CRITICAL ISSUES FORUM

Nuclear Renaissance: Risks versus Benefits

BENCHMARK 2

The Author: Valeriya Belan

Form 10B
Linguistic Gymnasia № 164

The Advisor: Nelli Porseva

the teacher of English
Linguistic Gymnasia № 164

Zelenogorsk

Krasnoyarsk Region

Russia

2008

CONTENTS

I. National and international control of nuclear energy

1. Possible reasons of proliferation

2. The system of nonproliferation regime

3. Notions of Safety and Security

4. Three parts of nonproliferation regime

5. Pros and cons of having nuclear status

6. Problems of nuclear nonproliferation regime

II. National and international legislation which controls nonproliferation

III. International spread of nuclear energy

IV. Russian Nuclear Complex and its control

V. Conclusion

VI. Resources

Introduction

Aim of work was:

· to demonstrate an understanding of national and international control of nuclear energy and to explain the notions of safety and security;

· to explain the laws and organizations that monitor nuclear energy in my own country;

· to explain the international spread of nuclear energy to countries that have not had nuclear energy before and its reasons.

I. National and international control of nuclear energy.

1. Possible reasons of proliferation

Plans of international control appeared almost at the same time with nuclear weapon creation. Since that time and till nowadays there are a lot of disputes about the type of this control.

Nuclear safety from the public point of view means providing using nuclear material only in peaceful way. [1]

Plunder and smuggling of nuclear material may be realized with such aims as:

• Resale of the material to the third side with the aim of personal benefit for the thief.
• Using the material for terrorist act or blackmail.
• Development of the state nuclear program ignoring the international agreement of nuclear nonproliferation

The importance of this risk has its own reasons, which are connected with:

• Appearance of a big amount of weapon nuclear material which was caused by reduction of nuclear arms.
• Becoming a system of international control stronger - as the reason of difficulty for countries (which don’t have their own nuclear programs) to get a nuclear material.

2. The system of nonproliferation regime

The Nonproliferation and disarmament regime can be divided into 5 parts: Treaties, regional & other treaties & agreements, international & regional organizations, export control groups and other attempts to control the process of non-proliferation.[2]

3. Notions of Safety and Security

Nowadays, international system of protection is based on two notions: “safety” and “security” of nuclear material. Safety of nuclear material means people’s protection from the nuclear cycle and possible accidents (they can be caused by some mistakes in the fuel cycle). Security of nuclear material means a Plan of Activities to Protect against Nuclear Terrorism [3] or “nuclear cycle’s protection from people” (from chances of nuclear terrorism).

3. Three parts of nonproliferation regime

	Type	Mechanism	Help to:
Safeguards	International	The IAEA safeguards system includes monitoring of nuclear materials to ensure their non-military use. “The safeguards system comprises measures by which the IAEA independently verifies the declarations made by States about their nuclear material and activities. These measures are implemented under various types of agreements and protocols.”	· Prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons · Foster beneficial uses of atomic energy · Provide confidence & build trust
Assurances		Includes the controlling of dangerous parts in nuclear cycle.	· Avoid dangerous accidents with the necessity of people’s evacuation.
Physical protection measures		Includes the security on the nuclear power stations	· Avoid stealing of nuclear material.

[based on the data from 3, 4, 5]

5. Reasons for of having nuclear status

The most widespread explanation of the wish of the state to have a nuclear status is connected with such definition of nuclear weapon as a guarantee of good protection. Because of it a lot of countries are still defining nuclear proliferation as “natural and salutary for the society”. But the reality showed these judgments are not able to be true.

Another theory is based on another explanation: the state decision about having a nuclear status depends on social opinion about it – nowadays nuclear nonproliferation regime and recognition of nuclear weapon danger make all the attempts to get nuclear status opposite to the world community. [6, page 61]

It is possible to say that while nonproliferation regime is staying strong, it is most expected for the majority of the countries to save a non-nuclear status.

6. Problems of nuclear nonproliferation regime

1. The weakest point of the international agreement about nuclear nonproliferation is the obligation of nuclear states to try to solve the problem of disarmament. Agreements between Russia and the USA in this sphere are different for understanding of other states. Other nuclear states are not in a hurry to join the Russian Federation and the United States in destruction of nuclear weapon, so, nuclear disarmament is a very difficult and long process.
2. Nowadays there is a group of countries which are outside of the regime of nuclear nonproliferation. They are India and Pakistan. These states have nuclear weapon. In fact Israel also has nuclear weapon but officially it has never been stated.
3. Problems, which are connected with nuclear terrorism.
4. Some countries are trying to create their own programs of nuclear energy development in big scales. [1]

II. National and international legislation which controls nonproliferation

The implementation of the IAEA safeguards is realized with the help of different documents of national and international level. There are some basic terms which can characterize all the most important notions of nonproliferation legislation. They are:

• International law - international rules or norms dealing with the relations between two or more states
• Treaty - Formal agreement between states that defines and modifies their mutual duties and obligations
• Agreement - Formal written agreement between two or more parties, or informal agreements among states that are often not legally binding
• Protocol - A negotiated document supplementary to a treaty or agreement
• Adoption - Formal act by which the form and content of a proposed treaty text are established through the expression of the consent of the states participating in the treaty-making process. [2]

Having read all the documents available for me, I have summarized the main ones in the following table:

	Laws	Mechanism		Important notes
Russian Documents	The president’s decree about control of export of nuclear materials (1992) – export of nuclear materials to any country which hasn’t got a nuclear weapon should be checked by IAEA	The realization of the decree doesn’t prevent the participation of the Russian Federation in the agreement about the nuclear nonproliferation.
	Agreement between the Russian Federation and the USA about safe transportation of nuclear materials (1992) – States participate in this agreement to help the Russian Federation in destruction of nuclear weapon and creation of additional control of nuclear nonproliferation.	Every state appoints an agency for solving these problems – for Russian Federation such agency is the Ministry of nuclear power (at that time), currently - Rosatom. For the USA such agency is Department of Defense.		It is a document of cooperation of Russia and other countries. Also such agreements were signed with other states of nuclear “Eight” and China.
	Other documents, which were signed with other countries, are: Agreement between the Russian Federation and the French Republic about safe nuclear weapon destroying; the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the German Republic about helping Russia in liquidation of nuclear weapon. Agreement between the Russian federation and Japan about the liquidation of nuclear weapon and creation a committee for this aim; the agreement between the Russian Federation and the UK about peaceful using of nuclear energy; the Agreement between the Russian Federation and China about using a nuclear power station on fast neutrons.
International documents	Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) (1968) – 1. Every state which has nuclear weapon must not to give anybody nuclear weapon/any nuclear explosive device or any control on them. Every state mustn’t help other one to get nuclear material or nuclear weapon if it hasn’t got any of them. 2. Every state which hasn’t got nuclear weapon mustn’t accept nuclear material from any sources or control of it.		States-participants of the agreement which haven’t nuclear weapon should make an agreement with International agency with the aim of observing all conditions of the agreement. Every participant of the agreement can leave from it if from his point of mind some situation threatens the main interests of his country.	Nowadays 198 countries are participants of this agreement. Only few countries don’t participate in it like North Korea, India, Pakistan.
	IAEA safeguards (were written in 1965 and corrected in 1966 and 1988) – This document has the aim of making the using of nuclear energy easier all over the world		Agency implements all the safeguards in such a way, when they are able not to stop economic or technical state development.	Agency implements the safeguards in the state if there is an agreement about the project which can give to the agency all the necessary opportunities or equipment.
International documents	Agreement between the USA and the USSR about systems of antimissile defense restriction (1972) – each participant must not to place systems on their territory or to create a base for building such systems.		Every side can offer changes to the agreement. Every 5 years participants will review the document to decide if it is necessary to change something in it.
	Agreements about Nuclear Weapon Free Zones – Governments of more than 110 countries have agreed that in Latin America & Caribbean (Tlatelolco) , Antarctic (1959), South Pacific (Rarotonga) 1985, South East Asia (Bangkok) 1995, Africa (Pelindaba) 1996, Mongolia (1992), Central Asia (2006) the development, manufacture, stockpiling, acquisition, testing, and control of nuclear weapons is prohibited. [2] [2]		In those regions peaceful uses and applications of nuclear energy, under IAEA supervision, are permitted.
	The main principles of nuclear export (1976). · In case of the export of nuclear material to the state which hasn’t nuclear weapon and which is not a participant of the nonproliferation agreement, the government must be sure that nuclear material is included to the IAEA safeguards. · In case of export of the material to the sate which has nuclear weapon but which is not a participant of the nonproliferation agreement, the government must be sure in avoiding the export that material to another country which hasn’t a nuclear weapon.		The government is interested only in implement of all the safeguards in special cases in states which haven’t nuclear weapon and are not participants of the nonproliferation agreement.

[7]

II. International spread of nuclear energy

The question of international spread of nuclear energy nowadays is also one of the most important questions.

This scheme illustrates one of the main reasons why countries are going to develop nuclear energy. It is also one of the most important problems: ”It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We’ll use the next trillion in 30,” – says David O’Reilly from the pages of Spotlight [8]. One of the main resources of the planet is running out. “Experts say that a broad use of nuclear energy and coal could give Europe, the US and China enough electricity for the next century” – and exactly that fact is also one of the reasons for other countries to try starting their own nuclear programs.

It was also discussed in Al Gore’s film called “An inconvenient Truth” [9] – a problem of greenhouse effect is the main topic of this film. Global warming is a reason of such a scary consequence as ice melting – “forty percent of the people in the world get more than a half of their drinking water … from glaciers in the Himalayas”. [8]

The fact the Earth is already much warmer than at any time in the past 650 000 years is also mentioned in “An Inconvenient Truth”. In this film a connection of people actions and climate changing is clearly demonstrated. Gore says in the situation of nonrenewable sources deficiency and approaching of possible climate crisis the role of new energy production ways is very high.

“How can developing countries meet their ever-increasing energy needs?” - asks Spotlight [4, page 24] “The United States government believes it can offer them an answer: nuclear power. To prevent Third World countries from starting their own nuclear programmes, as Iran and North Korea have done, the US Department of Energy is designing a small reactor that it can send to other countries and control by satellite. The 500-ton SSTAR, or Small, Sealed, Transportable , Autonomous Reactor, would be only 15 meters tall and three meters wide, but it could produce 100 megawatts of electricity. ... The US would send the reactor by ship and by truck, let it run automatically for up 10 30 years, and then take it back. Automated controls would turn the reactor off if anything went wrong, and they would send a message by satellite to the DoE in the United States.” - So, it is possible to make a conclusion that nuclear countries are trying to stop creation and development of nuclear programmes by other countries which didn’t sign an international agreement of nuclear nonproliferation. The reason of it is connected with nuclear proliferation, which can be much worse than burning the oil we have now.

IV. Russian Nuclear Complex and its control

The situation with nuclear power in Russia is currently goes through some changes. For me it’s especially important to know how energy is generated in my native town Zelenogorsk. “Putin’s Plan is nuclear power development – it means developing of our plant” – Zelenogorsk newspaper “Impulse” says about the future of Zelenogorsk nuclear facility specialized in enrichment of uranium. In 2006, as its information tells us, a decision about faster developing of nuclear power was made. In July of 2006 there was a meeting of the whole administration of Nuclear Weapon and Power complexes in the city called Novoogarevo. On this meeting V.V. Putin said that the part of nuclear energy in our country’s power balance is only 16%. Saving such temps of using this way, by the end of 2030 the whole part of nuclear power in our country won’t be more than 1-2%. As a result of that meeting, the aim of our country now is to make the part of nuclear industry closer to 25%. [10]

The state defined this project as one of the most prior and already at the end of 2006 approved Federal program called “Developing of Nuclear Power Complex in 2007-2010 years and - as a perspective – until 2015”. In 2007 the Russian Government decided to approve the project of “General plan of nuclear units for the period until 2020” which provides a scale building of Nuclear Power Stations for the next 12 years.

Such a necessity to solve the problem with nuclear power developing appeared in Russia because of too fast tempo of using energy. The population of Russia has come across a lot of technical and infrastructural problems because of the gap between using and producing energy. It is also a reason of some vast energy blackouts in Moscow and Sochi. Such policy caused a large number of questions from people who are interested in developing of this one of the most important branches.

Plans connected with using Nuclear power are very important for Russia, and there is already a plan of controlling this sphere. The hierarchy is as follows:

Nowadays there is a world tendency not to rely on fossil fuels even if the country is rich in it. For example, building of nuclear stations in China is recognized as one of the most effective ways of getting energy in spite of having rich coal and water resources. Its government isn’t worried about people’s protests because the country needs to find new energy sources. Nowadays there are 3 working and 10 building reactors in China. By the end of 2020 the country is going to increase the general capacity to about 50 GW.” [11], [the scheme 10]

Solving the problems of nonproliferation requires not only creation of international and national advanced systems of nuclear safety, but also improvement of ways of using nuclear energy – with the aim of making its own self-defense properties better.

V. Conclusion

o Nowadays there are organizations which can provide both safety and security of nuclear material. IAEA is one of them – it allows to implement all the safeguards of nonproliferation agreements between nuclear states.

• IAEA also controls implementation of all safeguards in Russia. The program of RosAtom includes understandable hierarchy of organizations which control production and consumption of nuclear energy at the national level.
• International spread of nuclear energy is going at rather slow tempos because of danger of proliferation. The worst consequence of the proliferation is using nuclear material for terrorist acts.

VI. Resources

1. G.M. Pshakin and others, Nuclear nonproliferation, (Moscow Engineer Physicist Institute, 2006)
2. Jean du Preez, “Responding to a global threat: the nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regime,” (Center For Nonproliferation Studies, 2007)
3. http://www-ns.iaea.org/security/default.htm
4. Pilewski, Mike, “Small reactions”, printed in Spotlight # 11, 2004, (Sportlight Verlag GmbH, Planegg/Munchen, Germany)
5. Akhtamzyan I.A., PowerPoint presentation “Modern nonproliferation regime,” 2003
6. Orlov, V.A. and others, “Nuclear Nonproliferation”, vol. I, (Moscow, PIR-Center Library, 2002)
7. Orlov, V.A. and others, “Nuclear Nonproliferation”, vol. II, (Moscow, PIR-Center Library, 2002)
8. Pilewski, Mike, “Crude Awakening”, printed in Spotlight # 10, 2005, (Sportlight Verlag GmbH, Planegg/Munchen, Germany)
9. Gore, Al, “An Inconvenient Truth”, Paramount Classics, 2006
10. Russian Federal agency’s of nuclear power materials (quoted in Impulse, (Zelenogorsk ECP Press Center November 22, 2007)
11. Chekmarev A.M., Chemistry; Nuclear energy;Fast development, (Moscow, 2006)
12. http://www.nrc.gov/
13. http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ SV/Safeguards/about.html