The Obama Administration’s decision to not force countries to foreswear enrichment and reprocessing technologies as part of future civil nuclear cooperation deals is drawing criticism from Congress, and especially Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). Lugar, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, responded to a letter to Congress from the Administration describing its plans to apply enrichment and reprocessing restrictions on a case-by-case basis in future deals with his own letter, strongly questioning the decision, according to Congressional aides. Lugar’s letter, and the Administration’s letter that prompted it, have not been released, but several aides described their contents in comments to NW&M Monitor.
Of particular concern to Lugar is the uneven applicability of what had been described in a civil nuclear cooperation deal with the United Arab Emirates as the ‘gold standard’ of so-called ‘123’ agreements—the foreswearing of plans to develop enrichment and reprocessing technologies. As the Administration has restarted negotiations with Vietnam and Jordan on civil nuclear trade deals, it has backed away from applying that standard to all agreements, suggesting that its nonproliferation goals could be achieved through other means, and the letter to senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week outlined that new policy. Lugar, however, questioned the approach, and its potential impacts, especially in the Middle East, according to Congressional aides. “Countries that aren’t willing to agree to enrichment standards do so because they actually want to seek a weapons program,” one aide told NW&M Monitor. “So if UAE has the gold standard and Jordan doesn’t, does this mean UAE is going to renegotiate its one, or is Jordan going to want to seek a nuclear weapons program because of this?”
Jobs