Call for Revision of Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Tuesday February 07, 2006 18:09

by Kathy Sinnott

Non Proliferation Treat urgently in need of revision

It was recently discovered that the physics department basement in UCC houses nuclear material. That is not necessarily unusual. Hospitals and labs also keep small quantities of radioactive materials even in this country. What is unusual is that UCC has a dismantled nuclear reactor, a small amount of plutonium, and two and a half tonnes of uranium. And they have been there for twenty years

One of the ironies of finding such a large amount of nuclear materials in a UCC storeroom guarded by no more than campus security, is that it was Ireland that instigated the NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Or maybe it wasn’t an irony. Maybe it is because of the consistently anti-nuclear stance of the Irish people that we could retain this nuclear store and never worry that we would use it to develop a nuclear program of our own.

Of course, we weren’t going to turn it into a nuclear bomb or even a power station, it was just a White Elephant given by President Regan that was shelved like Aunt Berthas wedding gift. Can’t give it away, but can’t use it.

I think it's great that it meant so little to us. Of course because it means a lot to others especially terrorist, I can also understand that it needed better storage and protection than our casual attitude gave it.

So how has our Non Proliferation Treaty fared. I say “our” with some sense of pride because it was Ireland that presented to the UN General Assembly the resolution "Prevention of the Wider Dissemination of Nuclear Weapons" in 1961 that led to its creation. Considering the tense atmosphere in international relations and the nuclear stockpiling of the1960's I think we can be reasonably content with the performance of the NPT to date. It was quite an achievement to get the UN General Assembly to unanimously approve such a resolution.

It undoubtedly has done well. It held the line on new countries for a long while and it reduced the number of existing nuclear warheads. Of course nuclear arms did not disappear but who knows at the rate things were escalating in 1970 maybe it has saved our lives. It has not stopped India or Pakistan who were both given the same nuclear starter kit as Ireland by then president Ronald Reagan. Nor has it stopped Israel. But those three are not signatories of the NPT.

Now we have a new problem. Iran signed the Treaty but now exploits its loopholes. The Head of State seem to think the restriction is old fashioned and inappropriate to their situation and ambitions. The country that is most anxious to limit Iran, The United States itself, an original signatory of the NPT will not ratify the new Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and wants to start working on new types of Nuclear weapons. This makes it much more difficult for it to lead a moral crusade against Iranian Proliferation.

Many countries are concerned though by the fact that by exploiting grey areas within the NPT, Iran will be able to process their own weapons grade uranium or even plutonium. This loophole was left in the treaty because long time signatories like the US and France still needed refined nuclear fuel.

The difficulty arises when these loopholes are exploited by a country not in the 'weapons club' already.

So, what now? Maybe its time for a new treaty. One without loopholes, one which requires everyone who has nuclear weapons to agree to total disarmament. We cannot hold less stable or less democratic nations to a higher standard if we are not willing to do so ourselves. The idea that a treaty could be written to stop anyone developing a nuclear weapons program except those who already had, was always a fudge. The cold war is over, the use of nukes is now unthinkable, and if they do get into the wrong hands, 'the west' will have to share some of that blame.

It's time for a new treaty which does away with these weapons entirely. They are too dangerous and too destructive, they are relics of a stand off we survived and the only way to keep them from the worst hands is to agree to keep them from all hands. We need a new treaty and who better than Ireland to make it happen.......Again