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Egypt rejects reports of nuclear probe
Cairo (AFP) May 7, 2009 Egypt on Thursday dismissed as "erroneous and old" reports that the UN's nuclear watchdog is investigating traces of enriched uranium at an Egyptian nuclear facility. Reports of an investigation "into the discovery by the International Atomic Energy Agency of traces of enriched uranium in Egypt are erroneous and old," foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement. "It's surprising that media can get hold of an IAEA report that is to be made public at a meeting in June," he said, apparently referring to the agency's Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR). "This raises several questions on what pushed some people to reveal this information," Zaki said. "Egypt has in the past already explained to the agency the circumstances of this matter and agency officials agreed with Egyptian explanations," Zaki said, adding that the issue had arisen in 2007. "The agency always says in its reports that Egyptian nuclear activities are of a peaceful nature," Zaki said. A diplomat familiar with the IAEA's inspections work said the SIR is a standard report provided to the IAEA board each year describing the status of safeguards verification in all countries. "As part of the routine application of safeguards in Egypt, IAEA inspectors have taken environmental samples," the diplomat said. "It is not that unusual for the agency to find traces of nuclear material in environmental samples at nuclear sites in a country. As needed, these are followed up by the Department of Safeguards." Egypt decided in 2007 to relaunch its nuclear energy programme, which started with the Soviet Union in 1961 but was frozen following the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. It has one research reactor at Inshas northeast of Cairo and is currently carrying out consultations on where to build its first nuclear power station. Egypt, which ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1981, seeks a nuclear weapons-free Middle East and regularly criticises Israel for its undeclared nuclear arsenal. However, Cairo has also said it will not sign a voluntary additional protocol to the NPT that would allow more intrusive inspections, saying it could make it too dependent on other countries for nuclear energy needs. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Kim And Mahmoud And ICBM Envy
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 10, 2009North Korea's unsuccessful attempt to put a communications satellite in space this week was doubtlessly timed to throw a monkey wrench into U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Europe. To some degree, focus shifted from NATO's 60th anniversary and Obama's nuclear-weapons speech to North Korea and Iran. And the Sunday morning TV talk shows predictably were filled with empty rhetoric about taking strong action and not letting dear leader Kim Jong Il get away with international blackmail through missile diplomacy. |
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