Learn Mandarin: Europe weighs giving reactor to Iran

WORLD / Europe

Europe weighs giving reactor to Iran
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-17 08:25

VIENNA, Austria - European nations on Tuesday weighed adding a
light-water reactor to a package of incentives meant to persuade Tehran
to give up uranium enrichment �� or face the threat of U.N. Security
Council sanctions.

European foreign policy chief Javier Solana addresses a news conference
at the end of an European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels May
15, 2006. The European Union pledged on Monday to make Iran a generous
offer of technology, economic and other incentives but stressed Tehran
must comply first with international demands to halt sensitive nuclear
activities. [Reuters]

Senior diplomats and European Union officials said the plans were being
discussed by France, Britain and Germany as part of a proposal to be
presented to representatives of the five permanent U.N. Security Council
members at a meeting in London. The diplomats and EU government officials
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the
information.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said a "package"
was being prepared for Iran's consideration that would give Tehran a
choice between intransigence and a "pathway of cooperation." He declined
to say whether a light-water reactor would be offered.

McCormack said Tehran would be required to halt its program of enriching
and reprocessing uranium on Iranian soil, saying the U.S. and others "do
not want the Iranian regime to have the ability to master those critical
pathways to a nuclear weapon."

Hojjatollah Soltani, second secretary of the Iranian Embassy in
Venezuela, said such a proposal would acceptable only if it "only if they
recognize our right to (use) nuclear technology" �� including uranium
enrichment.

Those in Europe who spoke to The Associated Press emphasized the possible
offer was tentative, complex and depended on demonstrated good nuclear
behavior by Iran over a protracted time.

"It's much more complicated than simply saying the EU is going to offer
light-water reactors" to Iran, said one European government official,
declining to elaborate.

A French official suggested everything depended on Iran's readiness to
discuss details in new negotiations between the Europeans and Tehran, and
said it could take years to build any such facility.

"We are not going to offer them a finished reactor," he told the AP. "For
the moment, one can only identify large general categories (of
cooperation) and only if they say that they are interested ... can we
start to discuss the details," he said. "Otherwise, we are putting the
cart before the horse."

The London meeting of Security Council representatives was originally
scheduled for Friday. But officials from several different nations told
The Associated Press on Tuesday that it might be delayed to next week to
allow the United States, Russia and China to work out their differences.

A light-water reactor is considered less likely to be misused for nuclear
proliferation than the heavy water facility Iran is building at the city
of Arak, which �� once completed by early 2009 �� will produce plutonium
waste.

Still, light-water reactors are not proliferation-proof, because they are
fueled by enriched uranium, which can be processed to make highly
enriched "weapons-grade" material for nuclear warheads.

Iran recently managed to produce what is believed to be its first batch
of low-enriched uranium. Concerns were heightened last week by the
revelation that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors found
traces of uranium enriched to levels higher than used for fuel ��
although not yet weapons-grade �� at a former research facility linked to
the Iranian military.

Fears that Iran's nuclear program could be used to make weapons are at
the center of international attempts to strip Tehran of ambitions to
enrich uranium domestically. Any European offer of one or more
light-water reactors would have to be conditional on Iran setting aside
its enrichment plans and accepting foreign deliveries of low-enriched
uranium for fuel �� something it has steadfastly rejected.

Washington has been at the forefront of moves to pressure Iran to give up
domestic enrichment and has in recent months swung behind a proposal from
Moscow to provide Tehran with fuel-grade uranium produced in Russia.

The United States was behind a similar offer to North Korea in the 1990s,
when it proposed building two light-water reactors if Pyongyang gave up a
plutonium-producing heavy water research reactor. The offer was
ultimately withdrawn after the United States claimed North Korea had
embarked on a second, secret weapons-development program.

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said any
tentative offer "will be made as part of a package of carrots and
sticks," adding that all components were subject to approval by
participants at the London talks.

Bolton has been a key proponent of tough Security Council action unless
Iran renounces enrichment, including a militarily enforceable resolution
packing the threat of sanctions. However, the United States last week
agreed to a new European effort to entice the Iranians back to the
negotiating table in an attempt to secure Russian and Chinese backing for
tough council actions.

In the latest sign of persisting differences, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Beijing and Moscow will not vote for the
use of force in resolving the nuclear dispute.

In a gesture to Tehran, Lavrov also said Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad will attend a summit next month in Shanghai of leaders from
Russia, China and four Central Asian nations.

"We cannot isolate Iran or exert pressure on it," Lavrov told reporters.
"Far from resolving this issue of proliferation, it will make it more
urgent."

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Monday, November 26, 2007

Europe weighs giving reactor to Iran

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