Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09UNVIEVIENNA496
2009-11-02 15:31:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UNVIE
Cable title:  

IAEA Uranium Mining and Milling Initiatives

Tags:  AROC IAEA ENRG TRGY 
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VZCZCXRO6413
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHUNV #0496/01 3061531
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021531Z NOV 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0248
INFO RUEHII/VIENNA IAEA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 0208
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 0122
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0118
RHEBAAA/DOE WASHDC
RUEANFA/NRC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UNVIE VIENNA 000496 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AROC IAEA ENRG TRGY
SUBJECT: IAEA Uranium Mining and Milling Initiatives

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Summary
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UNVIE VIENNA 000496

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AROC IAEA ENRG TRGY
SUBJECT: IAEA Uranium Mining and Milling Initiatives

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (U) With the resurgence of interest in nuclear power there is
also a resurgence of interest in uranium mining. The IAEA recently
launched an initiative on uranium mining and milling called the
Uranium Production Site Appraisal Team (UPSAT) mission. UPSAT
missions allow Member States to request a peer review of uranium
producing facilities on their territories. This service will work
with current IAEA projects, including a TC regional project in
Central Asia and several training programs, to help reduce the
environmental and public health impact from uranium mining and
milling. End Summary.

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UPSAT Missions
--------------


2. (U) UPSAT missions allow Member States to request a peer review
of uranium producing facilities. These reviews would be conducted
by an international team of experts with direct experience
applicable to the technical areas of evaluation. They would review
all aspects of uranium mining and milling, including legislation,
regulations, operations and decommissioning. The UPSAT missions are
very similar in structure to the OSART (safety assessements) or IRRS
(regulatory) reviews currently performed by IAEA. As with other
IAEA peer review missions, the UPSAT team is advisory and is not a
regulatory inspection, nor is its report a decision document; i.e.,
it will not be used by IAEA to indicate whether a Member State is
allowed to mine uranium or not; the IAEA does not have the authority
to enforce any such judgment in any case.


3. (U) The IAEA is re-launching this program after it tried
unsuccessfully to launch it in 1996. At that time, there was a
decline in the activity of the uranium production industry and,
consequently, no Member State asked for a review. However, renewed
interest in nuclear power has had a positive effect on uranium
production and the fate of UPSAT was revisited at the 2008 IAEA
General Conference. Prior to that General Conference, several
countries had expressed an interest in having this type of program.
Ultimately, the UPSAT program is expected to facilitate the exchange
of knowledge and experience between team members and industry
personnel. This exchange of information should serve to enhance
overall safety and efficiency in uranium production in current and
planned uranium production endeavors.



4. (U) Among the main objectives of these missions are: to provide
the requesting Member State or organization an objective assessment
of the status of operational safety and practices at the site in the
context of generally accepted international practices related to
operational safety and performance; and, to provide recommendations
and suggestions for improvement in areas where performance falls
short of generally accepted practice.


5. (U) A request for an UPSAT mission must come formally from a
Member State or an organization within the Member State. After the
request is made, the IAEA will compose a team of experts from
countries other than the country in which the review is performed.
The Member State must furnish the team with data on the facility in
order to allow the UPSAT team to familiarize itself with relevant
background investigation. Once a desk study is complete, the team
will conduct the review in the Member State. A mission report will
be drafted and transmitted to the Member State. This report will
become the property of the Member State or the reviewed organization
and will be kept confidential and therefore not released to the
public or other Member States by the IAEA or UPSAT team. The costs
of the mission will be shared by the IAEA, the reviewed Member
State, and Member States providing experts. (This funding structure
differs from that for OSARTs or IRRSs, which are paid for solely by
the requesting Member State.) Moreover, if the mission is requested
by a developing Member State, the cost may be financed through IAEA
technical cooperation funds. The U.S. can expect that the IAEA will
ask for extra budgetary funds and cost free experts to participate
in these missions.

--------------
TC Project for Legacy Sites
--------------


7. (U) The IAEA is continuing to work through a Technical
Cooperation regional project that involved all four Central Asian
Member States in the remediation of uranium mining and milling sites
in their territories. The Regional Project is called the Safe

UNVIE VIEN 00000496 002 OF 002


Management of Residues from Former Uranium Mining and Milling
Activities in Central Asia.


8. (U) The focus of this program is remediating the situation in
some of the Central Asian republics where inappropriate operations
of uranium mining and processing for more than 50 years created a
situation that poses public health risks and has significant
consequences for the environment. The IAEA has organized two
international conferences on environmental remediation to discuss
these issues. The first was held in 1999 in Arlington, Virginia,
the second was May 18-22, 2009 in Astana, Kazakhstan.


9. (U) The IAEA's remediation project focused on an area that
includes the Ferghana Valley, which is also a focus of assistance
activity from other international agencies that are working in the
region with projects relating to radioactive waste management and
uranium mill tailings remediation. These include the World Bank, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),The
North Atlantic Treat Organization (NATO),the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP).


10. (U) Further, the IAEA hosted a meeting May 8, 2009, in Vienna
with several of these international organizations, including the
Eurasian Economic Community, European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, European Commission, World Bank, OSCE, and UNDP. Each
organization made presentations on its efforts in this region to
coordinate efforts and ensure that there is a minimum of overlap
between activities and to optimize the combined efforts.

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Reducing "Exploitation"
--------------


11. (U) Another concern the IAEA is trying to address is the
perception on the part of developing countries with uranium deposits
that they are being "exploited" by more developed countries that are
building nuclear power plants. The IAEA Secretariat notes that many
"legacy sites" need remediation today because the host country did
not have or enforce the proper legislation, regulations, or
contracting knowledge to hold mining companies responsible for the
environmental cleanup. Many countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) have continued problems
with legacy sites that cost billions to clean up and which, again in
the view of Secretariat experts, probably will never be fully
resolved because the scale of the problem is so large. The IAEA and
many other organizations are helping states develop draft
legislation, which if adopted and enacted would help protect each
Member State from creating new problems of this type. The IAEA is
encouraging these countries to set up a regulator and legal system
including contracts that will protect their people and the
environment once the companies leave. Finally, the Agency is also
developing training programs and informational workshops for Member
States to be better prepared to handle requests for licensing new
uranium mines. The IAEA believes this type of training and
preparation is important so that the world does not end up with more
legacy uranium sites to have to remediate in the future. The
environmental and financial issues associated with decommissioning
should be dealt with before a mine is licensed.

--------------
Nothing to get UPSAT about?
--------------


12. (SBU) Mission believes the offer of UPSAT missions and
commercial incentives concomitant with the upswing in worldwide
prospects for nuclear power will make advising on uranium
mining/milling an area of expanding IAEA activities for some time.
Mission will continue to monitor developments and member state
requests on this front. Mission will also continue to sensitize
IAEA project officials to the fact that Iran suffers from a dearth
of indigenous uranium resources and could be on the prowl for a
developing country with reserves Tehran may try to exploit despite
the current UNSC prohibition against uranium sales to Iran.

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