Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the comments of the United Kingdom delegation at the fourth non-proliferation treaty review conference concerning(a) the export of civil nuclear technology and (b) peacetime nuclear explosions.
§ Mr. WaldegraveOur comments at the fourth non-proliferation treaty review conference on the export of civil nuclear technology were contained in the speech which I gave to the conference on 22 August. I made it clear that we are vigilant in implementing internationally accepted nuclear export controls and do not co-operate with non-nuclear weapon states in ways which might assist the development of nuclear weapons.
On peaceful nuclear explosions, the conference achieved consensus, supported by the United Kingdom, as follows:
1. The Conference confirms that, if the potential for the safe and peaceful application of nuclear explosions were demonstrated and were made available to non nuclear-weapon States Party to the Treaty in accordance with article V, the IAEA would be the appropriate international body through which such applications could be made available.2. The Conference notes that the potential for the peaceful applications of nuclear explosions has not been sufficiently demonstrated and that no requests for services related to the peaceful applications of nuclear explosions have been received by the IAEA since the Treaty entered into force. The Conference further notes that no nuclear-weapon State has an active programme for the peaceful application of nuclear explosions.