The government of Bolivia announced a preliminary study for a program of uranium exploration in the southern department of Potosí [2] this month, and broached the possibility of uranium exports to Venezuela. The program, projected at costing $500,000, will be financed by the Potosí departmental government and carried out by the National Mineral Geological and Technical Service (Sergeotecmin [3]). The Bolivian Institute of Nuclear Technology, a moribund agency since its uranium processing plant in Potosí was closed 25 years ago, may be revived if the exploration program is successful.
The Canadian firm Mega Uranium [4]—part of the U308 Corporation, with operations in Guyana, Colombia and Argentina—in association with Australia-based Intrepid Mines [5] worked uranium exploration leases [6] in Potosí in 2006, but never announced results. (BBC Mundo [7], May 19; Reuters [8], May 17)
Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez [9] announced during a visit to Bolivia that he had secured a pledge of Iranian cooperation with uranium exploration [10] in his country—sparking concerns about a South American role for Tehran's nuclear ambitions. However, regardless of where the Bolivian uranium will end up, it is ironic to see President Evo Morales—with his much-touted concern for animal rights [11] and climate change [12]—loaning legitimacy to the oxymoron of "safe nuclear power [13]."
See our last posts on Bolivia [11], nuclear fear [14], Iran's Latin America strategy [15] and the global uranium wars [16].
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