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Radiological Weapons Control: a Soviet and US Perspective

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Radiological Weapons Control: a Soviet and US Perspective ,DOCUMENT RESUME ED 218 208 SO 014 166 AUTHOR Issraelyan, Victor L.; Flowerree, CharleS C. TITLE Radiological Weapons COntrol: A Soviet and US Perspective. Occasional Paper 29. INSTITUTION Stanley Foundation,,Muscatine,.Iowa. PUB DATE Feb 82 NOTE 33p.; Photographs may not reproduce clearly in microfiche. AVAILABLE FROMStanley Foundation, 420 East Third Street, Muscatine, fA 52761 '(free). EDRS PRICE MFO Plus Postage. PC Not'Available'from'EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *DisarmaMent; International Relations; *World Problems IDENTIFIERS 'Nuclear Wasteg; *RadiologiCal Weapons; USSR ABSTRACT . 4 Two international diplomats from the Soviet Union and ( the United States focus on the need for a treaty to ban the use of radiological weapons. Radiological weapons are thOse based on the natural decay of nixie r material such as waste from military or civilian nuclear react\g rs. Such devices include both weapons and equipment, other than a nuclear explosive, designed to cause destruction or injury by dissemination of radioactive,material, They are generally considered one of many so-called "weapons of mass .. destruction.", A%yet undeveloped, radiological weapons have been the subject of investigation both in the Soviet Union and in the,United States and nuld conceivably be perfedted for military use in the future. It was with this possibility in mindthat the United States and the Soviet Union\proposed in 1979 a, joint draft of a Radiological -Weapons Treaty, to the Geneva -based Committee on Disarmament. A Radiological Weapons.'Treaty,would beta modest achievement at'best. However, under the current circumstances of heightened cold war rhetoric and mushrooming military budgetsof the two superpowers even A modest agreement to ban a potentially highly-destructive new weapons system assumes an added significance. It suggests the two major nuclear - weapon states have concluded that arms limitation progress must proceedand that more substantive agreements may be possible in the future 1Author/RM) :. e . V**********;*****f***************************************************** RekoduCtions supplied by EDRS are the best that can'be made. from the original document., .* *********************************************************************** ." ISSN 0145-8841 1982 The Stanley Foundation S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE 7111S EDUCATIONAL. RESOURCES (NFORMATIQN MATERIAL 1N' MICROFICHE ONLY CENTER itsto, urrent teasbeen repred,ced as HAS BEEN GRANTED BY received team rr person Or,,lantnton erignetalg air It lm°, enanges ,,,tee,been made to Improve reprOduCt,un pt,,aav Point, 01 crew or up coons Stated in this dOCu menl do or ,,,,e5Sartle represent otitc13I NIE TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES poses Or pOirCY INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Radiological Weapons Victor L. lssraelyan Control:Charles C. Flowerree A Soviet and US Occasional. Paper 29, Perspective The Stanley Foundation Muscatine, Iowa. USA" ' Februaryno 1982 i 2 4 i , . 4 Victor L. fssraely4ri was born in.'In 1968'AmbassAOr Issraelyan Tbilisi in the Caucasus of the Sovi- began diplomatic work with et Uni&n and waseducated as a, . assignments,including First physician. His 'personal desire for Deputy Reprekntahve of the world peace led him to a second , USSR to"the United Nations and profession in political science, Director cif the Department of ,Internatiohal Organiiafityi.of the. -After his graduation, Dr Issrael- Soviet Ministry of Fbreign pn became Director of-the Affairs, in addition tip numerous Political Science Department of bil\teral and multilateral the Academy of Diplomacy in neg\tiations and conferentes on Moscow. He researched and .disarmaiinent issues Currently he taught,iriternational relations, and is a Member of the Collegiumof he authored several bookon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disarmament is, ues, the .and USSR Representative to the Cliplomacy'of W rld War II, Cordmittee on Disarmament in 'international affivs, and Soviet Geneva. foreign policy. ei Charles C. Flawerree served as US Representative to the Committee on Disarmament in :Geneva during 1980 and 1981 Concurrently he headed the US delegation to the 1980 Review Conference ofthe Biological 'Weapons Convention held in Geneva and served as Alternate Head of the US delegation to the , 1980 Review Conference of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclea? Weapons . , . Ambassador Flow erree, a-graduate of the United 'States Mural . Academy, joined the Department of State in 1958 and was appointed to the Foreign Service in 1961 Numerous'assignmcInts followed both in Washington and abroad In 1977 he vas named Chief of the International . Rotations Division of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agenc, where he supervised all multilateral arms control efforts In that capacit, he participated in UN General Assembly debates andin bilateral arms control negotiations He is now a senior advisor in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency' t. - e. 0 This paper is published and distributed as part of the Stanley Foundation's programming The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Foundation Permission is granted to duplicate dr guide any or all material so long as proper acknowledgment is made Additional copie$, are available free of 4 charge, and multiple copies can be supplied as long asp inventory allows d 5 Radiological Weapons Control A Soviet and US Perspective Controlling Radiological Weapons A Historical Overview 7 by Charles C Flowerree Completion of the [radiological- weapons] convention would represent the first multilateral agreement of any sort curbing- the employment of nuclear energy in war.. Completion of such an agreement would enable the [United Nations] Committee on Disarmament td gain valuable experienceand test its procedures for negotiating even more controversial agreements in the future. 1 Radiological Weapons Possible New Types,of Weapons of Mass De§truction 17 by Victor L. Issraelyan "*, It goes without saying that the completion of the work of many,years toaborate an'ar'rns control agreement iould . create a more trk favorable political climate ...,between the Soviet Union and the UnitedStates This sit could mean a tangible, however modest, success for the champions of arms control and disarmament, irrespective of country, and a ,defeat of skeptils, pessimists,And thoSe who Would rather oppoSe theprocess of defe,nte and arms cyntrol negotiations. I .4 6. ti Controlling Radiological Weapons A Hitorical, Overview by Charles C. Floweret:I' 1 Foy most of the period since the dawn of the nuclear era, radiological .warfare has Snot been high on the-list of public concerns about future conflicts. Immediately after World War II, however, the use of weapons based on the natural deCay of radioactive material to cause destruct tion, damage, or injury on a massive scale wasconsid-,° ered 'to be a threat nearly comparable-to that posed bY atomic weapons. Subsequently, the,coneern about "ra- diological material weapons" receded to ',nrtual invisi- bility. Today, with the further rrasg'age of lime and the acaimuiat?on of enormous quantities of radioactive waste material, interest in controlling the use- of this material as a weapon of war has againstirred, albeit modestly: In 1948 the United Nations produced a definitionof weapons of mass destruction which gave'prominenceto radioactive materiar weapons. That definition reads as follows:- .406 Weapon -s of mass destruction should be defined to include atornkexplosive weapons, radioactive mate- rial weapons, fethal chemical and biological weap- ons, and any weapons developed in the futurewhich have characteristics comparable in destructive effect, to those of the atomic bomb or other weapons men- tioned above.' In the immediate postwar period the United States considered it prudent to investigate the possibijities of radiological weapons, but no operational capability was' developed: Although skeptics have questioned the feasibility of radiological weapons, situations have arisen in which their potential had attractions. For instance, during the 1950s and early 1960s when radioactive material wasIn 1 ENV DocumentSIC3/32/Rev I, as citesin The United Nations and Disa moment 1945-1970(United Nations Publication, Sales No 70 IX I), p 28 7 relatively short supply, there, were, nevertheless, brief. flickers of interest in radiological weapons by theoper- ating arms of US Military forces. One example is Gener- al Doug Izis K4acArthur's proposal for ending the Korean conflict sent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on February 11, 1951 The main elements were: First he .wou\Id "cleat the enemy rear all across, the' top of North Korea'by massive air attacksNext, "If I were still not permitted to attack the massedenemy reinforcements across the Yalu, or to destroy its bridges, I would sever Korea from Manchuria by laying a field Of radioactive wastesthe by-products of atomic manufactureacross all the minor lines of enemy supply"Finally, "I would make simultaneous amphib- , ious and airbOrne landings at the upper end of both coasts of forth Korea, and close argantic trap. .. ."' In the early 1960s, brief considerationwas given at the military staff level to using radioactive materialto stop North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam, Neither this idea nor that of General MacArthurwas b translated into action. No circumstances apparently have arisen in recent years to stimulate similar proposals. Early efforts ,to address the problem of radiological warfare.Were few and sporadic. The revised Soviet plan of
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