From Bloomberg
Iran’s landmark accord with world powers allows the Islamic Republic to sell enriched uranium to a nuclear fuel bank backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
“Iran may choose to seek to sell excess enriched uranium to the IAEA fuel bank in Kazakhstan,” reads a technical annex in the agreement reached Tuesday in Vienna, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA won authorisation last month to stockpile about 90 metric tons of low-enriched uranium at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan. The bank will acquire fuel through open tender and be ready for business by 2017, with its stockpile used to power reactors in the event of commercial supply disruption.
The bank, to which Buffett pledged $50 million of setup costs in 2006, had faced resistance from some emerging-market countries concerned that it would restrict their own nuclear fuel manufacturing.
Nations that already enrich uranium favour the fuel bank because they view it as a way of keeping competitors from entering the market. For Iran, winning a tender could provide an outlet for its uranium-enrichment industry.
Under the accord, Iran has pledged to keep its domestic stockpile at or below 300 kilograms for a decade.
