Steinmeier urges multi-national uranium enrichment facility

Steinmeier urges multi-national uranium enrichment facility

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for setting up a multi-national uranium enrichment facility under UN supervision in a bid to prevent future nuclear disputes like the ongoing one over Iran, the business daily Handelsblatt reported Monday.

“A multilaterization of the nuclear cycle is necessary in order to avoid similar developments in newly industrializing countries like Iran and strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Steinmeier told the paper.

“There have to be international supply guarantees for the nulcear fuel. This could replace the wish for having your own uranium enrichment facilities. It could be financed by countries which claim the right to buy nuclear fuel,” he added.

Under the NPT, member states are allowed to enrich their own uranium.

Meanwhile DPA reported that Steinmeier had informed the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei of his proposal over the weekend.

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