Nuclear Safety and Security Summit Meeting, Moscow (Hansard, 22 April 1996)

The Lord Privy Seal (Viscount Cranborne)

My right honourable friend the Prime Minister attended the Moscow Summit on Nuclear Safety and Security on 19th and 20th April. He has arranged for copies of the declaration and background documents to be placed in the Library of the House. The summit was chaired jointly by President Yeltsin and by President Chirac as the current chairman of the G7. Other G7 leaders attended, as did President Kuchma of Ukraine for the later part of the summit.

There was unanimous agreement at the summit on the priority that needs to be given to ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants and the security of nuclear materials. It was agreed that the Convention on Nuclear Safety must be ratified and brought into force as soon as possible; the United Kingdom has already ratified the convention.

At the same time, the summit endorsed the importance of market-oriented reforms in the energy sector, and the contribution this can make to nuclear safety. Investment strategies should be based on least-cost planning, and energy efficiency and conservation have an important role to play.

It was also agreed that it was necessary to work for the early adoption of a convention on the safety of radioactive waste management, which is currently under negotiation. The disposal of radioactive waste at sea is prohibited under the 1993 amendment to the London convention, which the UK and most other countries have accepted; at the summit, Russia gave a firm 88WA commitment to accept the amendment. The summit agreed to work together to identify strategies for the safe management and eventual disposal of fissile material no longer required for defence purposes.

President Kuchma attended the summit for the discussion on Chernobyl. The summit welcomed his decision to close Chernobyl by the year 2000 in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed between the G7 and the Ukraine last year, and confirmed the commitment to implement the memorandum.

The summit also discussed the need to prevent any illicit trafficking in nuclear materials. A programme to combat any such trafficking, and to increase co-operation to ensure the safe storage and protection of nuclear materials was agreed to. Existing co-ordination between national agencies will be enhanced.

The countries at the summit also committed themselves to conclude and sign a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty by September 1996.

The summit also provided a timely opportunity to discuss the main international issues, particularly Lebanon and Bosnia. On Lebanon, the need for an immediate ceasefire and a political solution to end the present crisis and enable the wider peace process to resume was agreed to. Current diplomatic efforts to bring this about were endorsed. On Bosnia, it was agreed that the deployment of IFOR and implementation of the military part of the Dayton agreement had gone well, but that more rapid progress was needed on key issues such as elections, reconstruction, and the return of refugees.

Before the summit, the Prime Minister visited Prague and Kiev for discussions with the Governments of the Czech Republic and Ukraine. In Moscow he had meetings with President Yeltsin, Prime Minister Chernomydin and others. He also took the opportunity to have bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Chritien and President Clinton and to discuss our problems with the European Union over beef exports informally with the other EU leaders present.

In sum, therefore, the Moscow summit made a major contribution to nuclear safety, through agreements reached and endorsed. It was also an invaluable occasion for my right honourable friend to take forward other significant issues informally with his fellow heads of state and governments, and to reinforce links with them. It was a success on all counts.