US proposes nuclear fissile material treaty ban

GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) The United States today presented a draft global treaty aimed at banning production of nuclear bomb-making fissile material, although it would leave existing stockpiles untouched.

Stephen Rademaker, acting assistant US secretary in the bureau of international security and non-proliferation, outlined the proposal in a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, which is backed by the United Nations.

The conference has been deadlocked for years over the issue, but the search for a breakthrough has intensified because of mounting international concern over Iran and North Korea's nuclear programmes.

''The treaty text that we are putting forward contains the essential provisions that would comprise a successful, legally binding Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT),'' Rademaker told the Geneva forum.

''Our draft treaty has a straight-forward scope. It bans, after entry into force, the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices,'' he added.

Production of fissile material for non-explosive purposes, such as for naval propulsion, would not be prohibited, he said.

The 65-member state forum is holding a special session to try to kick-start negotiations to prevent production of highly-enriched uranium and plutonium.

Negotiations -- seen as the next step in global nuclear disarmament -- began briefly in 1998.

It is unclear whether today's proposal will be enough to start substantive negotiations and end wrangling over the scope of the talks.

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT But they quickly broke down due to arguments including the scope of a future treaty and whether it should cover existing stocks and have a verification regime to check against cheating. Developing countries want the talks widened to include total nuclear disarmament. China and others have also been pressing for parallel negotiations to prevent an arms race in outer space, something which the United States has been resisting.

Rademaker accused Iran ''even today'' of failing to cooperate with an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into its nuclear programme. He also bluntly warned North Korea against transferring nuclear weapons or testing nuclear weapons or missiles.

The five official nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have formally opposed including existing stocks in the negotiations. The Bush administration has also opposed including a verification or inspection regime.

The US official reaffirmed that existing stocks would be ''unaffected'' by the treaty.

The US draft does not include provisions for verification, but states who ratify the future treaty would have primary responsibility for their own compliance, he said.

''Inspections would expose any past production of fissile material. The US doesn't want inspections, probably because it is trying to protect Israel,'' one diplomatic source said.

India and Pakistan -- which have carried out underground nuclear explosions -- as well as Israel -- which neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear capability -- are conference members.

The US delegation presented the outlines of its treaty to Western diplomats yesterday ahead of Rademaker's speech.

''A draft treaty represents a new element and also marks an interest by the Bush administration in multilateral negotiations -- something we are no longer used to,'' a diplomatic source told Reuters.

REUTERS