Reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (Enlarged Edition)

Most foreign ministries, including that of Iran and the United States, insist that Article IV of the NPT recognizes all states' "inalienable right" to develop "peaceful nuclear energy" including such money-losing activities as nuclear fuel reprocessing. This can bring countries to the very brink of acquiring nuclear weapons. If the NPT is intended to ensure that states share peaceful "benefits" of nuclear energy and prevent the spread of nuclear bomb making technologies, how it can accomplish either if the interpretation above is correct? Some argue that the NPT clearly proscribes proliferation by requiring international nuclear safeguards against military diversions of fissile material. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear inspections, which are intended to detect illicit nuclear activities and materials, certainly have a mixed record. Not only have they failed to find existing covert reactors and fuel-making plants, the agency still cannot assure the continuity...