Brief Description of the Project

A nuclear vendors’ code of conduct is being developed by the nuclear industry in conjunction with the IAEA infrastructure and the non proliferation policy community.  The vendors’ code of conduct will establish minimum standards of conduct for vendors in relation to material security, liability issues, etc.  This agenda is important, its implementation being a necessary but not sufficient condition for a safe, secure, and sustainable nuclear power industry in a developing country.  This project will complement the vendors’ code of conduct by developing a buyers’ code of conduct.  In the buyers’ code, issues such as transparency of decision-making, corruption and financing arrangements, educational infrastructure and adequate human resources, social, economic, and environmental considerations such as siting, waste disposition, community consultation, and sound economic analysis will be covered. 

This set of issues overlaps with but also is wider than those covered by the vendor draft code.  The concept is to have the buyers’ code of conduct developed in concert with the nuclear industry, the IAEA, and governmental experts, but for it to be promulgated, monitored, and verified by civil society organizations.  The code would begin in Southeast Asia (the only likely growth market for nuclear power in the near-term), with a view that it could be adopted by or in ASEAN states at the outset, and later be globalized.   The project will commence with a set of expert studies, a drafting task force for a draft code, and a regional workshop of Southeast (buyer) and Northeast (vendor) participants from the different sectors.  

This project is thus a pan-sub-regional project in ASI terms.  It would be implemented by Nautilus Australia and Nautilus-ARI in Seoul.

Links to all partner websites are available at the HD Centre web page.

Established in mid-2007, this project undertakes a range of practical and policy related activities to stimulate debate and decision-making to reduce armed violence, the ill-disciplined use of weapons by a range of actors and strengthening local security provision. It aims to complement the peace facilitation efforts of the HD Centre in the southern Philippines. To date this project has been supported by the Government of Norway.