[en] The non-proliferation issue is discussed in terms of a changing international atmosphere. Comments are made on non-proliferation measures, proliferation resistant technology, international institutional measures and international safeguards. Non-proliferation is seen to be basically a political rather than a technical problem

[en] In 1953, President Eisenhower offered the United Nations his vision for peaceful uses of atomic energy, which included the construction of nuclear power plants to generate electricity. However, in the four decades since the infancy of the nuclear-energy industry, its creators' dream of cheap, abundant, and safe source of energy has not been fully realized, says Michel Damian, research associate with the Institut d'Economie et de Politique de l'Energie in France. Though some observers cite such nuclear mishaps as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl as the reason for the slowdown in the nuclear industry, Damian lays the blame largely on the inflated estimates of the future need for electricity made in the 1960's. open-quotes In fact, declining demand for electricity may be a more critical factor in the slow growth of commercial nuclear power worldwide than the poor track record of nuclear power-plant construction and operation,close quotes he notes. No clear resolution to the woes of the nuclear-energy industry is in sight, Damian says. open-quotes Indeed, that will occur only when engineers design a risk-free reactor and find a safe, long-term disposal method for nuclear waste.close quotes

[en] This paper discusses the theory of Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) in two ways. First, it employs a top-down, deductively oriented approach to explain CBM theory in terms of the arms control goals and objectives to be achieved, the types of measures to be employed, and the problems or limitations likely to be encountered when applying CBMs to conventional or nuclear forces. The chapter as a whole asks how various types of CBMs might function during a political - military escalation from peacetime to a crisis and beyond (i.e. including conflict), as well as how they might operate in a de-escalatory environment. In pursuit of these overarching issues, the second section of the chapter raises a fundamental but complicating question: how might the next all-out war actually come aoubt - by unpremeditated escalation resulting from misunderstanding or miscalculation, or by premeditation resulting in a surprise attack? The second section of the paper addresses this question, explores its various implications for CBMs, and suggests the potential contribution of different types of CBMs toward successful resolution of the issues involved

[en] Provision ensures preservation of World War II–era structures

[en] First set up in 1960, OPEC has become a highly successful cartel and a key player on the world geopolitical scene. Through quotas and dragooning its members, it has maintained the world price of oil at a level much higher than the marginal cost of new oil from the largest producers by holding off new supplies which might otherwise have flooded the market. The two main factors which have made this persistent success possible are examined. They are OPEC's very low production costs vis-a-vis its competitors and the extent of the organisation's shut-in, low-cost reserves. (UK)

[en] From the very beginning nuclear fissile materials have been subject to state and - outside nuclear weapon states - also to international monitoring. The latter was a principal task of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN affiliated organisation formed in 1957 based in Vienna. The legal, technical and political aspects of its monitoring activity are explained

[en] It is against the realism of living with nuclear weapons that the author addresses. Indeed, realism as a theory of international relations has been under attack on normative-philosophical grounds in recent years by a number of political theorists. The reasons for my criticism of nuclear realism, however, are quite different and separate from the general moral case against realism put forward by these theorists. The arguments developed in this paper are derived directly from the emergent features of the nuclear predicament itself, the ways in which the rise of nuclear weapons has turned out to negate the fundamental logic of realism. The nuclear predicament brings realism to a reductio ad absurdum and negates the very political framework that is supposed to justify it

[en] In the United States, open-quotes the nuclear industry is dead, kaput, finishedclose quotes says Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington, D.C. Why? Investors are reluctant to gamble their money on a future generation of supposedly safe, economic nuclear power plants. open-quotes in 1979, the 'safe' Three Mile Island-2 reactor turned a several-hundred-million-dollar investment into a billion-dollar loss in a matter of hours,close quotes Mariotte says. open-quotes In fact, investing in nuclear power at this point would be like investing in the Titanic II.close quotes However, diehard proponents of nuclear energy persist in their optimism for a new nuclear age, Mariotte says. These nuclear backers see the need to replace aging plants with a new generation of safer plants. But would a new generation of reactors really be safer? open-quotes To date, the industry may spur some new nuclear plants, it is more likely to lead to alternative renewable sources of energy that are more economical. open-quotes The nuclear age has ended as a result of inefficiency and unacceptable risks...After 50 years of sustained abuse, the Earth has finally and deservedly entered the end of the nuclear age,close quotes Mariotte says

[en] The $8 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is moving ahead, without definite support of the USA. However, still undecided are where it will be built and how much each partner will pay. This article discusses the international political aspects of building the ITER, with a particular emphasis on the Japanese approach to landing the ITER. Also discussed are possible cost-saving solutions

[en] The question treated in this article is: what do the members of the Austrian parliament - of the different parties - against nuclear energy, in particular against nuclear installations in neighbour countries? Of special interest is the Green party, now also represented in the parliament. The conclusion is that even this party, though in principle definitely anti-nuclear, is of no help to nuclear opponents in general, and to the Working Group No to Zwentendorf in particular. (qui)