Abstract
This essay enumerates several opportunities for cooperation on nuclear issues— including document exchanges, visits, and exchanges of technical information— that could ease tensions arising from the rapid growth of nuclear activities in the region. Implicit in these suggestions is the belief that nuclear cooperation can help build regional experience in cooperative mechanisms that may be helpful in solving non-nuclear problems as well.
Various cooperative measures could help reduce concerns about nonproliferation, nuclear safety, and environmental protection. As discussed below, information showing that reactors or nuclear materials are adequately protected could bolster confidence regarding nonproliferation compliance. Information showing that reactor operators are adequately trained, that safe procedures are routinely followed, and that reactor output is stable can all help build confidence in safety. Finally, environmental measurements at nuclear facilities or throughout the region could be exchanged to show that radioactive emissions are within prescribed limits; technical exchanges on the measurement technologies themselves could help establish environmental credibility, even without the exchange of actual data. Some of the data exchanges noted below could address more than one concern: environmental protection may be another aspect of reactor safety, for example. Following a brief survey of East Asia’s nuclear industries, the essay describes these and other cooperative opportunities in more detail.
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