Nuclear Policies in Transition

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) came into force in 1970. The basic safeguards arrangements it called for were agreed on in 1971. Consequently, there was every reason to anticipate a sustained period of stable and increasing international nuclear cooperation. But as discussed briefly in chapter 1, this was not to be the case. The watershed year 1974, just after the twentieth anniversary of Atoms for Peace, marked the opening for one of the most unsettled and controversial periods of the nuclear age. ¹ Many of the issues raised during this era remain unsolved at this writing. In some cases, they are a continuing irritant in relations between nuclear suppliers and recipients, or between nuclear weapon and non-nuclear weapon states. In other cases, however, changing political, economic, and energy circumstances have reduced the importance of some issues, at least for the present. In one way or another, most of the events and problems that began to emerge in 1974 also have had an impact on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).