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Welcome to SUNS 2008! |
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Committee: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) The IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, is an organization established on July 29, 1957 which seeks to promote safe, secure, and peaceful nuclear technologies and to inhibit its use for military purposes.
The nuclear program
Iran’s nuclear program began in the mid 1960’s with the help of the United States. The first nuclear reactor was the Tehran Research Center which was founded in 1967. This facility is still one of the primaries nuclear research center.
Iran has had a nuclear program for nearly 50 years. In those years the Iranian monarchs had planned to build around 23 nuclear power reactors but with no intentions of having a nuclear weapons program.
But there were still suspicions of a nuclear weapons program, but these suspicions were forgotten in the time of the Iranian revolution and the end of Iraq – Iran war which brought a stop to all nuclear activities in this country.
In 1968 Iran signed a treaty which is called the NPT (nuclear non-proliferation treaty). Some time later the Iranian parliament approved this treaty which practically consisted on developing research, production and use of nuclear energy for only peaceful proposes. That treaty helped Iran shape and accelerate its nuclear program in the early 70’s.
On February 9 of 2003, Iran's program and efforts for building sophisticated facilities at Natanz and several other cities that would produce enriched uranium were revealed. Iranian president Mohammad Khatami revealed these facilities on television and invited the IAEA to come and visit them. A couple of days later Mohammad El Baradei accompanied with a team of inspectors came to visit. Since then the IAEA have been visiting Iran several times.
On September 12 of 2003 the IAEA gave Iran an ultimatum for revealing all the details of its nuclear activities by the end of October of the same year. The European Union has been negotiating with Iran with the goal of having all the details. Russia which is completing the construction of the Bushehr reactor and is planning to build more, which is hoping to sign an oil agreement for the developing of Iran's huge Azaadegaan oil field (the largest oil field in the Middle East), have all pressed Iran hard, demanding that it reveal all the secret details of its nuclear program and facilities. At the end of the month Iran didn’t prove anything about its nuclear program and they didn’t reveal any details they just kept saying that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and nothing else.
The Controversy
The Iran´s nuclear program controversy began in August of 2002 when a resistance group of Iran revealed some information during a press conference, which resulted to be true. Practically the information consisted on the construction of two nuclear facilities that had not been revealed to the IAEA those facilities were the Natanz facility and the Arak facility.
The last report of the Iranian nuclear program reports that the IAEA can’t still prove any nuclear weapons program but they cant either conclude that Iran´s nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
Here are some major points of the visit:
-The IAEA can’t conclude undeclared materials or activities in Iran.
-Iran posseses a document which reveals some of the nuclear weapons components.
-Iran´s military is not involved with nuclear material.
-There is a lack of information on Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program.
-There is still no explanation for the highly enriched uranium on some equipment.
-IAEA can’t resolve this problem without the cooperation of the authorities.
The U.S, the European Union, Russia, China, India have been trying lots of ways to make Iran stop Iran with its uranium enrichment which is used to make nuclear weapons. These countries have been making pressure on Iran and threatening it and that if Iran does not apply the restrictions and agreements of these countries they will have to take some measures. Every country (except Cuba, Syria and Venezuela) wants Iran to stop this uranium enrichment because if they achieve their goal, Iran could be a threat to the world.
Iran still doesn’t apply all the sanctions and agreements that the IAEA gave to them. They just continue with informal talks about this topic but no real advance has been made with Iran, just pressure that has not really worked until now. Some countries think this topic is been taking too lightly and that a lot could happen if this is not taken seriously. But the problem is that Iran is also practically ignoring the consequences. And if your country still asks why, well then your answer may be that there is something hidden down in Iran and its not for peaceful means.
The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)
The NPT goal is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology so that nuclear technology is used only for peaceful means, and in later future the goal of nuclear weapon disarmament. The Treaty is in part responsibility of the IAEA which plays a central role in the peaceful nuclear technology.
The NPT has 183 actual country members but actually 33 of them can not really afford to develop a nuclear bomb.
According to some agreements Iran did not have to declare the start of the construction of the Natanz facility. The agreement said that only 180 days before introducing any nuclear material Iran had to declare the existence of the facility. But actually the NPT allows Iran to build any nuclear facility including one of uranium enrichment as long as they are for peaceful means. And also the NPT treaty allows the IAEA to monitor nuclear facilities and materials so that they can prove there are no military purposes.
Iran´s Nuclear Program
Iran has plants for the uranium enrichment. It has a natural uranium reserve in the form of ore (5,000 metric tons) which is one of the biggest in the Middle East. So Iran has been building a facility for the process of this ore, this facility will be called Esfahan and it will also produce uranium oxide and uranium metal which both serve for civil and military activities or applications.
Iran´s nuclear facility Natanz is planned soon to be complete and in full operation and when it is done it will be able to produce about 500 kg per year of weapon grade uranium. And it just takes about 20 kilos of uranium to make a single nuclear bomb. But with this quantity of uranium Iran will be able to produce around 25 nuclear bombs every year. But it is kept in mind that low uranium enrichment can also be used on nuclear reactors.
Arak Reactor. Iran says that its heavy water reactor, which is being constructed at Arak, is intended for the creation of medical isotopes. And it will be able to operate with natural uranium.
Bushehr Reactor Iran also has near the city of Bushehr a 1,000megawatt nuclear power reactor moderated by water. The original German contractor, which began constructing the reactor in 1975, abandoned the project following Iran’s 1979 revolution. Russia agreed in 1995 to complete the reactor, but the project has since encountered some delays. In February 2005,Moscow and Tehran concluded an agreement, that Russia would supply fuel for the reactor for 10 years. At the time, the director of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy said the reactor would begin operating in late 2006. The reactor actually would not begin operating before the end of 2008. Russia has blamed financial and technical issues for delaying the project’s completion.
Iran´s got also other nuclear facilities and technology research centers Bonab, Darkhovin, Isfahan, Gorgan, Moallem Kaleyah, the others are research centers like universities and a couple of companies.
Does Iran Have a Nuclear Weapons Program?
The first reason of making suspicion is that Iran has been accused of hiding serious information about its nuclear facilities and its nuclear programs and destroying evidence and making false statements to the IAEA.
The second one is the questionable reason of Iran needing this other source of energy since Iran is major oil producer in the world and it also has a pretty extensive gas reserve.
Other Restrictions on Nuclear Weapons Ambitions
Resolution 1803
The resolution 1803 was the last one approved by the Security Council and it says:
That all countries must use its nuclear facilities to develop research, production and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
To free the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction and their delivery.
Iran would have to use transparency methods and respond to all of IAEA questions.
That IAEA board of governors will contribute with a diplomatic, negotiated solution that guarantees that Iran´s nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
And a lot of other more which mainly mean that Iran will stop its uranium enrichment and that international controversy and problems will calm down and that Iran would do practically everything related with its nuclear program that the IAEA says and revealing everything that the IAEA needs to know or so.
Questions for the delegate Does my country have a nuclear program? Did my country support previous Security Council resolutions critical of Iran? Is Iran a threat to other countries in the world? Do you believe Iran is correct when it says the US and UK are pressuring the IAEA to criticize Iran? http://www.fpc.gov/documents/organization/24050.pdf
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?documentid=3434&from_page=../index.cfm
http://www.cdi.org/news/law/iran-iaea-030306.cfm
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Treaties/npt.html
http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/pdfs/iranrpt.pdf
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iran/2008/scr1803.pdf
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/iran-e.pdf |
