VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said that Syria had a right to his agencyÂ’s help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.Russia, China and developing nations also back the aid project, said diplomats.
| No surprise ... |
A report circulated last week by ElBaradei confirmed that soil samples taken at the site of a building in Syria bombed last year by Israel revealed “a significant number” of uranium particles. The report also said that satellite imagery and other information appeared to bear out U.S. intelligence that the building was a nuclear reactor _ one Washington said was nearly completed and almost ready to produce plutonium, a fissile warhead component.
Syria denies hiding nuclear activities. But the report strengthened both concerns that it might have something to conceal and arguments from the U.S. and its allies that Damascus should not be offered agency help in planning its civilian reactor.
| No one at the IAEA understands cause-and-effect ... |
Those concerns were voiced again Monday, according to diplomats inside the closed meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board. U.S. delegate Geoff Pyatt was outspoken in opposition to the planned project and received backing from the European Union, France, Britain, Australia and Canada, the diplomats said. Some of the strongest objections came from Australia, said one the diplomats, citing that nation’s statement. “We find it difficult to accept the agency embarking on such an all-encompassing and ill-defined nuclear power project at a time when Syria is evidently withholding cooperation from the agency ... a serious concern,” said the statement.
But ElBaradei disagreed, saying there was no legal basis to cancel or postpone the program.
| El-Baradei understands which side he's on ... |
ElBaradei cited TehranÂ’s case to emphasize the difference between the two situations and to argue in favor of the Damascus project, diplomats said.
Iran and other nonaligned nations also warned against withdrawing the project. “Syria or any member state of the IAEA should benefit (from) technical cooperation without any discrimination,” Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran’s chief delegate to the IAEA, told The Associated Press. Separately, he accused those nations opposed to the Syrian project of “poisoning” the meeting’s atmosphere.
And speaking for the nonaligned countries, Norma M. Goichochea, the chief Cuban delegate said technical aid to members “should not be blocked, delayed or otherwise hindered for mere suspicion or unproven allegations.”