Iran Prez: I'll Share My Nuke Technology

[WhiteTara]

well, we should all sleep better at night now :sarcasm:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/16/world/main2274308.shtml
(AP) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday during a meeting with top Kuwaiti envoy that Iran is ready to transfer its nuclear technology to neighboring countries, state-run television reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to transfer to regional states its valuable experience and achievements in the field of peaceful nuclear technology as a clean energy source and as a replacement for oil," the state quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Mohammed Zefollah Shirar, a top advisor to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

snip

Such a technological transfer would be legal as long as it is between signatory-states to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and as long as the International Atomic Energy Agency that monitors the treaty was informed of the transfer.

more

[More Than A Feeling]

1. Once again, perfectly legal.

Not that niceties like the rule of law matter to our prez, but to others, like, I don't know...the American people, they might, especially after being burned by Iraq.

[onehandle]

2. Why not? We have.

Global warfare is our primary export.

[Eugene]

3. No problem here but contrast Ahmadinejad's offer with Condi's remarks.

Rice questions why Saudi might need nuclear energy (Reuters)

We're being outmaneuvered in the Middle East.

[amandabeech]

8. Natural gas is becoming too valuable to use for baseline

electrical generation.

The best uses of natural gas are space heating, petrochemicals, hydrogen generation and industrial process heat. It's also very handy for peak load electrical generation.

The Saudis have lots of heavy, sulfurous oil that no one wants. They're also using their natural gas to make hydrogen to de-sulfur the oil and to upgrade the thick black goo to gasoline and diesel.

Recently I read (and I wish I could remember where) that the Saudis are also interested in solar electrical generation, which makes sense considering their climate.

Really, what they are trying to do is make their hydrocarbons last as long as possible.

Which is not to say that they don't have weaponry on their minds as well, given the nut cases running their historical arch-enemy, Iran, which used to be called Persia.

[Porcupine]

14. We shouldn't be using natural gas for heating either.

In almost all locations in the US some combination of ground loop geothermal and passive/active solar would provide more than adequate heating and reduce baseline loads for cooling. Urban areas could have thermal utilities that provide heating/cooling for areas much cheaper than heating every house.

Natural gas is too valuable as a feedstock for chemicals to be wasting it when there are alternatives. We don't have a large alternative supply of natural gas.

[amandabeech]

15. If we go to ground loop geothermal, we'll need more electricity

in the winter and probably overall. Natural gas is out for the electrical generation, as is coal in my opinion. While I think that maximizing renewables is the smart thing to do, I don't think that renewables will provide as much baseline power as this needs due to seasonality and intermittancy, at least given current electrical energy storage technologies. That leaves nukes.

I am less certain than you are that geothermal heat pumps can be used everywhere successfully, particularly in the south and north where heating and cooling needs are in rough balance. In the central latitudes, geothermal is clearly under utilized. Solar has a place in those locations where the winter is sunny.

And of course, better insulation and sealing of houses and businesses would reduce the heating and cooling loads for any device, as would appropriate landscaping given adequate space.

But in the end, I think that we will see natural gas used for heating for some time, but in lesser amounts than we use today.

[GCP]

4. This guy's seriously starting to worry me

It's like the old game - if we could have killed Hitler before he really got going, would we do it? THis holocaust denier is threatening to export nuclear tech to the most volatile region in the world.
Scary times.

[davidinalameda]

7. he should have been worrying you a long time before this

the man and his regime are very dangerous

[AndyTiedye]

10. If We Could Have Prevented the Bush and Harriman Families from BANKROLLING Hitler

http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/001811.php

[Sirveri]

11. What are you afraid of?

Who is he going to export to? Afghanistan and Iraq are rubble, they wouldn't be able to get a program off the ground even if they wanted to. Pakistan already has nukes. That leaves Saudia Arabia and Kuwait (whom Iran dislikes due to their religious differances). So what I really want to know is who would find this material usefull?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. Well, there goes the neighbourhood. n/t

[ckramer]

6. The guy trolls the west up pretty good these days, huh?

Follow the advice - ignore it.

[bahrbearian]

9. Chimpy does it ,, but I'm still waiting for my delicious Indian Mango's.

[oblivious]

12. Iran is obligated to do that as a party to the NPT, aren't they?

As long as the other members are parties to the treaty.

3. The Conference also reaffirms the undertaking by all parties to the Treaty to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, material, services and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The Conference notes the contribution that such uses can make to progress in general and to the elimination of technological and economic gaps between the developed and the developing countries.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/npt/docs/21d6.htm

As it is the right of other parties to demand such assistance as long as it is for peaceful purposes:

2. The Conference reaffirms that nothing in the Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with articles I and II of the Treaty. The Conference recognizes that this right constitutes one of the fundamental objectives of the Treaty. In this connection, the Conference confirms that each country's choices and decisions in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be respected without jeopardizing its policies or international cooperation agreements and arrangements for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and its fuel-cycle policies.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/npt/docs/21d6.htm

[ctaylor721a]

13. Gulf Cooperation Council

Last week, before this news, the gulf cooperating council, consisting of 6 arab states, said they were going to begin nuclear research for energy purposes. Iran's PM must be responding to that call. Here is the article on the GCC announcement:

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=293528&area=/insight/insight__national/