Strenghtened nuclear controls - maintaining the confidence for expanding nuclear cooperation

Events in the Gulf during 1990 and 1991 focused the world's attention on Iraq's challenge to the nuclear non-proliferation regime and the forceful response of the United Nations Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the coalition partners. The paper will examine recent efforts to strengthen the regime in response to this and other challenges: the upgrading of the nuclear trigger lists, the extension of the control regime to dual-use exports, a renewed use by the IAEA of its special inspection authority under NPT safeguards agreements, a broad review of means to improve the application of safeguards, and a significant expansion of the number of NPT adherents. These efforts recognize the critical role that an effective control regime plays in providing the fundamental underpinning for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The paper will also look as such events as the continued internationalization of the nuclear industry, the unprecedented efforts in meeting the safety needs of nuclear power in Eastern Europe, the dramatic growth in technical assistance through the IAEA and other important demonstrations that nuclear cooperation remains an important part of the balance struck in 1953 with the Atoms for Peace initiative