GERMANY OFFERES STRONG SUPPORT FOR AMENDING NSG

UNCLAS BERLIN 001608 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE (SCHROEDER) STATE FOR ISN\FO FOR RICHARD STRATFORD STATE FOR ISN\NESS FOR ROBIN DELABARRE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG ETTC KNNP MNUC PARM TRGY SF GM SUBJECT: GERMANY OFFERES STRONG SUPPORT FOR AMENDING NSG NUCLEAR ENR TRANSFER GUIDLINES REF: A. STATE 126581 ¶B. STATE 115509 ¶1. (SBU) Germany, current Chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),confirmed their full support for the U.S.-proposal to amend NSG guidelines regarding transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) equipment/technology and expect little resistance from members with the possible exception of South Africa. Germany believes that South Africa (SA) will likely take a cautious approach, carefully reviewing the proposal and its impact on Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries, but will ultimately support it. In addition, Germany is to a lesser degree concerned about the response from the Urenco group regarding the technical aspects of the proposal. (COMMENT: Urenco is an independent international energy and technology group from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States offering complete services in the nuclear fuel supply chain. END COMMENT) ¶2. (SBU) On December 2, EconOff met with MFA Nuclear Energy Policy officer, Dr. Joerg Polster, to discuss Germany's views on the U.S. ENR proposal to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) INFCIRC 254 paragraphs 6 and 7. Polster conveyed Germany's strong support for the ENR proposal and emphasized that Germany, as NSG Chair, is willing to "make some phone calls" in the interest of achieving quick consensus on the ENR proposal. Specifically, Polster said that Ambassador Viktor Elbling, German MFA Deputy Director General for International Energy and Sustainable Development, is ready to step in if needed. ¶3. (SBU) Polster said that the political ambitions of SA's Deputy Director General for Disarmament, Ambassador Abdul Minty, to succeed IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei will likely cause SA to take a very cautious approach in supporting the ENR proposal and will make achieving consensus by December 12 difficult. However, Polster does believe that at a core Minty is supportive of the ENR proposal and that Germany would be inclined to work with the USG bringing SA along. ¶4. (SBU) Other potential problem areas that Polster identified were Canada's issues with "black box" technology transfer and Brazil and Argentina's response to INFCIRC 254 PARA 6 (ii). Polster said that he feels Canada is comfortable with the compromised language in INFCIRC 254 PARA 7, but does not have a good read on Brazil's and Argentina's reaction yet. COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Polster said that approval for the ENR proposal is a "high priority" for Germany and their position is to "just get it done." Polster, who usually is somewhat pessimistic regarding the NSG's ability to achieve timely consensus, was actually optimistic regarding the ENR proposal. Emphasizing SA as the primary trouble spot, he believes that a coordinated effort by NSG members to bring SA to consensus will be effective. Polster stated that if NSG consensus is not achieved by December 12, he feels that another NSG Consultative Group (CG) could be called to order by March of next year to revisit the issue. TIMKEN JR