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POLITICS: Role of U.N. Nuke Agency Called "Schizophrenic"
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 19 (IPS) - Concerned about the enormous risks that nuclear technology poses to the environment and the questionable role it has played in heightening political conflicts, some leading European politicians are suggesting that the time has come for the United Nations to stop promoting nuclear technology as an effective tool to meet the world's growing energy demands.
Key European leaders who once served their countries as environment ministers are urging
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to reform the mandate of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), which they consider to be "outdated and conflicting".
"The task of nuclear arms proliferation seems to be growing rapidly," said Satu Hassi, a
member of the European Parliament and former Finnish environment minister, in a
statement. "To be able to function effectively, the IAEA should end its schizophrenic role."
Established in 1957, the Vienna-based U.N. agency is tasked with inspecting nuclear
facilities worldwide to make sure they are not used for military purposes. But,
paradoxically, its mandate allows it to promote "secure, safe and peaceful" nuclear power
technology.
Hassi and others hold the view that the IAEA cannot effectively prevent nuclear arms
proliferation when, at the same time, it also encourages nations to acquire nuclear power
technology, which can also produce material for bombs.
"By deliberately ignoring the interlink between civil and military nukes, the IAEA
contributes to the proliferation of fissile material," notes Dominique Voynet, a former
French environment minister, who also wants her own country to reform its nuclear policy.
Recently, Hassi and Voynet sent a letter to Annan telling him that the current crisis over
Iran's nuclear programme, which raises grave concerns within the international
community, is "a timely reminder of the contradictory remit of the IAEA".
The IAEA is currently engaged in efforts to verify whether Iran is in compliance with the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as a result of international pressure. The United States
and some European nations accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, while
Tehran claims that its nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating electricity.
The letter, which was also signed by eight other former European environment ministers,
says the IAEA has proved "impotent" in preventing the conversion of other "peaceful"
nuclear programmes into weapons manufacturing in countries such as India, Pakistan and
North Korea.
Describing the nuclear technology as "dangerous and destabilising," the former
environment ministers say they want the agency to abandon its "dual role" of both "nuclear
salesman and referee of a commercial industry that creates the world's most expensive
form of electricity with a radioactive legacy that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years".
Aside from concern over proliferation of weapons, the letter also draws the world body's
attention to the health and environmental impacts of the radiation produced by the use of
nuclear technology.
"Nuclear power is no longer necessary," they emphasise in the letter. "We have now
numerous renewable technologies available to guarantee the right to safe, clean and cheap
energy."
The demand for changes in the IAEA's mandate comes at a time when the 20th anniversary
of the Chernobyl disaster is approaching. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in
Ukraine on Apr. 26, 1986 was the world's worst nuclear accident.
The IAEA estimates that 4,000 to 9,000 people are still expected to die from cancer
caused by the Chernobyl accident. But independent scientists say the death toll is even
higher.
A study released by the environmental group Greenpeace this week concludes that over
250,000 cancers and nearly 100,000 fatal cancers are likely to be caused by the accident
that took place 20 years ago.
The study, entitled "Chernobyl Catastrophe Consequences on Human Health", is the
outcome of research by more than 52 scientists from around the world. It shows that the
Chernobyl radiation has not only caused cancer but a variety of other diseases, including
leukemia and heart problems.
The environmental group has accused the IAEA of trying to "whitewash" the impacts of the
Chernobyl nuclear accident, considered to be the most devastating of its kind in human
history.
"Denying the real implications is not only insulting to the thousands of victims, but it also
leads to dangerous recommendations and the relocation of people in contaminated areas,"
said Ivan Blokov of Greenpeace in a statement.
About seven million people are still living in areas contaminated by the Chernobyl
accident, according to Greenpeace, which fully endorses the former ministers' demand for
changes in the IAEA mandate to put an end to the use of nuclear technology.
"The IAEA cannot remain as the world's nuclear watchdog if it cannot at least admit that
nuclear power is responsible for the impact on those whose life it scarred forever," Blokov
added.
Meanwhile, in addition to being critical of the IAEA's role, the European leaders who wrote
the letter to Annan have also taken to task the countries involved in commercial trade
deals involving nuclear technology.
"France must end its sales policy of nuclear materials and technologies to whomever is
willing to pay," said Voynet, the former French environment minister. "This trade
jeopardises world peace."
Other former environment ministers who endorsed the letter voicing concern over the IAEA
stance on nuclear technology include those from Russia, Ukraine, Belaruse, Italy, Denmark,
Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Britain.
(END/2006)
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