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Belgium calls for more info on US plutonium request |
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| BELGIUM: July 18, 2002 | ||
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BRUSSELS - Belgium said this week it needed more information before deciding whether it would accede to a U.S. request to recycle weapons-grade plutonium from an arms reduction deal with Russia.
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Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said his cabinet would not debate the U.S. request before additional information is made available. "The prime minister wishes to evaluate how much this recycling project will contribute to helping to speed up nuclear disarmament," Verhofstadt's office said in a statement. U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has asked Belgium to recycle 80 kg (176 lbs) of the highly fissile material into low-grade nuclear fuel under a deal with Russia to reduce each side's deployed strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 from about 6,000. Belgium and France have the technology to convert nuclear weapons-grade material into MOX fuel that can be used in civilian nuclear power plants, while the United States does not. A U.S. embassy spokesman said last week that Washington planned to licence the technology to build two similar plants in the United States, but it first wanted to ship a small amount of plutonium to Belgium or France to simulate the procedure in a test facility. The Greens, the junior group in Verhofstadt's three-party coalition, has opposed the U.S. plan on grounds that it could pose risks to the environment.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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