Need for diplomacy with Iran, on the nuclear issue

no one gets respect like those who have the bomb. And those who stop reaching for it tend to get killed.

Israel Has Nuclear Weapons, But Only Iran Has Nuclear Power Forbes.com James Conca, 21 Oct 12, With all the uproar over Iran’s nuclear weapons program, reckless speculation on attacks and the latest Iranian cyberthreat, does anyone care that Iran just brought up to full power the only commercial nuclear energy reactor in the Middle East? Of the kind you can’t really make weapons from?
It’s easy to forget that Iran has had a 50-year nuclear program, begun by the United States in the 1960’s At that time, the Shah of Iran realized that oil wasn’t going to last forever, and decided to take us up on our Atoms for Peace program. Just like the Soviets did for DPRK (North Korea) in their version of Atoms for Peace. Just like we did for Pakistan our Atoms for Peace program (see The Rachel Maddow Show March 19th 2012 for a brilliant discussion of the history of the Atoms for Peace program and the ongoing disarmament activities and collection of loose materials occurring today)…

….Moving along in parallel with all this weapons stuff was the old Bushehr power reactor. With Russia’s Atomstroyexport as contractor, the reactor came on-line in 2010. It was connected to the grid in 2011, and just six weeks ago Bushehr went to full capacity, firmly establishing Iran as the first commercial nuclear power producer in the Middle East. Israel has nuclear weapons, but only Iran has nuclear power.

Bushehr is likely to produce over 8 billion kWhrs of electricity each year, replacing quite a bit of natural gas capacity, and allowing that much more natural gas to be exported at a profit. Atomstroyexport plans to build more reactors in Iran in the future.

Why can’t they just be happy with that?

Probably because no one gets respect like those who have the bomb. And those who stop reaching for it tend to get killed. Just ask Saddam and Muammar. On the other, once you start down that path, the end can become dicey pretty fast.

I don’t intend for this quick review to be complete at all, but to illustrate that history matters and that a choice to produce weapons is clear and separate from a choice to produce energy…. The United Arab Emirates is also building nuclear power reactors, four Korean light water rectors, in full transparency and with full support from the international community. Abu Dhabi knows they don’t need to enrich for themselves and don’t need other nuclear infrastructure to have nuclear energy. They, too, seek to offset natural gas use, and sell both gas and nuclear energy at a nice profit. Their choice will bring them a much better profit than Iran’s.

Jordan recently discovered about 70,000 tons of deposits from which U can be recovered for a tidy profit without starting a weapons program.
A nuclear energy race in the Middle East is fine. A nuclear arms race is horrible. They are easily distinguished from each other and the region can still steer towards an energy-only nuclear future..

How we handle Iran is crucial to which of these futures comes to pass. Caution and reasoned action, with a full understanding of the history of the region, is the only way to proceed. I am confident that election year rhetoric will not prevent this. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/10/21/does-anyone-care-about-irans-nuclear-energy-program/

October 22, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general

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