While member States of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meet
for the second week of deliberations on disarmament at the UN, the
proposed Treaty drafted by Greenpeace, if adopted will force
greater nuclear disarmament, greatly reduce the proliferation and
security risks caused by civil nuclear material stockpiles and
halts any commercial nuclear programmes. In addition, all stocks of
weapons usable nuclear material (i.e. plutonium and highly enriched
uranium) in the military stockpiles would be placed under
international control and any commercial trade would be prohibited
(2).
"Nuclear proliferation and the threat of terrorists obtaining
nuclear materials has dominated the international agenda in recent
years. Yet there is something that can be done. The fact that a
treaty has not been negotiated is due to the opposition of the
nuclear weapon states, and the large players in the commercial
nuclear industry. They do not want the international community to
get their hands on their weapons materials. But unless such a
Treaty is negotiated, prospects for a nuclear free world will
remain non-existent," said Shaun Burnie from Greenpeace
International.
Greenpeace also today released a new investigation into the
'Khan network' that describes in detail how Khan operated to help
Pakistan obtain the bomb and later went onto assist others in this
quest (3). The report also explores one particular area of
'sensitive technology' that could be used to manufacture weapons
useable nuclear material - the uranium enrichment process and how
one company Urenco operates in this area.
"The exposing of the Khan network highlighted one of the
problems of nuclear proliferation, the Greenpeace fissile material
treaty if adopted would reduce the threat posed by such technology
transfers," concluded Burnie.
The need to control nuclear materials and technology has been
recognised since it became clear in 1939 that a fission chain
reaction could be produced in uranium, releasing large amounts of
energy that could be used to make a nuclear explosion. Demands for
control escalated in 1945 when the awesome devastation produced by
nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki became widely known.
Fissile material was rare in the early days of the nuclear age
and at that time it was measured in micro-grams. Nearly sixty years
later, it is estimated that today's it is nearly 2,000 tonnes. Over
the next decade tens of tonnes more of weapons-useable material is
to be produced by the commercial nuclear industry (4).
Notes: (1). Greenpeace International's Comprehensive Fissile Material Treaty was drafted by external experts with legal and nuclear weapons/fissile material background, and Greenpeace staff, and is available at www.Greenpeace.org.Together with a background briefing that summarizes the last 60 years of efforts to negotiate controls and a Treaty on fissile materials.(2). While most military production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium has halted, stocks of plutonium in commercial reprocessing and MOX fuel programs are still increasing dramatically and are set to continue over the next decade. In Japan, France, the UK and Russia, stocks of plutonium will increase by as much as 125 tons by 2015, equal to 50% of all plutonium production by the nuclear weapon states during half a century of the Cold War. Of major concern is the plan by Japan to start up a new 20 billion dollar plutonium reprocessing plant, capable of producing up to 7,000 kilograms of bomb material each year. Japan already has one of the world's largest stockpiles of plutonium, with not one gram being used in its commercial nuclear program.(3). Report: 'A.Q. Khan, Urenco and the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology - The symbiotic relation between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Written by Joop Boer, Henk van der Keur, Karel Koster and Frank Slijper.(3). The commercial nuclear industry have consistently sought to confuse the debate over so-called weapons grade plutonium produced in dedicated military programs, in comparison to reactor grade plutonium produced in commercial nuclear power reactors. Fissile material as referred to in Greenpeace'Treaty covers all direct use nuclear material, plutonium and highly enriched uranium, which in of itself can be used to make nuclear weapons. Unfortunately for the commercial plutonium industry, led by AREVA and BNFL in Europe and JNFL in Japan, the plutonium they are in the business of producing is direct use nuclear material, as classified Category 1 by the International Atomic Energy Agency.