VZCZCXRO0402
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHDO #0456/01 1741048
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221048Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8009
INFO RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 000456 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG KNNP PARM PREL QA
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY FOR NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION MEETS 
WITH MFA, QATAR FOUNDATION 
 
REF: DOHA 87 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation 
Jackie Wolcott and an interagency delegation of State 
Department, Department of Energy (DoE), National Nuclear 
Security Administration (NNSA), and Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) officials met June 12 with MFA and Qatar 
Foundation (QF) officials to discuss bilateral nuclear energy 
cooperation and the possibility of signing a non-binding 
memorandum of understanding (MOU) on peaceful nuclear 
cooperation.  Both the MFA and QF are aware that the MOU will 
not take effect, and cooperation will not begin, until 
Qatar's NPT safeguards agreement is in force.  MFA agreed to 
follow up with the Embassy and relevant Qatari entities on 
pursuing the MOU.  For its part, QF said it would push the 
GOQ for an MOU to help Qatar build educational and human 
resource capacity in the nuclear field.  Based on discussions 
with QF, Qatar is in no hurry to site a nuclear plant for 
electrical energy needs, owing to its vast natural gas 
reserves.  However, QF wishes to pursue the separate capacity 
building track at full speed.  QF also expressed interest in 
U.S. help in establishing a nuclear regulatory body in Qatar 
and in tapping U.S. expertise to study the feasibility of a 
nuclear power plant.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation Jackie 
Wolcott and an interagency delegation consisting of Andrew 
Steinfeld (Office Director for NEA/ARP), Dr. Alex Burkart 
(Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Energy Safety and 
Security at State), Jack Ramsey (Senior Nuclear Engineer, 
National Regulatory Commission), Elizabeth Lisann (Foreign 
Affairs Specialist, Office  of the Deputy Assistant Secretary 
for Corporate and Global Partnership Development, Department 
of Energy), John McClelland-Kerr (Foreign Affairs Specialist, 
Office of Global Security Engagement and Cooperation, 
National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of 
Energy), Dr. Marc Humphrey (Physical Scientist, Office of the 
Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation at State), and 
Ariel Stukalin (Foreign Affairs Officer, ISN/RA) met June 12 
with MFA Director for Legal Affairs Ahmed Hassan Al-Hammadi 
and the Science and Technology Adviser at the QF to Her 
Highness Sheikha Mozah, Dr. Tidu Maini.  P/E Chief and PolOff 
also joined the meetings.  Proposed meetings with the Supreme 
Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR) were 
called off shortly before the delegation arrived, as these 
officials were in Belgium discussing nuclear cooperation 
there.  Similarly, proposed meetings with the Ministry of 
Energy fell though at the last minute due to bureaucratic 
snafus, indicative of the disorganization on the Qatari 
Government side observed by the delegation (in contrast to 
the very good impression left by QF). 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Wolcott explained in the separate 
meetings at MFA and QF that Secretary Rice had appointed her 
to implement the July 2007 U.S.-Russian Declaration on 
Nuclear Energy and Nonproliferation.  Through the joint 
Declaration, the U.S. and Russia seek to cooperate with 
countries considering nuclear energy to promote the highest 
standards of safety, security and nonproliferation. 
Ambassador Wolcott noted tat the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi 
Arabia had signed on-binding memoranda of understanding 
(MOUs) wit the U.S. in recent weeks at the ministerial 
levl, and that the U.S. iswilling to sign an MOU shold 
Qatar wish to enter such an arrangement.  Al-Hammadi told 
Ambassador Wolcott that he would take a look at the draft MOU 
and coordinate a GOQ response.  Asked how soon the MOU needed 
to be signed, Ambassador Wolcott responded that the sooner an 
MOU is in place, the sooner bilateral cooperation could 
begin. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Burkart signaled in both meetings that Qatar's 
signing of a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) safeguards 
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency is 
essential, in the U.S. view, to cooperation.  Al-Hammadi said 
the safeguards agreement and similar assurances are in the 
domain of MFA Director for UN Affairs and International 
Organizations Adel Al-Khal, who was traveling and unavailable 
for a meeting June 12.  Al-Hammadi and P/E Chief agreed to 
coordinate with Al-Khal on the U.S. requirements for signing 
the MOU.  Maini said QF would work behind the scenes with the 
GOQ to have this agreement and any other necessary 
arrangements finalized. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lisann briefed MFA and QF on the Global Nuclear 
Energy Partnership (GNEP), noting that Qatar would soon be 
invited to join the other participant countries.  She 
explained that membership status would require Qatar's 
signing on to GNEP's Statement of Principles, but that 
observer status would not require any such commitment. 
 
DOHA 00000456  002 OF 003 
 
 
Stukalin also briefed MFA on the Global Initiative to Combat 
Nuclear Terrorism. 
 
---------------- 
Qatar Foundation 
---------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Maini, who was joined at QF by Dr. Eulian Roberts 
(Director of the QF Science and Technology Park), briefed the 
delegation on QF's role.  He explained that QF, along with 
Texas A&M/Qatar -- whose campus in Doha is under QF auspices 
-- and Qatar University, is primarily focused on "capacity 
building" in the areas of energy, environment, and health 
care.  Indeed, this is one of the aims of the Science and 
Technology Park, where collaborative efforts among various 
companies are expected to achieve new synergies.  Maini cited 
as an example cooperation between General Electric and 
Conoco-Phillips -- neighbors in the Park -- on water 
desalination.  For every gallon of oil extracted from the 
ground, said Maini, three gallons of water are wasted. 
Working together, the two U.S. firms aim to reduce this 
waste. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Besides petroleum-based programs, the Science and 
Technology Park is developing research partnerships in the 
nuclear and solar energy fields, according to Maini.  Maini 
said that "upstream" solar research (i.e., the development of 
polycrystalline material) is the best place for Qatar to 
focus.  QF has as a goal opening a factory to produce more 
such material in 2010.  Also in the solar field, QF is 
working on research on wafers, panels, and power stations. 
 
¶8. (SBU) In Maini's opinion, Qatar "ought to look at" the 
possibility of nuclear power generation within twenty years' 
time, though it is too early to consider building a plant 
now.  Maini commented that the UAE is moving forward much 
faster than Qatar, largely because its industry is more 
energy intensive and its power needs more urgent.  Not so 
Qatar, which could afford to take a slower, more measured 
approach, given its natural gas holdings (the third largest 
in the world).  Under the leadership of Her Highness Sheikha 
Mozah (who was described by Maini as a "strategic thinker"), 
QF has therefore made human resource development the early 
priority.  Maini made clear that capacity building in the 
medical, agricultural and power fields are on a different 
track from possible nuclear plant construction.  The 
feasibility of the latter, stressed Maini, is still being 
assessed, but QF is moving forward as quickly as possible on 
the former. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Maini acknowledged that the French had sent a 
delegation to Doha to promote French cooperation in 
determining nuclear plant feasibility and building nuclear 
capacity.  He observed, however, that the French were aware 
that Qatar is not ready to buy a nuclear power plant, and 
were therefore more interested in the UAE, since that program 
was moving ahead at a much more rapid pace.  Maini added that 
U.S. companies do not seem interested in pursuing the 
construction of a nuclear plant in Qatar due to the small 
scale of the country's current needs.  Maini said for the 
foreseeable future Qatar would continue to rely on foreign 
workers to build infrastructure.  In response to a question 
about the possibility of a regional approach to nuclear power 
in the Gulf, Maini stated that it would not be unheard of, 
for example, to import electricity from Saudi Arabia, though 
it would be complicated by poor grid quality.  Asked who in 
Qatar would be responsible for nuclear regulation, Maini 
responded that in principle this lies with SCENR, which is 
composed primarily of Qatari nationals.  Roberts added that 
he was aware that indigenous regulatory oversight has to be 
"built into the process" and that QF aims at boosting the 
number of homegrown engineers and technicians over the longer 
term. 
 
---------------------- 
Expanded Meeting at QF 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Joined by Professor Ilham Al-Qaradawi, Associate 
Professor of Physics at Qatar University, and Associate Dean 
for Research and Graduate Studies James Holste and Professor 
Howard Hadley of Texas A&M/Qatar, the delegation began more 
detailed discussions.  Maini asked if the U.S. could, as a 
discrete project, assist Qatar in creating a regulatory body 
for nuclear energy.  Ramsey responded that NRC has 30 years 
of experience in the nuclear regulatory field and is 
currently home to 104 reactors, adding that the U.S. would 
potentially host 134 total reactors in the years ahead. 
Ramsey then outlined the U.S. NRC design certification 
 
DOHA 00000456  003 OF 003 
 
 
process, followed by the matching of an approved generic 
design to a proposed plant site, that then leads to a review 
of fitness for a nuclear plant proposal.  Maini said Qatar 
would be interested in pursuing with U.S. officials the 
establishment of a national regulatory authority.  Ambassador 
Wolcott encouraged Qatar, at an appropriate time, to send a 
team to Washington for discussions in this area.  Maini 
reemphasized that QF was taking a two-track approach to 
nuclear power, based on capacity building and feasibility 
studies.  He expressed interest in moving rapidly on the 
former (i.e., a cooperation package for the development of a 
national regulator) while acknowledging that the latter is 
more complex and should wait until an MOU is in place. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Asked what other requirements Qatar would need to 
meet to pursue bilateral arrangements with the U.S. in 
civilian nuclear power, Burkart responded that, while a 123 
Agreement would be necessary for the transfer of nuclear 
materials or major reactor components, other types of 
cooperation (such as regulatory information exchanges) could 
take place outside of a formal MOU or 123 Agreement.  He 
added that certain types of technology transfer would require 
a DOE license, while transfer of certain dual-use items would 
require licensing from the Department of Commerce.  He added 
that the proposed MOU would be a non-binding but useful tool 
to facilitate exchanges, noting that Texas A&M and U.S. 
industry would wait for an MOU before significant 
nuclear-sector engagement.  Burkart also stressed that a 
full-scope safeguards agreement remains essential to 
bilateral cooperation with Qatar.  He also mentioned the 
importance of practical conventions that codify "best 
practices," and the U.S. side undertook to provide a handout 
summarizing these various safety, security, and liability 
conventions. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Turning to nuclear plant feasibility studies, Maini 
asked what assistance the U.S. could provide in this area. 
McClelland-Kerr said that NNSA (which is part of DOE) could 
be of assistance in both energy planning and feasibility 
studies.  Asked how to begin cooperation in this area, 
McClelland-Kerr noted that a work plan would first need to be 
developed, and Burkart recommended that a Qatari contact be 
put in touch with a DOE contact to coordinate this.  It was 
noted that a feasibility study had recently been done in 
Jordan, which could serve as an exemplar.  In terms of 
funding, the U.S. side noted that it has more capacity than 
resources, and raised the prospect of Qatar paying for this 
study.  Lisann then provided a briefing on the Global Nuclear 
Energy Partnership (GNEP), and noted that this could serve as 
another vehicle for such cooperation. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Al-Qaradawi made a short presentation on 
educational and research capacity building efforts undertaken 
by QF.  She noted that there were currently two areas of 
interest:  environmental studies (e.g., measurement of 
baseline radiation levels) and research with low-energy 
positrons.  In addition, radiation labs and other equipment 
for education and research were being established as part of 
the collaboration between Qatar University and Texas 
A&M/Qatar.  Also in place is a measurement verification 
program with Sandia National Laboratory. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Maini closed the meeting by reiterating that QF 
would engage MFA on why Qatar would benefit from an MOU with 
the U.S. and acknowledged the importance of the IAEA 
safeguards agreement (to which Burkart noted that the process 
of signing such an agreement is quite straightforward and 
there is little negotiation involved).  Maini said 
interagency discussions on a common Qatari policy in the 
nuclear realm would likely begin in October, following the 
establishment of a Ministry of Energy and QF joint working 
group (under as-yet undecided independent leadership) to 
address overall policy differences between the two sides. 
Maini alluded to QF's desire for speed in ramping up capacity 
building, while Energy (see reftel) sees no need to hurry on 
nuclear energy issues.  Ambassador Wolcott, following up on 
the need for a safeguards agreement, asked who would take 
lead on this aspect of policy.  Maini did not know but said 
SCENR may take lead on it once the new committee is formed. 
Following the close of the meeting, Maini proposed that 
Ambassador Wolcott draft a short letter to Sheikha Mozah, 
summarizing her visit and stressing the importance of having 
a comprehensive safeguards agreement and MOU in place before 
further cooperation, in order to leverage Mozah's influence 
within the Qatari Government.  Wolcott agreed, and a letter 
was sent and delivered to QF on June 17. 
 
¶15. (U) Ambassador Wolcott has cleared this message. 
RATNEY