PONEMAN: ENRICHMENT, REPROCESSING IN 123 AGREEMENTS ‘MISCHARACTERIZED’

Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Poneman said Friday that some advocates of a “gold standard” for civil nuclear agreements that would require other countries to forgo enrichment and reprocessing have distorted the facts. “The relationship between 123 agreements and our restrictions on exporting enrichment and reprocessing technologies has unfortunately been mischaracterized,” Poneman said at the Fourth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. “Let me be clear. The United States as a matter of policy does not transfer enrichment and reprocessing technology or any restricted data under our 123 agreements. Moreover, all 123 agreements provide the Untied States with consent license over whether U.S.-supplied material is ever enriched or reprocessed. What is being raised by some is whether to ask a sovereign nation to forgo the pursuit of enrichment and reprocessing technology in return for a civil nuclear relationship with the United States. It has always been U.S. policy to approach each potential 123 agreement on a case-by-case basis so that it can be negotiated with regard to the specifics of the country involved.”