Nuclear Fuel for All

Instead of having countries build facilities to acquire technology to enrich uranium themselves, German foreign ministry state secretary Gernot Erler said a shared enrichment facility could be created.

Speaking at a non-proliferation and arms control conference, Erler said the proposal was still at an informal stage but added that the idea had broad international support and would soon be fleshed out by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"It has not yet been made official, but informally Minister Steinmeier has suggested that the fuel cycle be made international," Erler told the conference. "We are in the process of considering how we can take these proposals forward and formalize them. At present there is great interest from various sides."

Steinmeier first floated the idea of central enrichment site that would provide nuclear fuel to interested nations before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency last September.

Uranium would not be weapons grade

As current president of the European Union and Group of Eight industrialized nations, Germany could potentially put finding a multilateral approach to enriching uranium on the international agenda.

Observers present at the conference, where several international approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle were presented, said a shared facility would eliminate the need for countries to create their own enrichment operations and lower the risk of the facilities being used to produce nuclear weapons.

Instead of enriching their own nuclear fuel, states would legally obtain fuel rods from enrichment centers outside their borders and under the control of the United Nations.

The fuel used in atomic power reactors is similar, but not as highly enriched, as the radioactive material used in nuclear bombs.

Plan to include more than only Iran

Erler said the program would be aimed at more countries than only Iran, with which the UN has engaged in drawn-out nuclear negotiations as the United States and EU fear it is developing nuclear weapons. Tehran, however, insists its nuclear program is of a purely peaceful nature.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday that his agency was still unable to verify that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, as the United States claims it is, adding that it was "long overdue" for Iran to "answer all the agency's questions and concerns about its past nuclear activities in an open and transparent manner."

The European Union prepared to deliver a statement on Thursday in which the bloc "reaffirms its continuous support for efforts to find a negotiated long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear issue," according to a copy of the text shown to the AFP news agency.

The statement said "a comprehensive offer is still on the table and the door remains open," referring to a deal of trade, security and technology benefits for Iran if it guarantees it will not seek nuclear weapons.

The EU also said it "deplores that Iran has not complied with the terms of UNSC (UN Security Council) resolution 1737," which calls on Iran to halt uranium enrichment work and to stop building a nuclear reactor.