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United States Seeking Reforms of Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Regime
Senior U.S. officials have said that the Bush administration is considering ways to modify the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime to deny non-nuclear states access to enrichment and reprocessing capabilities, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 7). The proposal is intended to close an apparent loophole in the NPT that allows countries of concern to legally obtain components capable of being used in a nuclear weapons program, according to Reuters. U.S. officials said that the proposal is in early discussions, but may be formally advanced during the next Group of Eight summit, scheduled to be held in the United States in June. “A lot of people have been talking about that and we’re considering it — cutting off enrichment and reprocessing technology to close the loophole while guaranteeing them (non-nuclear states) access to fuel,” a U.S. official said. “Guaranteeing these states access to (nuclear) fuel has its own risks, but it’s better than allowing them to have enrichment and reprocessing capabilities. ... We may well do that in the G8 context,” the official said (Carol Giacomo, Reuters, Jan. 25). In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published today, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei also called for nuclear fuel production facilities to be placed under international control (see GSN, Nov. 4, 2003). “Over the past 35 years, the NPT has brought us much success, but this is not continuing,” ElBaradei said. “We should put all facilities all over the world that produce weapons-grade material, such as highly enriched uranium or plutonium, under multinational control,” he said. ElBaradei also defended his agency in the wake of Iranian and Libyan disclosures of clandestine nuclear activities that had eluded IAEA detection. “It is true that Tehran and Tripoli had deceived our authority in the past,” he said. “However, I believe we would have discovered it if these two states had started to pursue their programs on a large scale,” ElBaradei added. In addition, he warned of an increasing risk of a nuclear conflict — a risk that calls for improved nonproliferation controls. “The danger has never been greater than today. A nuclear war is getting closer, if we do not agree on a new international control system,” ElBaradei said. “We are working as a fire brigade, but if the fires multiply as much as they do at present, then we must check all security installations in the common home and finally make them fireproof,” he added (Der Spiegel/BBC Monitoring, Jan. 26).
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