WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- The United States reportedly plans to begin talks with Russia on an agreement making Russia one of the world's largest repositories of spent nuclear fuel.
Although the United States has previously opposed such a plan, once U.S. President Bush endorsed Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal last year for Iran to conduct uranium enrichment inside Russia -- rather than in Iran -- it made little sense to bar ordinary civilian nuclear exchanges with Russia, The New York Times reported.
In return, administration officials say they expect Putin's cooperation in forcing Iran to stop the enrichment of uranium.
"We have made clear to Russia that for an agreement on peaceful nuke cooperation to go forward, we will need active cooperation in blocking Iran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons," said Peter Watkins, a White House spokesman.
So far, Russia has backed the United States in its fundamental demands, but the Times says Russia has balked at the imposition of sanctions or the passage of any U.N. resolution that might be later used as a justification for military action.
The Washington Post first reported the U.S. policy change Saturday.
