08/04/2010 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Professor Gareth Evans, Australia's former Foreign Minister and the current co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, talks about its report on nuclear weapons and the potential for the development of civil nuclear energy programs in Viet Nam.
What is the main purpose of your visit?
The purpose of this visit was simply to make sure that senior Vietnamese policy makers were familiar with this report and consider this as an emergency issue to address.
I also want to encourage Viet Nam to play a constructive and helpful role in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.
What does your report focus on?
The point of this report of the international commission was to spell out a detailed road map of how visions could be actively achieved in the short term and in the next few years until 2012.
Our report has made major contributions to the debate in terms of a realistic way of moving a very grand vision forward.
There are two big themes running through the report.
The first one is the threats and risks from nuclear weapons are very real and serious and we can't ignore them. There are 22,300 warheads out there at this moment. 2,000 of them are at a very high alert; there is a risk of new countries coming into the weapons making business; a risk of terrorist non-state actors, who are determined to get their hands on weapons or nuclear materials. And there are also risks associated with a dramatic increase in civil nuclear energy if we don't put in place appropriate security safety arrangement.
The second theme of the report is meeting the threats or risks in the crucial way that we can do three things spontaneously: ensure serious movements towards disarmament, strengthen the measures against nuclear non-proliferation with new players coming into the game and we also address the peaceful use of nuclear energy that does not aggravate the risks.
How can you assess Viet Nam's role in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament?
It is important that the nuclear non-proliferation regime be strengthened in a variety of ways: improved inspection and monitoring arrangement, improved discipline to ensure that people comply with treaty obligations and strengthening IAEA.
It is very important that these measures will be agreed upon next month at the nuclear NPT Review conference. I think Viet Nam has a particularly important role to play in getting accessible outcome here because Viet Nam has their reputation as being a moderate and sensible member of the non-aligned movement. And it is very important that your voice will be heard.
Viet Nam also has an important role in the peaceful use of nuclear energy because you are one of the countries that are going to acquire nuclear energy capabilities for the first time soon.
And you have made it clear that you don't want to build uranium enrichment facilities or plutonium reprocessing facilities.
You made it clear that you don't want to get into the business of this very sensitive and dangerous nuclear technology.
That is an important message to send to other new countries getting into nuclear energy that is not necessary to have the very sensitive facilities or chemicals which create the materials that are used for nuclear weapons.
I would like to see Viet Nam moving to further ratify some of the important international instruments that are relevant here including and in particular the IAEA additional protocol. It sounds like something abstract, but what it is about is the current generation of inspection and monitoring arrangement which are quite intrusive and go along way further than the traditional safeguards.
What do you think about the plan of building the first nuclear power plant of Viet Nam in 2014?
Viet Nam is a rather sophisticated country when it comes to this kind of the project. You should be able to do that. With a relatively accelerated time, you need strong technological support from the supplying countries.
There are many countries out there with the capacity to build a complete package with proven technology.
Do you have any recommendations for the country when building this plant?
You must be alert to what we call the three Ss: safety, security and safeguard.
I am sure the government has been responsible about this.
Security is a kind of the issue that will be debated in Washington next week to ensure that no unauthorised people have access to nuclear facilities and to be able to get hold of nuclear materials for the wrong purposes.
Safeguards for international agreements ensure that everybody has confidence that your plant will be used entirely for peaceful purposes.
Is there any potential for Viet Nam and Australia to make co-operation in this issue?
Yes, there are because Australia has the biggest reserves of uranium in the world. That is one of the reasons why we have produced this report because we feel we have the moral responsibility to ensure that uranium is used just for peaceful purposes.
Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/politics/201004/Viet-Nam-to-play-clear-role-in-nuclear-nonproliferation-903246/
VietNamNet Bridge – Professor Gareth Evans, Australia's former Foreign Minister and the current co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, talks about its report on nuclear weapons and the potential for the development of civil nuclear energy programs in Viet Nam.
What is the main purpose of your visit?
The purpose of this visit was simply to make sure that senior Vietnamese policy makers were familiar with this report and consider this as an emergency issue to address.
I also want to encourage Viet Nam to play a constructive and helpful role in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.
What does your report focus on?
The point of this report of the international commission was to spell out a detailed road map of how visions could be actively achieved in the short term and in the next few years until 2012.
Our report has made major contributions to the debate in terms of a realistic way of moving a very grand vision forward.
There are two big themes running through the report.
The first one is the threats and risks from nuclear weapons are very real and serious and we can't ignore them. There are 22,300 warheads out there at this moment. 2,000 of them are at a very high alert; there is a risk of new countries coming into the weapons making business; a risk of terrorist non-state actors, who are determined to get their hands on weapons or nuclear materials. And there are also risks associated with a dramatic increase in civil nuclear energy if we don't put in place appropriate security safety arrangement.
The second theme of the report is meeting the threats or risks in the crucial way that we can do three things spontaneously: ensure serious movements towards disarmament, strengthen the measures against nuclear non-proliferation with new players coming into the game and we also address the peaceful use of nuclear energy that does not aggravate the risks.
How can you assess Viet Nam's role in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament?
It is important that the nuclear non-proliferation regime be strengthened in a variety of ways: improved inspection and monitoring arrangement, improved discipline to ensure that people comply with treaty obligations and strengthening IAEA.
It is very important that these measures will be agreed upon next month at the nuclear NPT Review conference. I think Viet Nam has a particularly important role to play in getting accessible outcome here because Viet Nam has their reputation as being a moderate and sensible member of the non-aligned movement. And it is very important that your voice will be heard.
Viet Nam also has an important role in the peaceful use of nuclear energy because you are one of the countries that are going to acquire nuclear energy capabilities for the first time soon.
And you have made it clear that you don't want to build uranium enrichment facilities or plutonium reprocessing facilities.
You made it clear that you don't want to get into the business of this very sensitive and dangerous nuclear technology.
That is an important message to send to other new countries getting into nuclear energy that is not necessary to have the very sensitive facilities or chemicals which create the materials that are used for nuclear weapons.
I would like to see Viet Nam moving to further ratify some of the important international instruments that are relevant here including and in particular the IAEA additional protocol. It sounds like something abstract, but what it is about is the current generation of inspection and monitoring arrangement which are quite intrusive and go along way further than the traditional safeguards.
What do you think about the plan of building the first nuclear power plant of Viet Nam in 2014?
Viet Nam is a rather sophisticated country when it comes to this kind of the project. You should be able to do that. With a relatively accelerated time, you need strong technological support from the supplying countries.
There are many countries out there with the capacity to build a complete package with proven technology.
Do you have any recommendations for the country when building this plant?
You must be alert to what we call the three Ss: safety, security and safeguard.
I am sure the government has been responsible about this.
Security is a kind of the issue that will be debated in Washington next week to ensure that no unauthorised people have access to nuclear facilities and to be able to get hold of nuclear materials for the wrong purposes.
Safeguards for international agreements ensure that everybody has confidence that your plant will be used entirely for peaceful purposes.
Is there any potential for Viet Nam and Australia to make co-operation in this issue?
Yes, there are because Australia has the biggest reserves of uranium in the world. That is one of the reasons why we have produced this report because we feel we have the moral responsibility to ensure that uranium is used just for peaceful purposes.
Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/politics/201004/Viet-Nam-to-play-clear-role-in-nuclear-nonproliferation-903246/
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