Brazil blocks nuclear inspections

The Brazilian government has refused to allow UN nuclear inspectors to examine a facility for enriching uranium under construction near Rio de Janeiro, according to Brazilian officials and diplomats in Vienna, home of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA and Brazil are at an impasse over the inspections, the diplomats said. Brazil maintains that the facility will produce low-enriched uranium for use in power plants, not the highly enriched material used in nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, Brazil refuses to let IAEA inspectors see equipment in the plant, citing a need to protect proprietary information.

The diplomatic standoff plays into fears that a new type of nuclear race is underway, marked not by the bold pursuit of atomic weapons but by the quiet and lawful development of sophisticated technology for nuclear energy production, which can be quickly converted into a weapons programme.

Brazil's project also poses a conundrum for US President George W. Bush, who has called for tighter restrictions on enrichment of uranium, even for nuclear power, as part of a new strategy to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Non-proliferation specialists also say that if the United States and the United Nations do not act to curtail Brazil's programme, or at least insist on inspections, it could undermine White House calls for Iran and North Korea to halt their efforts to enrich uranium.

"If we don't want these kinds of facilities in Iran or North Korea, we shouldn't want them in Brazil,'' said former US nuclear negotiator James E. Goodby. "You have to apply the same rules to adversaries as you do to friends. I do not see that happening in Brazil.''

Brazil's shrouded technology at the plant in Resende belongs to a programme considered legal under international treaties, but it remains subject to UN inspections, aimed at making sure it is not used for producing weapons-grade material for itself or customers.

The IAEA has dispatched inspectors to Resende in recent months, only to find significant portions of the facility and its contents shielded from view, diplomats said. Walls have been built and coverings are draped over the equipment, according to reports from specialists who have visited the plant, which is in the early stages of construction.

Brazilian officials maintain that the facility falls within rules allowing countries to develop the nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful uses. They say intrusive IAEA inspections are unnecessary because Brazil, which formally forswore nuclear weapons in the 1990s, is seeking a secure and inexpensive source of nuclear power, and has no lingering atomic weapons ambitions.

"We feel deeply bothered, almost offended, when suspicions are raised about Brazil,'' a senior Brazilian diplomat said.