Proposals for a global nuclear fuel bank meant to boost economic development while stemming the spread of atom bomb knowledge are to be put to a UN watchdog's decision-making board in 2007, officials say.
Inspired in part by Iran's record of nuclear secrecy and stonewalling of UN investigators, the handful of proposals were put to a special debate by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 141 member nations in Vienna this week.
In general, the proposals would allow states wanting to fuel nuclear reactors for more electricity to draw enriched uranium from a multilateral reserve if they did not try to master sensitive enrichment technology themselves.
Charles Curtis, chairman of the three-day debate that ended last night, said the IAEA Secretariat would conduct feasibility studies and submit the results to the agency's 35-nation board of governors for consideration next year.
As the international body overseeing the peaceful use of atomic energy in nations party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the IAEA would probably administer a fuel reserve.
Officials conceded a major obstacle to acceptance of the initiative had yet to be overcome - the perception that it could strip developing nations of energy sovereignty and allow a small club of industrialised powers to control supply.
A proposal in June by the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and The Netherlands to supply a global enriched uranium bank got a cool reception at the IAEA from many other nations who saw it as discriminatory.