LONDON (The Guardian) - The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi has said other states could follow Australia’s example and seek to build nuclear-powered submarines, raising serious proliferation and legal concerns.
Grossi said during a visit to Washington that he had set up a special team to look into the nuclear safeguards and legal implications of the AUKUS Partnership announced last month, in which the U.S. and UK will help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
If the plan is carried through, it would be the first time a non-nuclear weapons state has acquired nuclear-powered submarines. It reflects a grey area in the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows fissile material to be removed from IAEA safeguards for such purposes.
The procedures by which the agency would ensure that the fuel, removed from agency oversight, is not diverted to making nuclear weapons have yet to be worked out.
“We have to have specific agreements to make sure that whatever they receive technology-wise or material-wise, is under safeguards,” Grossi told reporters on Tuesday.
Grossi said it “cannot be excluded” that other countries would use the AUKUS precedent to pursue their own nuclear submarine plans.
Canada and South Korea have both contemplated building nuclear-powered submarines, which can stay underwater longer and are quieter than their conventional counterparts. Brazil too has an ongoing nuclear submarine project.