Jungle reactor

The US is not happy about nuclear Myanmar

The club of the world's “nuclear outcasts,” to which the West has included Iran and North Korea, may be joined by Myanmar, also known under the old name Burma. The United States has sounded the alarm that the nuclear research center, which will be built in this country with the assistance of Russia, will become a source of uncontrolled proliferation of atomic weapons and environmental pollution. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: “This is not a good idea. Myanmar does not have the administrative or legislative conditions for a nuclear program of this scale. In addition, the level of safety of nuclear research in the country leaves much to be desired.”

The press service of Rosatom told Vremya Novostei that Russia and Myanmar are parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, “therefore, the project being implemented will be exclusively peaceful.” Construction will be carried out in accordance with a bilateral agreement signed on May 15 in Moscow by the head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko and the Minister of Science and Technology of Myanmar U Thaung. It is planned to build a light water nuclear reactor with a capacity of 10 megawatts, and the level of uranium enrichment will be less than 20%.

The research center will house several laboratories, a waste processing plant and a waste disposal site; spent nuclear fuel will not be returned to Russia. The timing of the implementation of the agreement is planned to be determined during further negotiations. Rosatom told VN that the new project will be carried out under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “If the level of uranium enrichment is below 20%, then according to IAEA standards it can only be used for peaceful purposes,” explained the Rosatom press service.

However, the US concern is precisely based on the conclusions of the IAEA commission, which visited Myanmar twice in 2001. Its experts came to the conclusion that the level of security in the country does not meet the requirements for operating facilities like a nuclear reactor. “The White House clearly wouldn’t want the United States, in addition to Iran and North Korea, to have problems with the dictatorial military regime of Myanmar, which is gaining access to nuclear technologies,” Ksenia Efremova, a specialist at the MGIMO Department of Oriental Studies, said in an interview with VN.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1988. Since July 15, 2003, the former Burma has been subject to US sanctions imposed after the arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the League for Democracy, 61-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party won the general elections in 1990, but the military junta did not recognize the victory. The government began a crackdown on the opposition and imposed severe restrictions on political activity.

But internal Burmese conflicts do not bother Moscow. “Russia views Myanmar as a promising partner in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is a major exporter of natural raw materials and gas, but is experiencing an acute shortage of modern technologies,” says Ms. Efremova. The country willingly purchases Russian multi-purpose diesel engines and is interested in creating joint ventures for the production of locomotives and railway rails, repair and modernization of helicopters. According to the expert, after the introduction of American sanctions, Russia and China became the only suppliers of modern weapons for Myanmar. Officers from Myanmar are trained in Russia; this country has concluded an agreement with Russia for the supply of eight MiG-29 fighters, two MiG-29UBT combat trainers and a batch of Mi-17 transport helicopters.

In January of this year, Russia and China jointly blocked the adoption by the UN Security Council of an American resolution condemning the Myanmar authorities for violating human rights. In response, the country's leadership said that the people of Myanmar are “extremely indebted to Russia and China for using the veto.” “Myanmar fears that the Iraqi scenario will be played out against it. Washington does not openly classify the former Burma as an “axis of evil” country, but is quite seriously considering the possibility of replacing the military junta with a liberal government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Due to fears of invasion from outside, the Myanmar authorities even moved the country’s capital from Rangoon to the jungle in November 2005, building a real fortified city of Naypyitaw there,” Ms. Efremova noted in an interview with VN.

Victor VOLODIN