Mongolia Balances Public Opinion With Nuclear Ambitions

Mongolia Balances Public Opinion With Nuclear Ambitions

In recent months, news outlets in Japan and the U.S. have reported that Mongolia is negotiating with those two countries to serve as a regional depository for spent nuclear fuel. The proposed plan would permit geographically constrained countries in the region, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, to dispose of their spent fuel in the spacious Central Asian state.

The veracity of the reporting on the negotiations is still unknown. When the story first broke in March, the Mongolian Foreign Ministry was quick to dismiss the notion that Mongolia would host Asia's nuclear waste. The statement went on to declare that Mongolia's constitution prohibits the "import of dangerous waste to Mongolian territory." As noted last month, Mongolia has good reason to take such a stance, especially in light of the nuclear shadow cast by the recent events in Fukushima, Japan. Whether the government's position is cosmetic or genuine has yet to be comprehensively determined.

Last week, only a month after the depository claims were dismissed by Mongolian officials, the Mainichi Daily News, a Japanese newspaper, reported that the "secret deal" was advancing between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Mongolian government. The discussions highlight a larger struggle over global nuclear market share, with the U.S. and Japan positioned against industry rivals Russia and France. Russia's state-owned nuclear-energy corporation Rosatom continues to serve as a potent competitor in Mongolia to the U.S.-Japan nuclear alliance. Russia has the advantage of having established a historical record with Mongolia on nuclear energy matters, including a legally binding partnership and significant economic investment. France is a relatively new player in Mongolia's nuclear industry, but its multinational nuclear corporation Areva has plenty of resources and expertise as well as global reach.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review