Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
6/19/2015
After years of negotiations on issues such as enrichment and reprocessing rights, the United States and the Republic of Korea signed a renewal of their ‘123 Agreement’ on civil nuclear cooperation this week. The agreement “would permit the transfer of material, equipment (including reactors), components, information, and technology for nuclear research and nuclear power production,” according to a message from President Obama to Congress released this week. Information about certain sensitive nuclear technology “not in the public domain” may be transferred only through “an amendment to the proposed Agreement or a separate agreement.” Obama’s letter notes that the agreement largely restricts transfers of fissionable material to low enriched uranium and that the United States will “ensure a reliable supply of low enriched uranium fuel to the ROK.”
According to a Department of State fact sheet released this week, the deal expands the two countries’ existing partnership for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and reiterates common nonproliferation objectives, allowing the ROK to “produce radioisotopes for medical and research purposes” and “conduct examination of irradiated fuel rods using U.S.-obligated material.” The deal also expands trade, including an arrangement in which U.S. “enrichment services” would be provided to the ROK for nuclear fuel fabrication in exchange for “significant reactor components such as pressure vessels,” the fact sheet says. It also introduces a new High-Level Bilateral Commission to promote government cooperation for “spent fuel management, an assured stable fuel supply, nuclear security,” and reinforces existing research and development collaborations, including the Joint Fuel Cycle Study on spent fuel management, the fact sheet says.
Enrichment and Reprocessing a Sticking Point
ROK’s enrichment and reprocessing rights were a sticking point throughout negotiations, with many U.S. lawmakers pushing adherence to the “gold standard” barring all enrichment and reprocessing. However, the language of the deal indicates that those rights may be renegotiated, according to Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. “There’s an awful lot of drumroll about contingencies and interest in the contingencies for possibly allowing enrichment and reprocessing to occur as a subsequent arrangement to this agreement,” Sokolski said, citing Japan’s right to enrich and reprocess as a factor in ROK’s desire for similar permissions. Sokolski suggested that offering leeway to renegotiate the terms of the agreement could help advance an East Asian nuclear arms race in which Japan, ROK and China may pile up nuclear material in response to one another’s actions. Because of this possibility, Sokolski believes that “the only way this thing stays sober and sane is if we start getting much clearer about what we want and work with others in that region.”
The State Department fact sheet emphasizes that the deal, meant “for peaceful purposes only,” would be in line with the conditions on nonproliferation set forth by the Atomic Energy Act and is “subject to the relevant IAEA safeguards requirements.” An agreement would remain in place for the next 20 years and could be renewed for another five years. It has been sent to Congress for consideration, and in his letter Obama urges “that the Congress give it favorable consideration.”
