AUSTRIA: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief says up to 30 countries could develop nuclear weapon in a very short span of time

Up to 30 countries will have a capacity to develop nuclear arms in a very short time if the international community does not bolster its system of controlling nuclear technology, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Monday (October 16). "We need to develop a new system of international approach or multinational approach to this (nuclear safeguards) so not to end up with 9 weapons state only but another 20 or 30 who will have a capacity to develop nuclear weapons in a very short span of time," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a conference on nuclear safeguards a week after North Koreas announcement it had tested a nuclear bomb that the world needed to come up with a new approach to control nuclear technology. Five countries -- the U.S., Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom -- have formally declared their nuclear weapons and signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The four others known or suspected to have an atomic bomb are India, Pakistan, Israel, and since last week, North Korea. ElBaradei said new challenges had emerged as the nuclear technology was out of the tube for both peaceful purposes and, unfortunately, for non peaceful purpose. "It had become fashionable for countries over the past decade to look into the option of shielding themselves, protecting themselves through nuclear weapons," he said. "It started with Iraq, we then saw Libya, we are still going through verifying the Iran undeclared programme for almost two decades, we have seen the nuclear test in North Korea," he said. ElBaradei criticised that the nuclear controls policies were applied in different ways to different countries. "It is difficult to maintain the logic that for some countries reliance would be made on nuclear weapons or even trying to develop new nuclear weapons while telling everybody else you cannot, that's nor good for you that is not good for you," he said. The logic is not there. While ElBaradei stopped short of naming names, the United States has often been criticised by other countries for being too lenient with Israel and India even though they have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. ElBaradei also said his agency needed more money for its verification programmes.

ITN Source | October 16, 2006

Tags:. .conference. .known. .fashionable. .bomb. .protecting