ABSTRACT
The international rules for inhibiting the spread of nuclear weapons are largely those embodied in the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, in Euratom safeguards, and in bilateral agreements for cooperation among governments. The NPT has been widely interpreted as precluding any limitation on nuclear technology short of nuclear explosives. One of the most serious indictments of the present system is that nonsigners of the NPT, such as Spain and Brazil, have had no more difficulty in obtaining nuclear technology or fuel than have signers. The United States continues to supply India with nuclear fuels despite the fact that New Delhi has signed the NPT and despite India's explosive use of plutonium from an unsafeguarded reactor that used heavy water of US origin—a dear violation of the spirit of the agreement between the two countries. The NPT speaks of "devices," not nuclear explosive "materials" such as plutonium or highly enriched uranium.
