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Mr Rudd: nuclear safeguards?

Article Excerpt
We are often told that the nuclear safeguards system ensures Australian uranium will not be diverted to produce nuclear weapons. But there is a risk of diversion, and claims to the contrary are dishonest. Indeed there is growing recognition of the serious flaws in the safeguards system.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for nuclear safeguards, and the head of the IAEA, Dr Mohamed El Baradei, is remarkably frank about their limitations. In speeches and papers in recent years he has noted that the IAEA's basic rights of inspection are 'fairly limited'; that the safeguards system suffers from 'vulnerabilities' and 'clearly needs reinforcement'; that efforts to improve the system have been 'half-hearted'; and that the safeguards system operates on a 'shoestring budget ... comparable to that of a local police department'.

Labor Party policy states that the government will 'strengthen export control regimes, and the rights and authority of the IAEA, and tighten controls on the export of nuclear material and technology'. It also states...

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