US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will unveil a major nuclear non-proliferation initiative here next week and will meet with the head of the UN watchdog agency, a US embassy spokesman said Friday.
"This is a new initiative on cleaning up and containing stray radioactive sources and also trying to get HEU (highly enriched uranium) out of research reactors," said spokesman Michael Garuckis, adding that the goal was "making sure everything is tagged and traceable."
Highly enriched uranium can be used for civilian purposes but also as raw material for a nuclear bomb.
"It is a major non-proliferation initiative," Garuckis said, adding that Abraham, who will be on a European tour, would deliver a major policy speech Wednesday and meet with Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
The IAEA has expressed concern about the discovery of HEU traces in Iran. Its board of governors is to meet here in mid-June to focus on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, admitted in February that he had covertly sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Comments
Comments are closed.