UN’s ElBaradei warns of nuclear apocalypse

UNITED NATIONS - If the world does not take steps to limit access to technology for making nuclear bomb fuel, we could be headed for a nuclear apocalypse, the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog said today.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, has proposed a five-year moratorium on the enrichment of uranium and production of plutonium, but many countries have balked at the idea.

Speaking to reporters at a UN-sponsored conference on nuclear disarmament, ElBaradei said if more and more countries get hold of the technology to make bomb-grade uranium and plutonium, there will be many "virtual nuclear weapon states" that could quickly put together a bomb at any time.

"That means in the next 10 to 20 years we'll have many countries who are not officially nuclear weapons states (becoming) virtual nuclear weapon states. That is a good recipe for our self-destruction," he said.

Ironically, the United States and Iran are partners in opposing ElBaradei's proposed moratorium on enrichment, a process of purifying uranium to fuel power plants or weapons.

Washington accuses Tehran of developing a uranium enrichment programme to produce fuel for atomic weapons. Iran says it only wants to produce low-grade enriched fuel for nuclear power plants.

Other countries that oppose the proposal include France, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Japan and the Netherlands - all of which feel it would limit their future nuclear fuel options.

Despite the initial opposition to his plan, ElBaradei said countries had begun to recognise the need.

"I can see a gradual, certain shift in looking more and more positively towards a moratorium," he said. "It might not be five years, it might be a shorter period of time. It might not be called a moratorium but some sort of self-imposed restraint."

Another idea ElBaradei has proposed is making all uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing facilities multinational consortia that are not controlled by a single country. Many countries have expressed support for this idea.

He said the urgency of the matter was made clear after the discovery of a global black market linked to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, that supplied Iran, Libya and possibly North Korea with technology used to make fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

ElBaradei expressed disappointment at the failure of a meeting of the 188 signatories of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to agree on an agenda for discussing ways of repairing loopholes in the 35-year-old pact.

"We are talking about our very survival. To continue to quibble about an agenda is not the way I would like this conference to proceed. I would like them to focus on the big picture," ElBaradei said.

The conference, which runs until May 27, has been deadlocked all week on a plan for the meeting, with the Americans and French opposing any official call for the weapon states to disarm. US officials deny blocking the agenda.

Egypt and other non-aligned countries are fighting this and also trying to guarantee that developing countries will not be denied access to nuclear technology due to what they see as unfounded proliferation fears, UN diplomats said.

- REUTERS