MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Supplies of highly-enriched uranium to Australia to fuel US-and UK-made nuclear-powered submarines pose a challenge to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov said.
"This is a challenge for the IAEA safeguards system," he said. "The basic safeguards agreement’s article 14 says that guarantees do not apply to nuclear materials that are used for non-peaceful purposes. In this case, the uses are obviously not peaceful as we are talking about military nuclear submarines."
According to the Russian diplomat, the problem is that "Australia, a non-nuclear state under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, will receive around two, or even more, tons of highly-enriched uranium."
"The IAEA has never before seen a case like this in its history," he stated. "No one knows how article 14 is going to work. The IAEA secretariat and Australia are discussing this problem, involving, as far as I know, the Americans and the British, but it is not known what exactly they are negotiating. They are not being transparent about this process."
The Russian diplomat also drew attention to the fact that three members of the AUKUS bloc (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia) have already "agreed on a foundational document saying that certain information will not be reported to the agency." "This only adds to the suspicion that something is amiss here," Ulyanov stressed. "The AUKUS members are unwilling to engage in a serious interstate-level discussion. Given the lack of progress in this case, it is expedient to keep the topic on the IAEA agenda and so far, it is there."
Absurd idea
Ulyanov questioned the feasibility of providing non-nuclear Australia with a fleet of combat nuclear-powered submarines.
"The rationale behind this project is difficult to grasp because neither the Americans nor the British have the capability to manufacture that many submarines," he explained. "This is a very costly undertaking, even if Australia pays for it. I saw this in the Australian media: the Americans can manufacture 1.2 nuclear submarines a year, so it will take quite a long time to make several such submarines."