Scientists' Letter on Exporting Nuclear Material
September 25, 2003
The Honorable W.J. "Billy" Tauzin
Chairman
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
2183 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
We are writing to urge you to reject a provision in the draft energy bill (Section 34 of the nuclear title, "Medical Isotope Production") that would seriously weaken export controls on highly enriched uranium (HEU), the easiest material in the world for terrorists to use to make a nuclear bomb.
In his United Nations speech, President Bush warned that terrorists with weapons of mass destruction could "bring sudden disaster and suffering on a scale we can scarcely imagine," and called on all countries to enact strict export controls on materials that could be used to make such weapons. Surely, given the President's call, now is not the time to weaken our own restrictions on export of potential terrorist bomb material.
Existing law limiting U.S. HEU exports (Section 134 of the Atomic Energy Act, known as the "Schumer Amendment") has been on the books for more than a decade, and there is no evidence that it has interfered in any way with the supply of medical isotopes in the past, or that it will suddenly begin to do so in the future. The law as it stands allows continued export of HEU to producers of medical isotopes, as long as they agree to convert to low-enriched uranium (which cannot be used as the core of a nuclear bomb) when it becomes technically and economically possible to do so, and cooperate with us to bring that day closer. We strongly believe that this law has served our country well for more than ten years, drastically reducing commerce in potential bomb material while ensuring continued supplies of needed medicines, and that this is the right policy to maintain for the future. Further details can be found in the attached letter, which a number of us and others sent to the Senate in June of this year.
If enacted, the provision in question would allow foreign companies to receive U.S. HEU for use in medical isotope production "targets" without having to commit to converting to low-enriched uranium targets when feasible. This would perpetuate commerce in HEU by crippling U.S. efforts to wean foreign isotope producers from their dependence on this dangerous material. The provision would also effectively allow retransfers of U.S.-origin HEU to any nation in the European Union, a club that will likely grow over the next several years to include the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and Bulgaria—countries that already possess poorly secured stockpiles of HEU.
The American public is depending on Congress to do all it can to reduce the threat of a catastrophic nuclear terrorist attack. Keeping our own nuclear weapon materials out of terrorist hands is an obvious and simple first step. We urge you to take this step by rejecting the medical isotope provision in the energy bill.
Sincerely,
(in alphabetical order)
Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Victor Gilinsky, Former Commissioner, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Fred C. Iklé, Undersecretary of Defense (Policy) in the Reagan Administration; Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the Ford Administration; Member, Defense Policy Board
Alan Kuperman, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University; Senior Policy Analyst, Nuclear Control Institute
Edwin S. Lyman, Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists
Henry S. Rowen, Professor of Public Policy and Management Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University; Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs) in the George H. Bush Administration; Member, Defense Policy Board
Henry Sokolski, Executive Director, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
Frank von Hippel, Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
cc. Energy Bill Conferees
