AS WAR rages in the Middle East, it is scary to consider that one military power in the region already has nuclear weapons, another seems intent on getting them, and many others are planning to build their first nuclear power plants. How can we keep these plants from fuelling even more nuclear weapons?
The revolutionary suggestion (see “Is it time for an international nuclear fuel bank?”) is to move the most proliferation-prone processes – fuel enrichment and reprocessing – from national to international control to ensure that fissile material is less likely to end up in nuclear bombs.
Of course it is one thing to suggest that Iran, Egypt – and yes, Israel too – put their fuel cycle into international hands. But why should they when the nuclear haves such as the US, UK and Russia seem to have forgotten the promises they made under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to give up their nuclear weapons?
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It makes perfect sense to put the riskiest nuclear industries under the most politically transparent and non-partisan of controls. For that to happen, though, the major nuclear powers must also start to abide by the rules.