voted last week to create an enriched uranium fuel bank in an effort to discourage countries from enriching uranium itself.
The bank is a direct response to Iranian complaints that it was forced to enrich its own uranium because it was not guaranteed it could buy fuel on the open market.
However, under the rules adopted for the fuel bank, Iran and North Korea cannot buy any enriched uranium because only countries that are in compliance with IAEA rules are allowed to buy.
After the IAEA vote, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the Islamic Republic would agree to the creation of such a nuclear fuel bank—provided that a branch was set up in Iran.
The site or sites for the fuel bank have not yet been determined—but Iran clearly will not be eligible while it is on the outs with the IAEA.
The IAEA Board of Governors voted 28-0 Friday to approve the bank, with six absten tions and one country absent.
The $150 million fuel bank will ensure uranium supply for power plants in countries that are in good standing with the IAEA. The new institution is meant to be a backup in case countries face a cutoff from commercial suppliers.
US President Obama has touted the fuel bank, which will get $50 million from the US government.
Former US Senator Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia, is the co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the group that most prominently campaigned for the fuel bank. Then IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei endorsed the idea years ago.
A senior US official said the bank was not likely to prompt Iran to alter its nuclear program. “But it does undercut their argument that they need to have an indigenous enrichment program because they can’t be confident they can rely on” outside suppliers of fuel, the official said.
The fuel bank project got going in 2006 after Nunn approached investor Warren Buffett. Buffett pledged $50 million, on the condition that governments kick in $100 million. That total was reached last year, with donations from the US, the European Union, Kuwait, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.
Many countries have been wary about giving up any rights to nuclear energy, including the ability to make their own fuel. They were assured the fuel bank doesn’t force them to do so.
“Essentially what we’re saying to the world is: if you want to be in the peaceful use of nuclear power, you don’t have to have those enrichment facilities,” Buffett said.
Russia has recently set up a fuel bank of its own, which provides uranium to countries approved by the IAEA.