Africa's Policy Imperatives Issue 9, October 2011: African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty: An Update - Russia's Ratification of Protocols and India Hopes for an Exemption, by Noël Stott

Issue 7 of ‘Africa’s Policy Imperatives’ focused on the Treaty of Pelindaba and recent developments in its implementation including the establishment of its compliance body, the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE). It also outlined progress made by both the US and the Russian Federation in ratifying the Protocols attached to the Treaty which are of relevance to them. Previous editions provided brief overviews (and updates) of Africa’s general participation in international efforts to strengthen disarmament and non-proliferation through a number of conventions, protocols and agreements. These conventions and agreements include the:

• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT);
• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT);
• Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC);
• Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC); and,
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540.

This Issue (Issue 9, October 2011) updates Issue 7 and has been compiled as a result of research undertaken since 2007 by the Norwegian-funded ISS’ “Africa’s Development and the Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction Project”. This project aims to identify and strengthen Africa’s role in these international efforts in the context of the continent’s developmental imperatives.

South Africa Ships HEU Back to U.S.

SAFARI-1 research reactor
Source: www.necsa.co.za

South Africa has sent 13.8 pounds of used weapon-grade uranium back to the United States, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced on Wednesday (see GSN, June 9).

The semiautonomous branch of the Energy Department worked with the South African Nuclear Energy Corp. [Nesca] to repatriate the spent U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium fuel that had been used at a nuclear research site.

“With this return, we have taken another important step in the global effort to minimize the use of HEU around the world, a vital part of implementing President Obama’s nuclear security agenda,” NNSA Deputy Administrator Anne Harrington said in released remarks. “The completion of this project is another example of the close partnership between NNSA and the South African Nuclear Energy Corp., and the significant technical expertise and professionalism of Necsa were key factors in the success of the operation.”

The material reached the United States on Tuesday and is going into "secure storage pending disposition," according to an NNSA press release.

The nuclear agency has supported withdrawal of 2,754 pounds of U.S.-made highly enriched uranium from facilities across the globe. In total, it has supported the extraction or management of 6,814 pounds of uranium and plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons, the release states.

South Africa and the United States have collaborated for years on reducing reliance on highly enriched uranium for civilian activities. Last year, the South African nuclear agency received as much as $25 million for a program to promote production of a key medical isotope through use of proliferation-resistant low-enriched uranium rather than highly enriched material (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Aug. 17).

Source: http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110817_7697.php

Statement on Nuclear Free Zones in Asia and Africa

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 02, 2011

Statement on Nuclear Free Zones in Asia and Africa

• Message on African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (pdf)
• Message on South Pacific Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (pdf)

Today the President submitted the Protocols to the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty and the South Pacific Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to ratification. This step advances the President’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and to the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.

Regional nuclear weapon free zone agreements reinforce both the commitment of nations not to pursue nuclear weapons and the nearly 65-year record of their non-use. The protocols to the treaties, once ratified, will extend the policy of the United States not to use or threaten use of nuclear weapons against regional zone parties that are members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in good standing with their non-proliferation obligations.

As a next step, the United States will engage parties to the two other regional agreements in force, in Southeast Asia and Central Asia, so that we can sign the protocols to those treaties as soon as possible.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/statement-nuclear-free-zones-asia-and-africa