NUCLEAR FUEL BANK: SWISS FAVOR COMMERCIAL SUPPLY

UNCLAS BERN 000253

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR T, IO/T, ISN/NESS AND EUR/CE (Y.SAINT-ANDRE)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM ENRG KNNP TRGY IAEA
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR FUEL BANK: SWISS FAVOR COMMERCIAL SUPPLY
ARRANGEMENTS

REF: STATE 57093


1. (SBU) Poloff delivered reftel message June 4 to
Jean-Daniel Praz, Deputy Director of the Arms Control and
Disarmament Section of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs (FDFA),and the FDFA's point-of-contact for IAEA
issues. Praz said that, while not opposed in principle to
the idea of a nuclear fuel bank, the GoS thinks that current
commercial supply is adequate. He remarked that, if
anything, Switzerland probably would prefer to promote growth
and diversification in the commercial market in the future,
perhaps more along the lines of the German proposal. In that
context, Praz speculated that the GoS might at some point be
interested in participating in a consortium arrangement with
a country such as Germany or Belgium.


2. (SBU) COMMENT: Whether the subject is nuclear fuel banks
or the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP),the GoS has
been reticent fully to engage or support new initiatives,
apparently out of a concern that Swiss industry eventually
will find itself at a disadvantage on the margins of a
nuclear "cartel" driven by countries possessing full-cycle
nuclear programs. Such Swiss concerns would seem to provide
the GoS all the more reason to engage itself in these
initiatives to have substantial influence over the outcomes.
However, another constraint on Swiss engagement in
multilateral nuclear cooperation is the Swiss public's
generally dim view of nuclear energy, which represents a
potential political liability to efforts that might be viewed
as championing nuclear energy. Against this backdrop, the
Swiss tend to be more receptive to arguments that revolve
around the positive effects such initiatives can have in the
realm of nuclear nonproliferation.
CARTER