Would Urenco's Sale Pose a Proliferation Risk?

Urenco, one of the world’s leading uranium enrichment companies, was established by the Treaty of Almelo over four decades ago. The treaty’s three contracting parties—Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom—have been responsible for protecting the firm’s highly sensitive centrifuge enrichment technology. That task is an important one. 

 

The Obama administration, in the wake of a promising first round of nuclear diplomacy with Iran, is weighing a proposal to ease the pain of sanctions on Tehran by offering it access to billions of dollars in frozen funds if the Iranian government takes specific steps to curb its nuclear program, a senior administration official said Thursday.

 

In deciding to sell two additional nuclear reactors to Pakistan, in violation of the current international guidelines on atomic commerce, China, if only inadvertently, has helped reveal the unenviable nuclear policy mess that the UPA government finds itself in.

 

India now seems all set to acquire a second nuclear-powered submarine on lease from Russia, at a cost of about $1.5 billion, to bolster its ageing underwater combat arm that took a major hit with the sinking of a conventional submarine in Mumbai in August.

 

Britain agreed on Monday the construction of its first nuclear plant in 20 years by a consortium of state-backed French and Chinese firms, underlining its controversial commitment to atomic power.

 

A new U.S.-Russian deal made public on Thursday paves the way for the former Cold War rivals to bring their nuclear-arms communications into the digital age.