Thank you Director General ElBaradei.

Congratulations to Mr. Abdul Samad Minty on your election as President of this, the 50th IAEA General Conference.

President George W. Bush sends a letter wishing us a productive conference.

Let me draw from his message:

“My Administration has announced a bold new proposal called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.  We will work with countries to meet their growing energy needs, dispose of waste safely, advance nonproliferation, and keep nuclear technology out of the hands of terrorist networks and terrorist states.

“We will encourage reliable access to nuclear fuel for countries that agree to forego uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.  Together, we can ensure that cheap, safe, and clean nuclear energy and its benefits are enjoyed by all who are in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations.”

Let me take this opportunity to highlight some of our recent nonproliferation successes.

Through close cooperation between Russia and the U.S., we have strengthened the security for hundreds of metric tons of weapons-usable materials in Russia and we are on track to finish that work by the end of 2008.  We have down-blended more than 250 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium and sold it as commercial fuel.  And we continue with plans to eliminate surplus U.S. and Russian plutonium.

To build on these efforts, the United States and Russia recently announced a new Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.  This initiative provides the means to prevent terrorists and their sponsors from acquiring nuclear weapons, the most serious threat facing the world today.

The initiative builds on UN Security Council Resolution 1540, the recently amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and Facilities, the Additional Protocol, and related instruments.  We urge full implementation of these measures to control proliferation and to secure the safe expansion of nuclear energy use worldwide.

In addition, through President Bush’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, we recently partnered with Russia and the IAEA to secure and return highly enriched uranium and other at-risk materials from Serbia, Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and elsewhere.

These materials would have been enough to arm nine nuclear weapons and numerous “dirty bombs.”  This should spur us to redouble our efforts to secure nuclear and radiological material, and further expand our cooperative work in nuclear non-proliferation.

But the immense power contained in just a few pounds of enriched uranium can also produce an incredible amount of clean and abundant energy.  Like many powerful forces man has harnessed throughout history, such as the flow of a great river, or the spark of an open flame - nuclear power can be turned to chaos and destruction or it can be employed to immeasurable benefit.

We are all familiar with the projections for greatly increased demand for energy of all types around the world.  In particular, on my visit to Iraq earlier this summer I saw for myself how critical electricity is to trade and commerce, education, even healthcare.

The world still relies primarily on coal, natural gas, and oil to generate electrical power.  But nuclear energy provides a host of benefits fossil fuels cannot match.

I believe that nuclear power will increasingly become the electricity-generator of choice if we act wisely and decisively today.

To realize the full benefits of nuclear power, four basic conditions must be met:

First, nuclear power must be cost-competitive.  Our Congress has enacted legislation providing financing, tax, insurance, and licensing incentives for utilities to construct new facilities in the United States.  Some 27 new reactors – the first since 1978 – are now in various stages of planning and design.

Second, nuclear waste and spent fuel must be responsibly managed.  Our Department is pushing aggressively to open the Yucca Mountain Repository by 2017.  We also welcome progress of other nations, such as Sweden and Finland, that are pursuing geologic repositories.

Third, nuclear power must be safe.  The nuclear safety record over the last twenty years has been outstanding. Simply put, it must stay this way.

And fourth, we must maintain the firmest safeguards over nuclear materials.  Expansion of nuclear power must not result in additional states acquiring nuclear weapons.

We can achieve these goals, but it will not be easy.

To guide our efforts over the coming years, the United States has proposed the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or “GNEP”, announced by President Bush in January.

GNEP will complement the proposal announced earlier this year by President Putin to establish international nuclear fuel service centers, starting with one in Russia.

Both of these plans, as well as ideas put forward by the IAEA, share the same goal: to facilitate the global expansion of nuclear power to meet growing energy demands, limit carbon emissions, and reduce proliferation dangers.

The avenue that the United States has proposed, in the form of GNEP, is to develop and deploy advanced technologies for recycling spent nuclear fuel that do not result in separated plutonium.

Our aim is to work with others in developing advanced, proliferation resistant nuclear power reactors appropriate for the power grids and needs of developing economies.

Most critically, we hope to work with partners among both nuclear supplier and recipient states to provide reliable fuel services on a competitive basis worldwide, by assuring the supply and return of spent fuel for recycling to nations that agree not to pursue enrichment and reprocessing capabilities.

Whatever the difference between the various proposals for the future of nuclear power, they are minor compared to what they have in common:

We all agree that an international framework for an assured fuel supply is critical to meeting the world’s energy needs and advancing our nonproliferation goals.  That is why we welcome the Director General’s special event on “Assurances of Supply and Nonproliferation” beginning tomorrow.

Former United States President Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

That is the approach we hope to take.

The United States intends to work with the IAEA and all other willing partners to create a framework for reliable fuel guarantees at fair market rates and for the storage, transport, and processing of spent fuel.

We would also work with the IAEA to promote dialogue between suppliers and recipients, foster acceptance of technological advances, and help countries build the skills necessary to use nuclear energy effectively.

We seek mutually beneficial agreements with other like-minded nations--both large and small--that share our vision of responsible, expanded use of nuclear energy.

During the Cold War, smaller nation’s often found their energy supply held hostage to the tactical maneuvering of larger powers.

Unfortunately, we continue to see some of this even today.

An assured fuel supply - whether brokered by the IAEA or supplier states - would considerably increase the energy independence, and thus political and strategic independence, of all nations, particularly smaller ones.

An important first step is the proposed multilateral mechanism for reliable supply introduced to the IAEA Board of Governors by the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

We urge the quick adoption of this mechanism.

Of course, there are still obstacles to the safe expansion of nuclear power.  The defiance and violations of Iran and North Korea, and risks of catastrophic nuclear terror, must be addressed.

But despite these persistent challenges we are making good progress on nonproliferation, such as the developments in securing and returning Russian-origin HEU that I mentioned earlier.

Cooperation with Russia has improved the security of our nations and the world.  Yet we cannot stop there.  All states must act decisively and responsibly to prevent proliferation and thwart terrorists bent on nuclear or radiological violence.

In the fifty years since the IAEA was founded, the world has seen great progress in the expansion of peaceful nuclear power, while also keeping the nuclear peace.  But in my view, this was simply a prelude to the next fifty years, which I believe will be the real “Nuclear Age.”

Through continued progress in science and technology, we can further improve the safety and security of nuclear reactors, while also solving the challenge of waste disposal.

But only through a genuine global partnership … one that benefits the world’s economies and the environment … and one that limits proliferation risks… will we realize the Atoms for Peace vision that this organization was founded to pursue.

Thank you.

Location:
Vienna, Austria

Media contact(s):
Craig Stevens, (202) 586-4940