Nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation

Abstract

Fissile material of the right quality can be used to cause a nuclear explosion; the first application of nuclear technology in the early 1940s was to produce atomic bombs; the first nuclear programmes in UK, USA, USSR and France were started for military purposes; a nuclear research programme could provide access to materials, equipment and technology that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. Yet there is no inevitable tie between a civil nuclear power station and a weapons programme. It is possible — and many countries have taken this step — to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes and to renounce all intention to develop nuclear weapons.

“...in the long run there is no way of stopping the spread of nuclear technology amongst nations, and we must face the proliferation problems that result. The question is therefore not how to stop nuclear development but how best to make use of it and how to apply effective safeguards.”¹