VIENNA — Buffett’s bankroll, Obama’s clout and the partnership of a savvy ex-Soviet strongman may turn the steppes of central Asia into a go-to place for “safe” uranium fuel.
The $150 million idea, with seed money from billionaire Warren Buffett, must navigate the tricky maze of global nuclear politics. But the notion is rising on the agenda as a way to limit access to ultimate weapons.
Decisions may come as early as next month in Vienna.
The vision to establish international control over the technology fueling atom bombs was resurrected in 2003, when Iran said it would develop fuel installations for nuclear power.
In a speech last month in Prague, the Czech capital, President Barack Obama spoke of an arms-control plan that included a fuel bank, “so that countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation.”
That’s the fear: Centrifuges to enrich uranium for power-plant fuel also can produce highly enriched uranium for bombs.
Only a dozen nations have enrichment plants, but the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency foresees nuclear-power use almost doubling in the next 20 years.
“If a nuclear fuel bank for nuclear energy was created, then Kazakhstan would consider hosting it,” President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the former Soviet republic said after Obama’s speech.
Iran isn’t likely to give up its controversial fuel facilities, which some fear could lead to an Iranian bomb.
