【ドイツのシュレイダー前首相がブッシュ大統領を批判】
【イスラエル レバノンやガザで新兵器を使用か?】

【世界に広がる核クラブの輪】

Nuclear chief: More nations 'hedging their bets' (CNN.COM)

少し前のCNNの記事。IAEAのエルバラダイ代表によると、このところの北朝鮮やイランの影響で、30もの国が核武装を選択する可能性があるという。

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The head of the U.N. nuclear agency warned Monday that as many as 30 countries could soon have technology that would let them produce atomic weapons "in a very short time," joining the nine states known or suspected to have such arms.

Speaking at a conference on tightening controls against nuclear proliferation, Mohamed ElBaradei said more nations are "hedging their bets" by developing technology that is at the core of peaceful nuclear energy programs but could quickly be switched to making weapons.

ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called them "virtual new weapons states."

会議場では特定の国を挙げたわけではないが、既にウラン濃縮の開発に着手したと思われるブラジルをはじめとして、原子力発電用の燃料として輸出することを目的にした開発を検討しているとアナウンスしたオーストラリアアルゼンチン南アフリカ

ElBaradei did not single out any country in his warning, but was clearly alluding to Iran and other nations that are working to develop uranium enrichment capability, such as Brazil.

Other nations, including Australia, Argentina and South Africa, have recently announced that they are considering developing enrichment programs to be able to sell fuel to states that want to generate electricity with nuclear reactors.

核爆弾に転用可能なレベルのウランを製造する能力を持っている、あるいは持つことができるとされる、カナダドイツスウェーデンスイス台湾スペインハンガリーチェコスロバキアリトアニア

Canada, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Taiwan, Spain, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania are among nations that either have the means to produce weapons-grade uranium if they chose, could quickly build such technology, or could use plutonium waste for weaponization. All are committed non-nuclear weapons states, and no one has suggested they want to use their programs for arms.

そして大量のプルトニウムを備蓄している日本は、核武装の計画はないと言ってはいるが、必要であれば短期間に開発する能力をもっているし、同様に原子力発電を行っている韓国は、数年前秘密裏に小規模のウラン濃縮実験を行っていたことがわかっている。

Japan also says it has no plans to develop atomic weapons, but it could make them at short notice by processing tons of plutonium left over from running its nuclear reactors. South Korea also has spent reactor fuel and was found a few years ago to have conducted small-scale secret experiments on making highly enriched uranium that would be usable in warheads.

近い将来核開発を検討しているのは、エジプト、バンクラデッシュ、ガーナ、インドネシア、ヨルダン、ナミビア、モルドバ、ナイジェリア、ポーランド、タイランド、トルコ、ヴェトナム、そしてイエメン

Other countries considering developing nuclear programs in the near future are Egypt, Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Namibia, Moldova, Nigeria, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen, U.N. officials say.

既に核兵器を保有していることを宣言している5カ国、アメリカ、ロシア、中国、フランス、イギリスに加えて、保有していると見られているのがインド、パキスタン、イスラエル、そしてここに北朝鮮が新たに加わった。

There are five formally declared nuclear weapons states -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- and four others are known or thought to have such arms -- India, Pakistan, Israel and now North Korea.

エルバラダイ氏は間接的にだが、これら5カ国(つまり安保理の常任理事国)が自らの核兵器の削減を行わずに、他の国に対して核兵器を持つなというのは非論理的だと批判している。

Indirectly criticizing nuclear weapons states, ElBaradei said it was illogical for them to maintain their atomic arsenals while urging others not to acquire such arms.

He also obliquely took some of them to task for not signing or ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, suggesting their endorsement of the 1996 pact "would have changed the behavior of North Korea, maybe."

The treaty, which prohibits all nuclear explosions, will not take effect until it has been ratified by 44 states that possess either nuclear reactors for power-generation or research. So far 34 have ratified it. Holdouts include the U.S., China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

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