Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1945–1974
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DOCUMENTS ON AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY AUSTRALIA AND THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY 1945–1974 The mission of the Historical Publications and Information Section is to publish an accurate, comprehensive and impartial record of Australia’s foreign and trade policy. Volumes in the series Documents on Australian Foreign Policy are produced and financed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The editors of these volumes, whether permanent officers of the department or consultants employed by the department, operate in the Historical Publications and Information Section of the department with full editorial independence. An Editorial Advisory Board advises the Minister for Foreign Affairs with respect to the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series. The board is committed to upholding the editorial independence of the volumes’ editors, to assisting the Historical Publications and Information Section in gaining access to relevant documents including from other agencies and to assisting with the declassification process as necessary. A Committee of Final Review consisting of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and delegates of the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition examines each volume. Its approval signifies that material has been selected and edited according to appropriate scholarly and non-partisan practice. DOCUMENTS ON AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1945–1974 WAYNE REYNOLDS and DAVID LEE Editors AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 Introduction copyright © Wayne Reynolds Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and other intellectual property rights) in this publication, is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. With the exception of the Coat of Arms, content supplied by third parties and where otherwise noted, the publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License. The details of the licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website, as is the full legal code for the CC BY 3.0 AU licence. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1945–1974 Wayne Reynolds and David Lee, editors ISBN: 978-1-743220-81-8 (hardback) Series: Documents on Australian foreign policy Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index Subjects: Nuclear non-proliferation—Australia Other authors/contributors: Reynolds, Wayne, 1949– editor Lee, David, 1965– editor Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 327.17470994 Cover artwork by Anne Wakefield Production, editing and page make-up by Wilton Hanford Hanover Printed by Brown Prior Anderson Foreword by Minister for Foreign Affairs I am pleased to be associated with this volume in the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series: Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1945–1974. The volume was researched and edited by Associate Professor Wayne Reynolds of the University of Newcastle in collaboration with David Lee of the Historical Publications and Information Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The documents in the volume were compiled from research into the records of the Department of Defence, the Department of External (and later Foreign) Affairs, the Department of the Treasury, the Prime Minister’s Department and the Secretary to the Cabinet. The dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 began the age of a new and terrible weapon. During the period from 1945 to 1949, when the United States was the sole nuclear-weapon state, the Chifley Government supported the idea of establishing an international control system that could give states an assurance that internationally agreed limitations and prohibitions in the nuclear field were beinguniversally observed. The concept was overtaken by the Cold War when the Soviet Union and later the People’s Republic of China also developed a nuclear capability. By the early 1960s there were five nuclear-weapon states (China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States) and the possibility that many more states would join their ranks. To limit further nuclear proliferation, a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was negotiated and opened for signature on 1 July 1968. Essentially, the treaty committed nuclear-weapon states not to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear weapon devices to non-nuclear-weapon states. It also committed non-nuclear-weapon states not to accept them and to undertake safeguards for the purpose of preventing diversion of nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons. The volume documents this history from Australia’s perspective, illuminating the internal debate about the treaty, with the Department of External Affairs pressing for the early signing of the treaty and other agencies of the Australian Government seeking to preserve the option for Australia of an independent nuclear weapon capability. After Australia signed the treaty in 1970 and ratified it in 1973, all Australian governments have since regarded it as a fundamental plank of Australian foreign and defence policy. As Minister for Foreign Affairs I am proud to affirm the government’s support for the fundamentals of the treaty and its continuation into the future. I commend this book as a valuable contribution to the history of Australian foreign and defence policy and its formulation. BOB CARR Minister for Foreign Affairs v Contents Foreword v Abbreviations xi Introduction xv Documents, 15 November 1945 – 19 October 1974 1 Appendixes Appendix I Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency 357 Appendix II Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 371 Appendix III Agreement between Australia and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in Connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 375 Appendix IV Biographical guide 400 Appendix V A guide to the records cited in this volume 425 Index of persons 431 Subject index 437 Photographs opposite page iii between pages x and y between pages x and y vii General Editor: Documents on Australian Foreign Policy David Lee Editorial Advisory Board Chairman C.R. Jones AM Members A. Capling P.G. Edwards AM M. Lake D.M. Lowe I.R. Hancock L. Piggott Representing the Prime Minister Kathy Klugman Representing the Leader of the Opposition The Hon Julie Bishop MP The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Defence and the National Archives of Australia are entitled to be represented for the purposes of consultation. ix Abbreviations Abbreviations AAEC Australian Atomic Energy Commission ACDA (United States) Arms Control and Disarmament Agency AEC (United States) Atomic Energy Commission ANF Atlantic Nuclear Force ANZAM Australia, New Zealand and Malaya ANZUS Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty A/S anti-submarine ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ATR advanced test reactor CANDU Canada Deuterium Uranium (reactor) CAS Chief of the Air Staff CGS Chief of the General Staff CNEN Comitato Nazionale per l’Energia Nucleare CNS Chief of the Naval Staff COCOM Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls CRO (United Kingdom) Commonwealth Relations Office CUD Christian Democratic Union (Federal Republic of Germany) DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ECNSW Electricity Commission of New South Wales EEC European Economic Community ENDC Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee ENEL Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica Euratom European Atomic Energy Community FBR fast breeder reactor FCO (United Kingdom) Foreign and Commonwealth Office FRG Federal Republic of Germany FRS Fellow of the Royal Society HIFAR High Flux Australian Reactor IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency ICBM intercontinental ballistic missile IRBM intermediate-range ballistic missile JAERI Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute JCS (United States) Joint Chiefs of Staff JIB Joint Intelligence Bureau JIC Joint Intelligence Committee JPC Joint Planning Committee LWR light water reactor MIRV multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle xiii Abbreviations MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Japan) MLF Multilateral Force NAA National Archives of Australia NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NPT Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty NSW New South Wales PNC Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Corporation (Japan) PNE peaceful nuclear explosion PRG Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam RCA Regional Co-operation Agreement RIKEN Physics and Chemistry Research Institute (Japan) RTZ Rio Tinto Zinc SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe SAGW surface-to-air guided weapon SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks SEATO South East Asia Treaty Organization SECV State Electricity Commission of Victoria SMA Snowy Mountains Authority SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany STA Safeguards Transfer Agreement TVA Tennessee Valley Authority UAR United Arab Republic USAEC US Atomic Energy Commission UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNGA United Nations General Assembly US(A) United States (of America) USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics xiv Introduction Introduction In February 1970, after considerable debate, the Coalition Government of John Gorton reluctantly agreed to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), two years after it had been tabled by the United States and the Soviet Union. It would be another three years before the treaty was ratified, by the Labor Government headed by GoughWhitlam. The treaty had by then divided