"Bush pulls Russian nuclear pact, citing conflict in Georgia"
"President George W. Bush pulled back an agreement for nuclear cooperation with Russia September 8, withdrawing the pact from congressional consideration.
In a statement, Bush said the presidential determination that he made in May when he submitted the agreement to Congress was no longer in effect because of recent Russian military actions that are incompatible with peaceful relations with its sovereign and democratic neighbor Georgia. The determination, which is required by the US Atomic Energy Act, stated that the agreement will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security.
In a separate statement September 8, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US made the decision with regret and that the US would reevaluate the situation at a later date."
"Advocates of the agreement have said it would solidify Russian support for US work on nonproliferation issues, most notably to persuade Iran to abandon its indigenous uranium enrichment program. They also have noted that the agreements entry into force could have important implications for Russias commercial nuclear arrangements with Europe and Japan.
Once the agreement is in force, Euratom and Japan could send their US-origin depleted uranium tails or their reprocessed uranium to Russia for re-enrichment. Under US law, nuclear material that originates in the US can be sent or re-transferred only to countries that have a nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington.
Without the agreement in force, a US nuclear industry official said earlier this year, US suppliers of front-end nuclear fuel cycle services could be at a competitive disadvantage."
[Nucleonics Week-Daniel Horner, Washington]
I thought Mr. Bush was for free trade-I must have been dreaming...
I think this whole business in Georgia has opened up a real can of worms of cold war vintage...just like the old days
I would expect some kind of Russian policy retaliation...a "Tit for Tat." [see Tit for Tat in Wikipedia--game theory, it is enlightening.]
It's already looking like the Russians may be on the only ones on the Space Station for a couple of years in the gap between retirement of the Space Shuttle and the arrival of Orion CEV.
With the way the U.S. economy is performing...extension of the Shuttles' retirement could be in the cards that's IF the gov't can afford to fly the spacecraft by 2010.
