Building a Nuclear Security Regime: Questions to Be Asked

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter outlines some of the key questions to be asked by a State when considering a nuclear programme and thus a nuclear security regime. In the context of globalization and the emergence of a world in which States are interdependent, it is recognized that the way one State carries out its mission to protect nuclear materials and nuclear activities concerns other States also. In response to this, and despite the reluctance of States to expose their sovereign security practices, an international framework, composed of legally binding or non-binding tools, has been built up with the idea of promoting greater consistency and thus providing guarantees to all States. It is also important, for this one State, to comprehend the national and international context beyond nuclear security within which it falls. This State has then to question itself, in the light of security issues and the fundamental principle of State sovereignty, on the essential concepts that are found in certain components of the nuclear field, such as the positioning of the competent authority, the protection of information, transparency or the place of the operator.