|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Congressional Researchers to Review IAEA Safeguards, Site Security Efforts By Joe Fiorill WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee yesterday asked congressional researchers to study how well International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards are working and what changes the agency might make to ensure the security of nuclear materials. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the ensuing Iraq and Iran crises have spurred widespread discussions in nonproliferation circles about whether and how to reform the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog. In a letter sent yesterday to the U.S. General Accounting Office, which conducts research at the request of Congress, Representative Jim Turner (D-Texas) voiced concern that the IAEA safeguards “system is not designed to prevent theft of nuclear material by outsiders or the bombing of nuclear reactors and spent-fuel facilities by terrorists.” “No multilateral treaty requires that nuclear material and facilities be protected from such attacks. IAEA recommends but does not require physical protection standards to protect reactors against sabotage, and IAEA inspectors do not check to ensure that these recommendations are followed. … In light of the Sept. 11 attacks, it is time to re-evaluate the status of IAEA’s efforts to strengthen international safeguards agreements and determine what efforts are needed to require measures to physically protect nuclear materials,” Turner wrote. Specifically, Turner asked GAO to study “the progress IAEA has made in strengthening the international safeguards system” and “what changes are needed to the safeguards system to protect nuclear materials from terrorist attacks, including any changes that may be needed to IAEA’s physical protection guidelines.” The IAEA and other U.N. agencies have repeatedly come under fire from the Republican administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, and sources familiar with the issue linked Turner’s letter to broader Democratic promotion of multilateralism. A Western diplomat in Vienna said the overall thrust of the congressman’s request dovetails with the plans of IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. “This is the D.G.’s vision of … internationalizing the whole enrichment process, and then, in terms of physical protection guidelines, those are being updated all the time,” said the diplomat. As to the possibility of IAEA verification of countries’ compliance with physical protection standards, though, the diplomat said, “I’ve never heard anyone even raise the issue. … How would you enforce something like that? Is IAEA going to ensure that these recommendations are followed in, say, the United States?” “There’s no reason why [verification of physical protection] couldn’t be added on to the [IAEA safeguards] requirements, but it would … require an international agreement. And would it make sense to include the nuclear weapons states. … The problem is, how would you get them to comply?” the diplomat said. Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Executive Director Henry Sokolski, a nonproliferation official under former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, termed Turner’s initiative a positive one but suggested such measures do not go far enough. “It’s always good,” Sokolski said, “when Congress takes an interest in nuclear proliferation issues. It’s too rare. One can only hope that this is part of a broader effort to examine how we can enforce and promote a tougher view of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.” The IAEA refused to comment on the development.
| ||||||||||
Back to top
