SOLICITING PLEDGES TO FUND THE NUCLEAR THREAT

UNCLAS PARIS 001227 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: FR KNNP IAEA ENRG SUBJECT: SOLICITING PLEDGES TO FUND THE NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE PROPOSAL FOR A NUCLEAR FUEL BANK - FRENCH REPLY REF: SECSTATE 68313 ¶1. (SBU) On June 27, ESTH Counselor and ESTH Officer delivered to Martin Briens, Director of the Office of Disarmament and Nuclear Nonproliferation, reftel demarche regarding the need to raise matching funds to support the proposal under the Nuclear Threat Initiative to create a nuclear fuel bank. Briens was current with this subject and expressed interest in promoting it. He commented that President Sarkozy himself favorably spoke of the idea of a nuclear fuel bank when he campaigned for president last year. Briens noted that the subject of the fuel bank had only recently been raised in (bilateral?) discussions in Washington. Briens thought that a fuel bank could be very useful, but it would also be "highly politically charged" since it envisioned limiting fuel enrichment capability to specific countries, effectively excluding a number of Middle Eastern nations from the technology. He mentioned also that a fuel bank would be valuable in the context of the Iranian nuclear problem. ¶2. (SBU) Briens indicated that, accordingly, France was interested in possibly/repeat possibly providing some "small amount" of funding. However, he foresaw the GOF's role in the coming months in support of the fuel bank to rather be to attempt to generate interest in the proposal within the EU during France's upcoming EU presidency. In that regard, however, he highlighted the divergence of views about nuclear energy within the EU and, thinking aloud, wondered whether the EU could reach a consensus with 26 other countries on the merits of committing funds to the proposal. He thought it wise that the USG was seeking possible funding from countries outside the EU. ¶3. (SBU) Briens said one of the problems with obtaining more support for this proposal was that the IAEA itself had yet to refine and prioritize the fuel bank options of which there were already many. Baradei's comments about the fuel bank have been "imprecise," according to Briens, and "on some issues we'll need answers...." Briens ended with the truism that foreign ministries don't control funds whereas finance ministries do. The latter agencies are sticklers for detail as they want to know precisely what their funds will accomplish before releasing any. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Fran ce STAPLETON