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Statement by the Chinese Delegation on
"Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy and Peaceful Nuclear Explosion"
at Working Group II of the NTB Ad Hoc Committee
9 March 1995
Mr. Chairman,
The Chinese delegation tabled a working document on 20 June last year entitled "CTBT Article on Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy and Peaceful Nuclear Explosion" (document CD/NTB/WP.167)
In view of the Chinese delegation, any international legal instruments on nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation should not hinder or restrain the development and the peaceful use of science and technology, nor should they affect the inalienable right of their States Parties, especially the developing countries, to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. On the contrary, these international legal instruments should further enhance the exploration and efforts on using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes by the international community. As an important treaty which shall receive universal support and adherence of all countries, CTBT should particularly play such a role.
Peaceful nuclear explosion is one of the ways by which the mankind can make the peaceful use of nuclear energy. For years, scientists in many countries have explored on this subject with perseverance. The exploration has by far unfinished. The experience in some countries with advanced nuclear technology has proved that peaceful nuclear explosions have extensive prospects for application which will benefit the mankind as a whole. While preventing the horizontal and vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons, CTBT should not, because of the present limitations in the scientific and technological development and the complexity of the relevant verification techniques, deprive the mankind of the right to gain nonmilitary benefits in the future through peaceful nuclear explosions. As a matter of fact, such important international treaties in the field of nuclear non-proliferation as NPT and the Treaty of Tlatelolco have already clearly affirmed the right of the peaceful use of nuclear explosion.
From the technical point of view, since the purposes of peaceful nuclear explosion are different from those of the nuclear weapon test explosion, the parameters that need to be measured and monitored for the two kinds of explosions are obviously also quite different. a rule, for peaceful nuclear explosions, the measurement of only a few parameters will be sufficient. Therefore. one can distinguish between the peaceful nuclear explosion and the nuclear weapon test explosion so long as effective supervision and control are exercised on the parameter-measurement and monitoring of an explosion.
On the base of the above-mentioned considerations, the Chinese delegation proposes that an article be set up in CTBT on "peaceful use of nuclear energy and peaceful nuclear explosion", which, while reaffirming the commitment of the CTBT States Parties to the right of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, seeks to resolve the issue of the peaceful nuclear explosion by establishing a stringent and effective international mechanism for the examination and approval, monitoring, control and verification on PNE. The draft article is suggested as follows:
1. Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy
(a) Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the States Parties to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.
(b) All the States Parties undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
2. Peaceful Nuclear Explosion
(a) "Peaceful nuclear explosion" means: the nuclear explosion activity with nuclear fission and/or nuclear fusion, which releases nuclear energy at very fast rate, and which is purely for scientific research or civilian applications.
(b) A nuclear-weapon State Parts should submit a request to the Executive Council for approval when it intends to conduct a peaceful nuclear explosion by itself or for a nonnuclear-weapon State Party as requested by the latter. The request to the Executive Council shall contain such details as the purpose, site and time of the intended explosion. The request shall be approved by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Executive Council.
(c) At the explosion site, the detection instrument and equipment installed by the nuclear-weapon State which provided the explosion device shall be of the role only to detect the yield of the explosion. No instrument or equipment shall be installed which can possibly be used for nuclear weapon test purposes.
(d) In the Verification Protocol annexed to this Treaty, special chapters and articles shall be set up, and detailed provisions shall be made for the monitoring and verification of peaceful nuclear explosions.
Mr. Chairman.
In addition to the draft article we proposed, I would also like to offer some thoughts which may help to explain the raison d'etre of our proposal.
The Chinese proposal on peaceful use of nuclear energy originates from Article 4 of NPT. Of course, the draft text can and should be further enriched and developed. We noticed that colleagues from the Indian and Iranian delegations had expressed their willingness to conduct further discussions on the subject, which we certainly welcome. The Iranian delegation also suggested that "peaceful use of nuclear energy" and "peaceful nuclear explosion" be dealt with in two separate articles. As far as we see, the two issues are naturally related to each other. since peaceful nuclear explosion is one of the ways of peaceful use of nuclear energy. However, the suggestion of the delegation of Iran could be considered. After all, the two issues are dealt with in different articles in NPT.
As for the issue of peaceful nuclear explosion, a fundamental view is: nuclear explosion is an actions which releases nuclear energy at very fast rate. It goes without saying that the activities which release nuclear energy in the form of a nuclear explosion can serve
either military or civilian purposes. On the military side, the main form is the use of nuclear weapons in war, namely, nuclear explosion is used for the purpose of war and for mass destruction. On the side of the civilian use of nuclear explosion, the activity which releases nuclear energy at very fast rate can be used for economic development and other non-military purposes. This is what we call "peaceful nuclear explosion".
In essence, peaceful nuclear explosion is one form of peaceful use of nuclear energy, which is an inalienable right of mankind.
At present, when the international community does not prohibit nuclear explosion for military purpose, that is, the use of nuclear weapons in war, it would be entirely unjustified to ban the use of nuclear explosion for peaceful purposes, namely, peaceful nuclear explosions. That would be tantamount to such a case: while we do not ban the use of high explosives in war, we prohibit their use for the purpose of civilian construction. As another analogy, can we imagine that while it is not banned to use missiles, i.e., to utilize rockets for the purpose of war, we could prohibit using rockets for launching civilian satellite or civilian spacecraft? Such notions go against the common sense, and we can not give our consent.
Secondly, according to Article 5 of NPT, the nuclear-weapon States are entitled to conduct peaceful nuclear explosion and have the duty to provide the non-nuclear-weapon States with the benefits derived from the peaceful nuclear explosions, and the non-nuclear weapon States have the right to obtain such benefits. The above-mentioned rights and duties are important components in the right and duty of the whole treaty, and contribute to the balance and rationalization of NPT.
"Pacta sunt sevanda" is a basic principle of international law. In recent years, the United Nations General Assembly has annually adopted by consensus a resolution requesting member states to comply with the treaties and agreements of disarmament and arms control, and in each case, China has rendered its support. Complying with treaties naturally means the observance of all the obligations set forth therein. It also means that each state party is entitled at the same time to enjoy the rights contained in the treaties. If each state party only abides by those provisions it likes, the world will be in complete chaos. It is difficult to understand why some self-styled advocates of the principle of "Pacta sunt sevanda" insist on the repudiation of Article 5 of NPT.
As a State Party to the NPT, China will certainly fulfill all our obligations under the Treaty. By the same token, we will enjoy all the rights we are entitled to under the Treaty.
As the NPT Review and Extension Conference is drawing near, we are of the view that the delicate balance between the rights and obligations contained in the NPT should be carefully maintained and carried on. We should not rashly introduce changes that may upset the delicate balance. If changes are indeed needed, they should be made by the decision of the states parties to NPT at the Review and Extension Conference after a thorough discussion. That decision will have to be made in accordance with the amendment procedure of the Treaty itself.
Thirdly, some people have expressed their worries that it is not easy to tell whether a nuclear explosion is conducted for civilian purposes or for the purpose of a nuclear weapon test. Others have the fear that nuclear-weapon States would use peaceful nuclear explosion as a pretext to develop and improve their nuclear weapons, or peaceful nuclear explosion can be used by so-called threshold countries to conceal their clandestine nuclear weapon test explosions. There are other people who would say that experiences of some countries show
that the benefits gained from the peaceful nuclear explosion are minimal or that their adverse effects on environment far exceed any possible benefit that can be gained from them.
We believe some of these worries are justified and some are not. But all of them calm. be solved in the context of CTBT.
For example, CTBT can make sure that a peaceful nuclear explosion is conducted for genuinely peaceful purposes rather than for the purpose of a clandestine weapon test by providing for strict examination and approval procedures by the Treaty organization as well as comprehensive and continuous supervision, control and verification vis-a-vis the explosion site, including the monitoring apparatus used in the explosion. In this respect, we can envisage that for each peaceful nuclear explosion, its conduct, including the monitoring of its parameters, will be under the proper supervision of the Treaty organization. As to the concrete methods and procedures to be used for such supervision, they can~forrnulated through discussion.
The Treaty should also provide that only nuclear-weapon States can conduct such peaceful nuclear explosions. either for themselves or for non-nuclear-weapon States as well. This would be in conformity with the provisions of the NPT.
Furthermore, CTBT can also stipulate that, in examining a request for a peaceful nuclear explosion, the Executive Council shall conduct in-depth analyses of and give serious consideration to the above-mentioned questions, including the possible benefits of the requested peaceful nuclear explosion, its possible impact on environment, etc.. And on this basis, it shall decide whether to approve such a request. Here, I would like to point out that, as early as June 21 of 1972, the Board of Governors of the IAEA adopted a set of guidelines for the international observation of nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes. as contained in document INFCIRC/169. Obviously, these guidelines can help us in developing a mechanism for the monitoring and control of peaceful nuclear explosions.
In sum, Mr. Chairman, the above-mentioned worries are not insurmountable barriers, and all of them can be solved. They are the issues we should resolve through serious negotiations on the article of peaceful nuclear explosion and the relevant part of the protocol. Our proposed text on the article of peaceful nuclear explosion is a preliminary one, and can be improved and perfected through negotiations. As for the relevant part on peaceful nuclear explosions in the Protocol, we do not have any concrete proposal yet. It requires the collective efforts of all delegations to develop some detailed and complete provisions in this respect. Our common aim is to maintain the utilization of peaceful nuclear explosions for the benefit of mankind, while making sure, at the same time, that the possibility of its being misused is completely excluded.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This
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