Ali Asghar Solatniyeh

Full text of the lecture delivered by Dr. Ali Asghar Solatniyeh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on February 1, 2008:

In the name of God
The compassionate the Merciful

Distinguished academia, ladies and gentlemen;
At the outset, I would like to express appreciation for the invitation, giving opportunity to inform scholars, eminent advisors to decision makers, and individuals involved in international policies, about my own findings on legal and technical aspects of such a sensitive issue which has attracted the attention of both public and decision makers at this unique juncture.
Absolute Right for peaceful uses of nuclear energy as stipulated in international relevant documents:
The main statutory objective of the IAEA is the promotional pillars, articles II and III which in the most crystal clear manner defines the very reason of IAEA’s creation and existence, that is: To facilitate the realization of the already recognized absolute rights for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, enshrined in sprit and letter of the statute.
Permit me to quote relevant parts of Article II and III:
The Agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world.
The Agency is authorized:
1. To encourage and assist research on, and development and practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world; and, if requested to do so, to act as an intermediary for the purposes of securing the performance of services or the supplying of materials, equipment, or facilities by one member of the Agency for another; and to perform any operation or service useful in research on, or development or practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful purposes;
2. To make provision, in accordance with this Statute, for materials, services, equipment, and facilities to meet the needs of research on, and development and practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful purposes, including the production of electric power, with due consideration for the needs of the underdeveloped areas of the world;
3. To foster the exchange of scientific and technical information on peaceful uses of atomic energy;
4. To encourage the exchange of training of scientists and experts in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy;
The Article IV of NPT stipulates:
Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.

To establish a balance between security concerns and the socio-economic requirements for development especially for the developing countries, Article IV of the Treaty guarantees “the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty“ and provides for an undertaking by all parties to the Treaty “to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy“. This Article also plays a crucial role as the main incentive set forth to encourage non-nuclear weapon states to join the Treaty and thereby foster the non-proliferation regime.
The inalienable right of all states parties to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes without discrimination indeed constitutes the very foundation of the Treaty. This inalienable right in itself emanates from two broader propositions. First, scientific and technological achievements are the common heritage of humanity. The second general proposition is the requisite balance between rights and obligations which is the basis of any sound legal instrument. This balance guarantees the longevity of the legal regime by providing incentives for membership and compliance.
It is noteworthy that though rights and obligations go side by side but one should not limit the right by misinterpretation of the linkage for instance articles I and II to article IV since the adherence to any legally binding instrument such as NPT and thus acceptance of additional obligations is the choice of any sovereign state that has absolute right to reject or accept at the first place. As an example India did not sign and ratify the NPT since it considers the Treaty discriminatory and has not hesitated to declare publicly its position. Iran is among the first countries which joined the Treaty since its taking effect, over past 35 years, though it was also aware of the discriminations inherited in the Treaty, dividing the state parties in two categories of Have and Have-Not and shortcomings particularly the lack of deadline in its Article VI, for the elimination of nuclear weapons by Nuclear Weapon State Parties to the NPT. Nobody can impose a legal obligation on a sovereign state, nor force it to give up its inalienable right in benefiting from nuclear energy, its activities in nuclear fuel cycle and specifically enrichment. In fact no one can force a state what kind of energy option to choose.

Voluntary nature
of Agency’s Safeguards!
According to Article III of the IAEA Statute, the agency is authorized :To establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that special fissionable and other materials, services, equipment, facilities, and information made available by the Agency or at its request or under its supervision or control are not used in such a way as to further any military purpose; and to apply safeguards, at the request of the parties, to any bilateral or multilateral arrangement, or at the request of a State, to any of that State’s activities in the field of atomic energy.
Therefore, according to the IAEA Status, agency safeguards are merely of voluntary nature. The nature and its application are subject to request of parties in accordance with the agreement which it signs with the agency. The rights and responsibilities of the agency in this regard are merely verification of what the member-states declare and inspect the nuclear facilities and materials which it put under the agency’s surveillance. The member-states shall if they wish to put their own nuclear materials other than what they get from the agency, under safeguards. In brief the IAEA is not UN watchdog. This notion is mistakenly or intentionally used nowadays. After all the IAEA is an independent international technical organization and not a sub-organization or Specialized UN agency such as WHO, FAO, etc. The Involvement of United Nations is limited to the annual report of the IAEA’s Director General to the UN General Assembly merely for the sake of information and not decision making. Seldom in very special case according its Article XII-C to UN Security Council. Since the international community is not well informed about the legal procedures of such UN security Council involvement, I shall briefly touch upon it.
Article XII-C says:
With respect to any Agency project, or other arrangement where the Agency is requested by the parties concerned to apply safeguards, the Agency shall have the following rights and responsibilities to the extent relevant to the project or arrangement:

Comprehensive Safeguards
Introduced by NPT
For this purpose the NPT introduced an strengthened audit and inspections system namely comprehensive safeguards while placed specific framework and criteria as explained in the Article III of the NPT:
Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes to accept safeguards, as set forth in an agreement to be negotiated and concluded with the International Atomic Energy Agency in accordance with the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Agency’s safeguards system, for the exclusive purpose of verification of the fulfillment of its obligations assumed under this Treaty with a view to preventing diversion of nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
Permit me to draw your kind attention to some fact about the role of energy in general and nuclear in specific in sustainable development.
1-Energy has the vital role in the sustainable development.
2-Each energy alternative has its own merits, advantages and disadvantages.
3-Depending on geographical, social, economic specifications and the educational and industrial infrastructure of each country the weight of advantage and disadvantage shall differ.
4-Diversity of energy options, with due consideration of cost benefit and justification of the percentage of the contribution of each energy resources, is highly recommended for both medium and long-term energy strategy.
5-Regional, inter-regional and International political development shall certainly have direct impact on the decision-making and the implementation of energy policies.
6-Regional and international energy institutes have key roles, in facilitating effective implementation of the national energy plans or even creating constraint.
7-Export control regimes, such as Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), established by potential suppliers, have often deprived the developing countries, under the pretext of the security concerns. The potential suppliers have been, the main beneficiary, the recipients, developing countries, are the looser, since the suppliers make the business at either directly or through intermediaries, by gaining more money.
8-Nuclear power plants are cheap to operate. The fuel cost during operation is small portion of cost compared with capital investment. Therefore, one can not make a risk to loose billions of dollars investment by fuel interruption as the result of lack of supply of the fuel.
9-More than 12000 years of accumulated experience, industrial safety record is the second to none. Nuclear industries are full responsible for the waste.
10-The nuclear power plants have less greenhouse effect and pollutions than fissile power plants.
11-According to the IAEA report ( GC/51/INF3 ,2007), worldwide there were 435 nuclear power reactors in operation at the end of 2006, totaling 370 GW of generating capacity. Nuclear power supplied about 15% of the world’s electricity.
Considering the above main elements, I would now like to touch upon the nuclear energy status quo:
The sole pertinent international organization on nuclear energy is the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is established in 1957, in order to enhance international cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
As envisaged in Article III, the Agency is authorized to encourage and assist research on , and development and practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world. In addition to make provisions for materials, services, equipment, and facilities to meet the needs of research and development including the production of electric power. A critical review of the past half a century, clearly indicate that the IAEA has not been able to deliver the statutory expectations from developing countries. The IAEA, which was primarily established for facilitating the foster the exchange of scientific and technical information on nuclear energy, among member-states, has gradually turned into a United Nations Watchdog, creating obstacles and even has deprived from technical cooperation, pursuant the mandate dictated from external non-technical body.

Conclusion
In spite of the fact that the definition of the RIGHT for peaceful use of nuclear energy of the Member States are explicitly defined in the international instruments particularly the IAEA Statute and the NPT, the status quo indicates that:
A-The short term objective of those few western countries pursuing the engagement of the United Nations Security Council in a purely technical nuclear issue, which belongs to the IAEA, as the sole pertinent international organization, is to undermine the authority of the IAEA.
B-The above mentioned measures are paving the way for their ultimate goal namely nuclear monopoly and turning the absolute rights of developing countries to a conditional one!
Therefore, the awareness and vigilance of the intellectuals and international community at large regarding this issue is essential at this juncture.

Thank you for your attention.