States and Russia must first sign a formal pact called a 123 agreement, named after section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act.

Moscow's ties with Iran are one potential complication to the 123 deal, which would mark a significant change in US policy. Under the Clinton administration, most nuclear cooperation with Russia was prohibited because of Moscow's pivotal role in building Iran's 800 million dollars nuclear power plant at Bushehr.

But Bush administration officials reversed that, arguing Russia has increasingly cooperated on Iran and other non-proliferation issues.

Iran has defied repeated demands by the UN Security Council to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used in both weapons and energy production, at a facility called Natanz.

Russia has often defended Iran and put up a vigorous struggle each time to weaken proposed sanctions.

The United States and other major powers say Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons but Tehran insists it only wants to produce electricity.

Reuters>