ABSTRACT
The deployment of civil nuclear power is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the proliferation of nuclear weapons, although it can be argued that the spread of knowledge or the spread of fissile materials could make it easier for an intending proliferator to achieve his ends. Against this it can be argued that, if he were determined, he could achieve his ends without the civil programme, and that the safeguards system acts as a considerable deterrent to abuse of civil facilities. Past experience would lead one to be concerned that the social and economic consequences of general energy shortages resulting from fossil-fuel depletion, in the absence of an adequate substitute, would be more likely to lead, in the long run, to international conflict and nuclear war.
