WASHINGTON -- April 19, 2008; The Bush administration has given up its push for an international ban on sales of uranium-enrichment technology to nonnuclear states, a move that will complicate its nuclear diplomacy toward both Iran and India, and could open the way for a wave of new entrants into the enrichment club.The concession was made under heavy pressure from Canada, which wants the right to build uranium-enrichment plants to export the lucrative enriched fuel for nuclear-power plants. It marks an about-face for President Bush, who called in February 2004 for a ban on new countries becoming enrichment powers. The U.S. then persuaded Canada and other reluctant members of the Group of Eight top industrialized countries to agree to a nuclear-sales moratorium, a ban the group has renewed every year since.
NUCLEAR SHIFT
• U.S. Concession: The Bush administration dropped its push for an international ban on sales of uranium-enrichment technology.
• Canada's Role: The U.S. was pressured by Ottawa, which wants the right to build uranium-enrichment plants.
• Possible Risk: Some say there may be an increased chance that nuclear materials will fall into the wrong hands.
But on Monday, at a Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna, U.S. officials plan to back a new set of proposals that would abandon the U.S. quest for a moratorium and replace it with guidelines on technology sales to countries seeking to join the enrichment club. The 45-member group works to coordinate sales of nuclear technologies.
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