IOL: SA to oppose Bush's suggested uranium ban

He noted that as far back as February 2004 US President George Bush had effectively said that countries could not be trusted with uranium enrichment programmes "because if you have technology to enrich, you can use it for weapons, or for power".Bush had been speaking in the context of Iran wanting to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.The US president had proposed that from that date onwards no country that was not enriching uranium at that moment should be allowed to enrich in future."We, in South Africa, totally reject this approach, because if concerns are there for another country why should all of us in the developing world - because it hits all of us - not be allowed to enrich?" Minty asked.Bush's proposal would have meant that countries like India, Pakistan and Israel would have been able to continue to enrich uranium without any control, while developing countries would be barred from doing so.
'We must look at market prices and global supply'Noting that the South African cabinet had decided to fund the country's own pebble bed reactor, Minty said: "If we develop it, we may be interested in enriching uranium, because we have the technology, we have the uranium, we must look at market prices and global supply and see if we need to (enrich) ... we are not accepting this."Minty emphasised that under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, member states had the inalienable right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.But there was great pressure to stop countries from embarking on uranium enrichment programmes, he said.