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Bahrain, United States to Cooperate on Nuclear Energy

By David I. McKeeby

Gulf State Agrees to Purchase Fuel, Support Global Counterproliferation) (405)

The United States and Bahrain will cooperate in a civil nuclear energy development program that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meet future energy needs and prevent the spread of nuclear technology that could be used in making weapons.

The joint agreement is "a tangible expression of the United States' desire to cooperate with states in the Middle East and elsewhere that want to develop peaceful nuclear power in a manner consistent with the highest standards of safety, security and nonproliferation," according to a Department of State announcement.

The new agreement was one of several regional security issues on the agenda when President Bush welcomed Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa to the White House March 25. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa signed the agreement March 24.

Bahrain agreed to purchase nuclear fuel for its future electric power generation stations from the international market rather than building the massive infrastructure needed to enrich uranium or manufacture plutonium - processes that have the potential for diversion of materials into nuclear arms production, the announcement said. And the approach Bahrain is taking reflects its commitment to serve as a model throughout the region, the announcement said.

Several nations, including the United States, produce nuclear fuel suitable for use in civil nuclear power plants, but which cannot be further modified for use in weapons, according to the State Department.

Bahrain's decision follows the path set out by the Joint Declaration on Nuclear Energy and Nonproliferation, issued in July 2007 by Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin supporting the expansion of nuclear energy under internationally approved safeguards, the announcement said.

As a further demonstration of Bahrain's commitment to the pursuit of civil nuclear power, it also became the latest country to join the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, a 67-nation partnership launched by Bush and Putin in 2006 to strengthen controls and enhance international cooperation in the name of nuclear safety, the department said.

In 2006, Bahrain and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia agreed to formulate a joint nuclear technology program.

(USINFO is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)