The NPT and The IAEA

First things first. I need to apologize that the information i gave in the introduction was not accurate. The Three anti nuclear principles established by the then Prime Minister, Eisaku Sato in the year 1968 were actually just Japanese policy towards nuclear and the other countries have nothing to do with this. My apologies.

You might have heard words like IAEA and NPT while watching news about North Korea. Let me explain the meanings of them in simple words.

The NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) is an international treaty opened for signature on July 1, 1968 to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. There are 188 sovereign states party to the treaty. Back then, the 5 nations that were involved in the nuclear arms race promised not to give nor help other nations make nuclear weapons. Then again, the rest promised not to recive nor make any of them.

Nuclear generation became the main source of electric power in many countries as we made the transition to the new energy environment. However, wastes from nuclear power plants contain plutonium which can be a material for atomic bombs. So there is a rule in NPT that all nuclear power plants must operate under proper checks and restraints. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) exists for this reason. It works with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

About 20 years ago, North Korea as well decied to make a nuclear power plant and asked The Soviet Union how to make one. The Soviet Union accepted this with a qualification and North Korea was required to join the NPT. When a country entres the NPT, every nuclear power plant in the country will be inspected regulary by agents sent by IAEA. The problem is North Korea excluded these agents from its power plants, and quit NPT. The definite weakness of this treaty is it's not strict enough. Of course the attitude of this country is intolerable from a commonsence standpoint but the agency could have taken some sort of action to avoid this situation. Talking of the laxness of the NPT, India, Israel and Pakistan are not even members of it.

The NPT has some more shortcomings. Some people may complain about countries like United States appealing for this agreement. Practically, these countries are contradicting themselves by possessing nuclear weapons.

As the only victim of atomic bomb, Japan must voluntarily advocate the dreadfullness of nuclear weapons and contribute to abolition of nuclear armaments.