Tackling nuclear proliferation

It is rare for the five major nuclear-armed powers to agree to act in unison to strengthen safeguards against nuclear proliferation. The reason they did so was to issue a warning: "The proliferation of nuclear weapons constitutes a threat to international peace and security."

That warning by the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, at the conclusion of a two-week meeting of 106 counties that have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, is timely as more and more nations look to nuclear power to resolve energy shortages. Nuclear Threat Initiative, the nonpartisan organization founded by Sam Nunn and Ted Turner, has considerable experience in tackling this problem. As NTI board member Shirley Williams, a former British Cabinet minister, pointed out, "The tragedy is that this move to nuclear power ... coincides with the crumbling of much of regulatory structure over nuclear power — not nuclear civil power but weapons power."

The immediate danger is Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability signaled by its refusal to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. But, according to Reuters news agency, the three Western powers on the Security Council, plus Germany, have secured the agreement of China and Russia to take action to deal with the threat of nuclear proliferation posed by Iran and North Korea, which carried out a nuclear test blast in 2006.

The declaration did not mention Syria, which U.S. intelligence believes was close to completing the construction of a nuclear reactor, purportedly with North Korea's assistance, when it was destroyed by Israeli warplanes last September.

But it did sound a general alarm, pointing out that the spread of technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons "undermines the security of all nations, imperils prospects for progress on other important NPT goals such as nuclear disarmament, and hurts prospects for expanding international nuclear cooperation."

Specifically, the "Big Five" nations targeted Tehran's ruling ayatollahs: "The proliferation risks presented by the Iranian nuclear program continue to be a matter of ongoing serious concern to us."

The declaration took the Iranians by surprise. Responding to the denunciation, Iran called it "destructive and counterproductive" and said it "seriously questions their political will for the negotiated solution they call for." Reuters quoted the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. as saying, "We will never bow to threats and definitely not give up our inalienable right" to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

It is encouraging that the United States, Britain and France have secured support from China and Russia to directly confront Iran on its nuclear program, but the announcement that they would seek to overcome Iran's defiance "innovatively through negotiations" suggests that there is still no agreement to spell out serious consequences for Tehran if it does not comply with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Still, the fact that the major nuclear powers are speaking with one voice, and that they have also called on North Korea — which renounced the NPT in 2003 — to move ahead on its a pledge to renounce nuclear weapons, is good news.

Enforcement of nuclear non-proliferation has been made even more urgent as more and more nuclear power plants are planned to meet energy needs and environmental concerns.