A controversial nuclear club is taking shape. The UK has signed up to the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) just a few months after it was rubbished as unworkable by the US National Academy of Sciences. The UK joins several other recent recruits, including Canada, Senegal and South Korea.
Set up to keep radioactive material away from "rogue" nations, the GNEP promotes nuclear energy, while restricting access to fuel and know-how. "Iran has focused minds on this," says nuclear expert Wyn Bowen of King's College London.
Last week, a similar idea received a boost: Norway offered $5 million towards a global nuclear fuel bank, which would limit production to existing nuclear nations. Previously, the US had been the only country to back the idea.
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Have your say
Norway, Not Sweden
Mon Mar 10 09:46:30 GMT 2008 by Hã¥vard
I believe it was Norway, not Sweden, that contributed with 5 million USD to the fuel bank: (long URL - click here)
Norway, Not Sweden
Fri Mar 14 10:37:16 GMT 2008 by Michael Marshall, Online Editorial Assistant
Yes, it was. :) Sorry for the slip. It's been amended and we'll be running a correction in the magazine.
Gnep Is A Swindle
Mon Mar 10 12:39:51 GMT 2008 by Pluto Boy
The U.S. Department of Energy's GNEP program in the US is simply a way for the plutonium industry (including Areva) to extract money from taxpayers. A return to reprocessing by the US will cost an absurd amount of money and will worsen the waste situation. It is a scheme that Bush's Department of Energy is trying to ram through, with much difficulty, before Bush drags himself out of office. Private industry is staying away from the project and it's only those seeking yet more corporate welfare who are participating. It shall die a slow death and the UK will be on that sinking ship.
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