Indo-US N-deal not perfect, says IAEA chief

WASHINGTON: Although the Indo-US nuclear deal is "not a perfect" agreement, it has a lot of advantages from safety, security and non-proliferation perspective, Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad ElBaradei has said.

 

"The end result is India coming closer and working with the rest of the world. It is not a perfect agreement, but it has a lot of advantages. From the safety, security and nonproliferation perspective, I see that agreement as a win-win situation," ElBaradei said.

 

He had made similar remarks after his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Department last week.

 

He said the agreement with India did not endorse its proliferation activities but was indicative of the outside-the-box thinking the international community needs when thinking of the spread of nuclear weapons and materials.

 

On the nuclear regime in place since the Non-Proliferation Treaty took effect in 1970, he said it is "broken" and needs to be fixed.

 

"We have a dysfunctional system, a system that cannot endure. We're reaching the fork in the road. Events in the last few years have made it clear that we need to change course" ElBaradei told the Stanford Daily.

 

With regard to Pakistan and peddling of nuclear wares, including sensitive technology, by its disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan, El Baradei said "how much damage was done in the process we don't know."

 

This demonstrated the need for a "more robust verification system", he told an audience at the Stanford University in California, adding Pakistan has come closer to the international community in recent years.

 

El Baradei said he was worried that countries which can produce nuclear energy peacefully are only six months away from developing nuclear weapons for military purposes.

 

"Acquiring the technology to enrich uranium or reprocess uranium basically is the key to develop nuclear weapons as we have seen in Asia and Iran," he said, adding "they are virtually weapons states because in six months time if they decide for security reasons to develop their own weapon, they are there."

 

ElBaradei, who was the top weapons inspector in Iraq in the run up to the invasion of that country, told the gathering that at the time he could not find evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction but he could not conclude that there were no weapons in the country or that Saddam Hussein did not have a weapons programme.

 

"Luckily...well I'm not sure luckily...we were proven right that there was no nuclear or any weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. But I hope that all of us have learned from the Iraq experience that we cannot just jump the gun. You have to be absolutely sure of the facts."

 

On North Korea, he said the country is "still a major problem."

 

"We don't talk about it enough, but North Korea is declaring right now that they have a nuclear weapon. And the longer that they continue to be in that status, the more it is accepted in the collective conscious. This would be terrible because it will have a lot of negative ramifications in South Korea and Japan."

 

He said the ongoing negotiations are an important development but more needs to be done. "What we see with the current six-party talks should have taken place years ago."

 

ElBaradei said he understands the value of nuclear power, which produces much of the developed world's energy. Reducing its use would create more dependence on greenhouse gas creating fossil fuels, he said.

 

"We need to use nuclear energy responsibly to maximise benefit and minimise risk," he said.

 

He said his "number one nightmare scenario" is a terrorist group acquiring nuclear technology since terrorists are not deterred by the possibility of reprisal.

 

The highest ranking official of the world's nuclear watchdog said, that in the post Cold War scenario he could see no justification for the US and Russia to maintain their nuclear arsenals on ready alert to fire with thirty minutes notice.

 

He urged US to lead by example and continue to disarm its nuclear stockpile. "Rather than pass judgement, I'd definitely like to say the US should do more in leading by example in terms of nuclear disarmament."