Soviets, U.S. urge greater effort to restrict N-arms

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 6

Soviets, U.S. urge greater effort to restrict N-arms

NZPA-Reuter = Geneva The United States and the Soviet Union, two of the three nuclear Powers bound by the Nuclear Non-prolife : ration Treaty, have urged intensified efforts to prevent more countries from developing their own-arsenals of atomic weapons. Both countries said that! the International . Atomic Energy .Agency in Vienna must have closer control over.:.the nuclear', fuel cycle to prevent the use of nuclear power -for military purposes. : Neither delegation commented, on a suggestion by the Energy Agency’s direct-or-general, Sigvard Eklund, that, the nuclear Powers should, detonate' an- atomic bomb in public- to demonstrate its destructive power and speed, up nuclear dis? armament.

Dr Eklund made his proposal' at the opening session of ■ the - United Nations conference to'review. success in implementing.the 1968 non-

proliferation: treaty. The American delegate, Ralph Earle, said the conference should urge the 114 signatory States to exchange nuclear equipment and know-how in the future only under full International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. • The Soviet delegate, I. G. Morozov, said that his country favoured international or regional centres ' under I.A.E.A. control for the processing and Storage of all nuclear materials, including plutonium.’- : Peru, however, hinted at the main issue underlying the four-week conference when it said that superpower. guarantees not to use nuclear .weapons . j against treaty. signatories who . had renounced the use of such arms were derisory.

- Developing countries considered' that positive - guarantees -against nuclear -attack were non-existent, Peru told the. conference attended by 72 of the treaty .members.

A British spokesman told| NZPA-Reuter that Dr Eklund had made a vivid point in his opening speech, but added that it would be difficult to arrange a trial explosion without violating the 1963 partial test ban treaty. ' China and France, tlje world’s two other established nuclear weapon Powers, have not signed the n o n-proliferation treaty, though France has said it would behave as if bound by the pledge to prevent more countries from developing their own atomic bombs.

President Carter said in a message to the conference that nuclear power could contribute towards meeting energy-needs but that there should be confidence that international nuclear cooperation would not be misused for military purposes. Efforts to curb the nuclear arms race would become even more difficult if the number, of States with nuclear weapons were to increase, he added.

Independent experts say that between 30 and 40 i countries could be in a posi-j tion to develop their own! nuclear weapons by the vear 2000. In their speeches the; American and Soviet dele-I gates' emphasised the progress they said had. been made on disarmament since the last treaty ; review conference in Geneva five years ago.- ' '• This! 'included the comthe second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (S.A.L.T. II), which still

awaits ratification by the United States Congress, progress ■ towards a , comprehensive nuclear ban treaty, and the holding-, of negotiations on mutual and balanced force reduction's in Europe. non-aligned and developing countries have come to Geneva ready to criticise the three nuclear members of the treaty for not doing enough to rid the world of nuclear tension.