The risk of nuclear proliferation due to the existence of

'nuclear mercenaries'

The European Parliament,

A. whereas eminent scientists from the former Soviet Union

are commuting abroad, starting with contracts as visiting

professors as a prelude to signing longer-term contracts,

B. whereas Soviet science can draw on an immense fund of

knowledge, built up through the efforts of millions of

persons, which has given rise to specializations and

skills and very high levels of know-how,

C. whereas 51% of the specialists in Moscow research

institutes wish to work abroad and 6% of them wish to

emigrate for good,

D. whereas, alongside the market in scientists, a traffic has

developed in low-grade uranium from the CIS to the Mashreq

countries, via Switzerland and Italy,

E. stressing the special responsibility of the Community in

this sphere as the main financial backer of the CIS,

particularly now that the Commission is vice-chairman of

the working party on 'Technical Assistance' set up by the

Washington Conference,

F. concerned at the number of states seeking to acquire the

capability to produce nuclear weapons,

G. particularly concerned that a large number of scientists

and technicians previously employed in military nuclear

programmes in the USSR are now unemployed or underpaid,

H. acknowledging the importance of the experience gained by

the IAEA and EURATOM,

I. whereas there is a widely recognized risk of top-rank

nuclear scientists of the former Soviet Union succumbing

to the blandishments of countries attempting to acquire or

extend a nuclear arms capacity,

1. Welcomes the decision to set up an international science

and technology centre to train and redeploy the 4000

nuclear engineers who previously worked on Soviet military

programmes, even though this may be considered inadequate;

2. Stresses that the Community is the main financial backer

of this project and regrets all the more, therefore, that

the task of establishing this centre has been left to

others;

3. Calls on the Commission to

(a) take practical steps to redirect the work of

scientists towards civilian objectives in the

sphere of basic research and the recovery of the

scientific knowledge available in the former Soviet

Union;

(b) draw up, in agreement with the Governments of the

CIS, a policy of active cooperation and exchanges

between ex-Soviet and Community research centres;

(c) urge that these scientists' skills be used to

dismantle atomic weapons and increase nuclear

security;

(d) launch an international monitoring scheme to

control and prevent trafficking in nuclear

materials;

4. Stresses the pressing need to make this centre

operational, given that a considerable number of

scientists are already employed by governments which have

not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;

5. Calls, therefore, for the authorities of the CIS to

provide guarantees that responsibility for nuclear matters

both civil and military, will not be divided up and

dispersed amongst the republics;

6. Calls on the Japanese Government to support this

initiative by contributing at least the same financial

resources as the United States and the European Community;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council, the Governments of the CIS, the

countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the United

States, the Japanese Government and the Secretary-General

of the IAEA.