Aukus nuclear submarine loophole for Australia leads to proliferation fears

‘Paragraph 14’ in non-proliferation treaty used to transfer material and technology to Australia, making it easier for others to say they should be allowed same, experts say

It would also be better, they say, to use not highly-enriched but low-enriched uranium, which is not suitable for weapons, and is used by Chinese and French submarines

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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a naval base in California, where the new Aukus submarine plan was announced. Photo: dpa

Published: 8:00pm, 15 Mar 2023Updated: 9:26pm, 15 Mar 2023

The detailed proposal released this week on Australia’s plan to become the first non-nuclear weapon state to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, as part of the Aukus alliance agreement, has shone a spotlight on nuclear proliferation.

The joint announcement by Australia, the United States and Britain on Monday is the first time that parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology – have used a loophole in the pact to transfer missile material and technology from a nuclear weapon state to a non-nuclear weapon state.

Under the agreement, Australia will not have a reactor for training purposes on its territory. Instead, it will train its submariners in the US and Britain ahead of its acquisition of the underwater vessels in the coming decades. It will also not enrich or reprocess spent nuclear fuel, which would make it usable in a weapon.

The fissile material, provided by the US and UK, will come in welded units that do not have to be refuelled in their lifetime. Australia will be responsible for handling the nuclear waste.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Tuesday reported that the arrangement makes use of a loophole in the NPT – particularly paragraph 14 – which allows “fissile material utilised for non-explosive military use, like naval propulsion, to be exempt from inspections and monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)”.

Nuclear proliferation experts who spoke to This Week in Asia said there were concerns – despite Canberra’s repeated assurances that it does not seek nuclear weapons – about the transfer of fissile material. This would not be the case if Aukus submarines instead used low-enriched uranium, the basic material needed to make nuclear fuel.