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Nuclear Waste: U.S. Senate Approves Nuclear Waste Safety Treaty By Mike Nartker Under the convention, members agree to develop national regulatory systems to govern the safe handling and storage of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive wastes. Such regulatory systems must include a licensing system for spent fuel and radioactive waste management activities and an inspection system. Convention members also agree to develop on-site and off-site emergency plans in the event of a radiological emergency for each of their spent fuel and radioactive waste sites, as well as to safely store disused sealed sources. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) has praised the convention, saying it will help prevent terrorists from obtaining the materials needed to develop “dirty bombs.” “The joint convention promotes improvements in safety at nuclear fuel and waste management facilities throughout the world by providing a framework for regulatory systems and practices,” Lugar said in a press release. “The convention also requires parties to ensure that ‘disused’ sealed sources (i.e., sealed sources that are not longer in use) are controlled in a safe manner, which would prevent their use in radiological dispersion devices, or dirty bombs,” he added. The U.S. nuclear industry, which supports the ratification of the convention, also believes it will help reduce nuclear terrorism, Steve Kraft, director of waste management for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade organization, told Global Security Newswire today. The reporting requirements contained in the convention will help provide more controls over spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive wastes, he said. The convention will also help countries with more developed waste management systems, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, aid those countries will less-developed systems through information-sharing measures, Kraft said. Some analysts, however, said the convention would have little impact on security. Edwin Lyman, president of the Nuclear Control Institute, a nonproliferation advocacy group, criticized Lugar’s assessment of the treaty, calling it “baloney.” “With all due respect to Senator Lugar, I think he needs to be better briefed,” Lyman told GSN today. The convention makes no direct reference to the physical security of spent fuel or other radioactive wastes, Lyman said. There is also nothing in the convention that would have an impact on U.S. practices, he said. Instead, the agreement represents a “lowest common denominator” approach to bringing other countries into the fold of safe practices, Lyman said. The convention is “something easy for the Senate to do to claim they’re doing something,” Lyman said, “but I think it’s pretty hollow.” Senate approval of the treaty will allow the United States to participate in an organizational meeting of convention members scheduled to begin Sunday, according to the Lugar press release. The Bush administration has placed a high emphasis on the ratification of the convention, Lugar said in his press release, noting a request made last month by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham for timely consideration of the agreement. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-0 Tuesday to approve the convention, but its approval came with several conditions. For example, the president is required, upon request, to provide an unclassified report on convention members receiving U.S. nuclear security upgrade assistance that details the security assessments made on each country’s nuclear facilities and an identification of those facilities that need significant security improvements. The report also calls for a country-by-country assessment of regulatory frameworks and accounting of U.S. financial and technical security upgrade assistance. The convention, which entered into force last year, currently has 30 members and an additional 12 signatories. The United States signed the convention in 1997. Other convention members include most European nations, Argentina Brazil, Kazakhstan and South Korea. Only slightly more than half of the convention signatories, however, have at least one nuclear power plant, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency fact sheet. For further information, see:
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