From: donq@acs.bu.edu (Jose Otero)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: ARGENTINA
Date: 7 Sep 92 17:45:13 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Originator: donq@acs.bu.edu




De Clarinet news 3 Sep 92 17:55:13 PDT

	BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (UPI) -- Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di
Tella and U.S. Ambassador Terence Todman initialed an agreement Thursday
on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the first such accord in more
than two decades.
	``This agreement is initially important because in marks a very deep
change'' in the relation between the two nations on nuclear issues, Di
Tella said following the signing ceremony in the San Martin Palace in
downtown Buenos Aires Thursday afternoon.
	The 12-page agreement, which still must be be signed formally at a
later date, would allow the nations to exchange information, materials
and technicians on nuclear energy.
	The agreement sets aside an earlier U.S. demand that Argentina allow
international inspections of nuclear facilities -- formally recognizing
instead the validity of a system of bilateral inspections set up last
year between Argentina and neighboring Brazil.
	The International Atomic Energy Commission recognized the Brazilian-
Argentine inspections as a valid safety procedure earlier this year.
	The United States had long pressured Argentina, one of two Latin
American countries believed capable of building a nuclear weapon, to
suspend sales of nuclear technology to some developing countries,
especially Iran and Iraq.
	But the administration of President Carlos Menem, which has
consistently taken steps to improve its relations with the United
States, has made it clear that it is willing to suspend nuclear sales to
``dangerous'' countries if allowed to continue business with other
nations.
	In February, President Carlos Menem signed an executive decree
restricting ``sensitive'' exports and barred the export of components
for a enriched uranium reactor being sold by Argentina to Iran under a
$5.5 million contract signed in 1987.
	The move came after a team of French nuclear experts in October of
1991 criticized Argentina and Brazil for helping Saddam Hussein's
government develop its nuclear program, offering improvements which many
believe placed Iraq in reach of developing nuclear weapons.
	Thursday's agreement would set the stage for Argentina to ratify the
regional nuclear non-proliferation agreement, the Tlatelolco Treaty,
signed in 1967 but never ratified due to the insistence on international
inspections.
	Both Menem and his foreign minister repeatedly have said their
country intends to ratify the accord, but they have noted that Argentina
wants to safeguard homegrown nuclear technology by avoiding detailed
safety inspections by international experts.
	Menem's apparent willingness to rein in the nuclear export program
coincided with a stall in Argentina's nuclear program in general,
brought on by a decade of economic crisis, delays in the construction of
the Atucha II nuclear power plant and shutdowns with two plants already
on line.
	Argentina also has seven experimental reactors, a uranium-enrichment
plant, a nuclear reprocessing facility and a heavy water factory on line
or under construction.