nuclear-news

AUKUS nuclear submarine plan brings danger as it uses a loophole in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The Aukus scheme announced on Monday in San Diego represents the first time
a loophole in the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has been used
to transfer fissile material and nuclear technology from a nuclear weapons
state to a non-weapons state.

The loophole is paragraph 14, and it allows
fissile material utilised for non-explosive military use, like naval
propulsion, to be exempt from inspections and monitoring by the UN nuclear
watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It makes arms
controls experts nervous because it sets a precedent that could be used by
others to hide highly enriched uranium, or plutonium, the core of a nuclear
weapon, from international oversight.

Guardian 14th March 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/13/aukus-australian-submarine-nuclear-loophole-proliferation-fears

March 17, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics international, Reference, weapons and war