UN watchdog chief hopes for uranium swap pact

Davos: The UN nuclear agency's new chief and Iran's foreign minister expressed hope on Friday that an agreement will be reached on a swap of most of Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium for research reactor fuel.

Calling Iran's nuclear programme the "No 1 issue" for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano said he is acting as an intermediary on an international proposal to export most of the material Iran would need to make nuclear weapons.

Amano provided no details on talks with Iran on the plan, under which the country would quickly ship out most of its stock of enriched uranium, then wait up to a year for its return in the form of fuel rods to power a research reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes. It is extremely difficult to enrich material in the fuel rods to higher levels that can be used to make weapons.

For months, Iranian officials have criticised the plan, which was drawn up in October and backed by most of the world's major powers. Iran, which insists it is only interested in producing nuclear energy, appeared to agree in principle at the time, but expressed displeasure with it almost immediately afterward.

Diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA is headquartered, said last week that Iran has now told the agency it wants an alternative plan without the tight timetable for shipping out most of its enriched uranium.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told AP Television News late Friday that the idea of an exchange of uranium for fuel rods "is on the table" but the government wants it to "take place simultaneously".

Technical problem

"The problem they have raised is, because of technical problem, it takes time — two months, three months, five months. We said ‘OK. You can start to prepare 20 per cent [high] enriched uranium. When it is ready, then exchange simultaneously can take place'," he said.

"Then, I am personally optimistic that there is room for realising of this ideas [sic]," Mottaki said.

A simultaneous exchange, however, is likely to be unacceptable to the six powers who support the original deal because it would take up to a year to manufacture the material for the fuel rods.

By that time, Iran is likely to have increased its enriched stockpile enough that even if it ships out the equivalent in exchange, it will still have more than enough material to make at least one nuclear weapon.

Amano told a panel at the World Economic Forum that there is no agreement on the fuel proposal for the Tehran reactor. "I hope the agreement will be reached, and I continue to work as an intermediary," he said.

Mottaki confirmed that "now indirectly the message is going and coming, and we see some areas of realistic approach to this issue — with the hope we finalise not very late".

Amano said the international community's confidence in Iran's nuclear programme was lost after the discovery of secret activities over 20 years that were not disclosed to the IAEA, as required.

Iranian acceptance of the uranium proposal, he said, "will help to increase the confidence".

The panel in Davos also examined the challenge posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, the difficulties in trying to reach US President Barack Obama's goal of a nuclear-free world, and this year's crowded nuclear agenda, including a conference on nuclear security in Washington in April and the five-year review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May.

Commitment

The treaty requires signatory nations not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment by the five nuclear powers to move toward nuclear disarmament.

States without nuclear weapons are guaranteed access to peaceful nuclear technology to produce nuclear power.

The last review conference in 2005 failed to reach any agreement but Amano was more optimistic about this year's session.

"My expectation ... is that the NPT review conference will agree something," he said, declining to speculate on the outcome.