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NTI: Global Security Newswire – WMD Panel Advises Dramatic Steps to Stem Nuclear Spread

WMD Panel Advises Dramatic Steps to Stem Nuclear Spread
NTI Dec. 2, 2008By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States should strengthen the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and take other steps to prevent non-nuclear states from acquiring atomic weapons, a bipartisan panel said in a report released today (see GSN, Dec. 1)………………….some commissioners said this week that the group’s most substantial findings might be those pertaining to preventing the spread of nuclear technologies. The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism echoed a recent U.S. intelligence projection that a biological weapons attack could be more likely in the years to come, but a nuclear detonation could prove even more catastrophic………….

Several specific proposals advocated by the WMD panel attempt to reduce the risk that civil nuclear power programs could contribute to illicit atomic weapons development efforts.

For example, by discouraging the use of financial subsidies for nuclear energy, the group hopes the market might push growing nations toward embracing alternative energy sources. The commission also urges Washington to agree with its international partners on a “date certain” for ending the civilian use and export of highly enriched uranium, and to declare a moratorium on commercial reprocessing.

NTI: Global Security Newswire – WMD Panel Advises Dramatic Steps to Stem Nuclear Spread

December 4, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety