US, Chile sign nuclear energy cooperation pact

SANTIAGO. March 19. KAZINFORM Quake-prone Chile and the United States signed a nuclear energy cooperation pact on Friday while Japan confronted the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in the wake of a devastating earthquake; Kazinform refers to Arab News.

Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno and US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff signed the accord before President Barack Obama arrives in Santiago on Monday. The pact enables cooperation in the use of nuclear energy in agriculture, medicine and industries, as well as the management of nuclear waste.

The agreement has stirred controversy in Chile as Japan scrambles to contain a nuclear crisis that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate a week after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunamis damaged a nuclear plant on its coast.

"I understand the current public opinion, but these things offer opportunities to learn," Moreno said after signing the deal. "Chile wants to understand ... what happened in Japan, a country with the same seismic characteristics."

Chile, which suffered its own devastating earthquake of 8.8 magnitude last year, has two nuclear reactors for scientific research; Kazinform cites Arab News.

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