On September 16th local time, the International Atomic Energy Agency September Council concluded. There were two major issues at the meeting that became the focus of attention. The first was to ensure the security of Zaporo thermonuclear power plant . This issue concerns the security of Ukrainian and even the entire Europe. After all, neither Russia nor Ukraine wants to let Chernobyl accident repeat. The second question is about the "Auscus" cooperative organization established by the United States, Britain and Australia. The United States, Britain and Australia suddenly raised the issue before the meeting and forced it to pass it without consensus, which caused huge controversy.
As we all know, the " Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons " has clear restrictions on various nuclear weapons , ballistic missile , etc. Strictly control the spread of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear countries, but after the establishment of "Auscus" last year, the United States, Britain and Australia signed the "Naval Nuclear Power Information Exchange Agreement" in November 2021, officially providing the Australian Navy with nuclear submarine related technology. This will obviously lead to the United States and the United Kingdom bringing nuclear weapons to the Asia-Pacific region, seriously violating relevant international restrictions and regulations.
Previously, Russia also leased nuclear submarines from India. At that time, Russia and India's actions did not cause such a big stir. Why is the "Auscus" cooperation project between the United States, Britain and Australia so sensitive? First of all, the content stipulated in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is that attack nuclear submarine is not subject to the treaty restrictions when using reactor with a uranium enrichment concentration of less than 3.5%. In other words, as long as it is not a ballistic missile submarine , and the reactor concentration should not be too high, the transfer of attack nuclear submarines in the international market is relatively tolerant.
India itself is a nuclear-capable country and has long mastered the relevant technologies of nuclear weapons. India itself has also developed the "Enemy Annihilation" nuclear submarine, so Russia's lease of nuclear submarines does not have the problem of "proliferating nuclear technology outward". Moreover, the concentration of the "Akula II" class nuclear submarine reactor leased by Russia is below 3.5%, which is not subject to the restrictions stipulated in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
In comparison, the US's actions are much more dangerous. First of all, Australia is not a nuclear-capable country and does not master atomic bomb , ballistic missiles and other weapons. Even conventional military strength is not too strong in the world. This time the United States and Britain plan to transfer nuclear submarine technology to it, which will obviously break the regional military balance and pose a huge threat to us.
And most importantly, because the United States' nuclear weapons system is very complete, and it is impossible to use weapon-class enriched uranium , so the United States currently does not even have a conventional submarine , and all equipped with nuclear submarines. Not only that, the US nuclear-powered submarines directly use weapon-grade enriched uranium with a concentration of 93%. Unless the United States specifically designs a completely new nuclear submarine for Australia, it will obviously violate the restrictions of the NPT. However, according to the previous three-party cooperation, the United States has no intention of doing so. The United States' transfer of nuclear submarine technology to Australia is equivalent to allowing Australia to directly possess weapon-level enriched uranium, which is obviously unacceptable.
Representative Wang Qun said that the United States' approach this time was obviously very guilty. The fundamental purpose of the US raising this issue is actually to hide the essence of the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons materials involved in the cooperation between the three countries' nuclear submarines. The International Atomic Energy Agency secretariat was forced to propose a safeguard supervision plan to exempt three-country nuclear submarine cooperation, and forced the issue to pass with the advantage of Western countries' votes. This move by the United States will undoubtedly greatly undermine the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency and affect the agency's regulatory role in global nuclear-related matters.
Previously, Iran , North Korea, Iraq and other countries developed nuclear industries, and the United States responded quickly and imposed sanctions on these countries. When the United States comes, it can transfer weapon-level enriched uranium at will to a non-nuclear country. This dual-standard practice is obviously difficult to gain an international foothold.
