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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
In this report from Washington, Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at Egypt's nuclear program and its stance on chemical weapons. With Egypt's political future still in limbo1, analysts3 question whether Cairo's policy of not seeking nuclear weapons will remain in place.
Egypt's Nuclear Legacy4
Egypt has two nuclear research reactors5 located at Inshas, near Cairo. They are used for peaceful purposes, such as medical research and nuclear engineering experiments.
But analysts agree that Egypt sought to acquire a nuclear weapons capability6 back in the 1960s. Former Defense7 Department official James Russell, who is now with the Naval8 Postgraduate9 School in Monterey, California says interest in building a nuclear capability or developing an indigenous10 peaceful nuclear program ended during the presidency11 of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
"Nasser realized the deep financial costs that are going to be required and he also realized the political costs that would accrue12 from an Egypt developing a nuclear program," said Russell. "And so all these projects were canceled after the [Six Day] 1967 war. And then in 1968, Egypt signs the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty [NPT]. And since then the Sadat government ratifies13 the NPT in February 1981. And in 1982, they have a safeguards agreement, a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]."
Analyst2 Mark Fitzpatrick, from London's International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), says Egypt does not have the most modern technologies that could be used to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons.
"The issue is, though, that Egypt conducted some experiments in plutonium separation that they did not notify the IAEA in accordance with their safeguards agreement and it later came out and the IAEA did an investigation," noted14 Fitzpatrick. "And most of that was cleared up, but there are some remaining questions. And most recently, some highly-enriched uranium particles were discovered by the IAEA and I think they are still investigating the source of that. That all has not yet come out in IAEA reporting, so there is some small cloud hanging over Egypt's nuclear program. I am not saying they are going for nuclear weapons, but they did some things that were not fully15 in accordance with the rules."
Fitzpatrick says the plutonium experiments were conducted during the past couple of decades and came to light about six or seven years ago. And the evidence concerning the highly-enriched uranium particles was disclosed in the media within the last two years.
Egypt, Iraq and WMDs
On another issue, some analysts, including James Russell, say there have been reports of Egyptians in the 1980s helping16 Iraq with its chemical weapons research.
"There were also rumors17 of the Egyptians being involved in building a chemical plant that could possibly have made items that were used for chemical munitions," added Russell. "But again, I don't think that there is any assessment18 out there today that suggests that the Egyptians are engaged in research or really have any interest in developing chemical weapons."
And Russell says Egypt does not have the necessary industrial base in the chemical sector19 to build chemical weapons.
"The truth of the matter is that almost all countries around the world - the United States and Russia included - everyone has come to the conclusion that these are not just terribly militarily useful weapons, or that it is a technology which really has limited use in the military arena," Russell explained.
Post Mubarak Concens
Some experts have questioned whether a government replacing President Hosni Mubarak might reconsider some of Cairo's policies on weapons of mass destruction.
"In the chemical and nuclear arenas20, the costs to the Egyptians of attempting such programs are significant," added Russell. "And it just seems to me that any political leadership in Egypt, whatever its character, is going to have to look at these costs. And they are a strong discouragement to them moving down this path to sort of reconsidering the decisions which have been looked at by previous political leadership. I just do not see it."
Analysts say given Cairo's leadership in the Middle East, it is essential that Egypt remains21 free of weapons of mass destruction to guarantee stability in that part of the world.
1 limbo | |
n.地狱的边缘;监狱 | |
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2 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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3 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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4 legacy | |
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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5 reactors | |
起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 ); 反应装置; 原子炉; 核反应堆 | |
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6 capability | |
n.能力;才能;(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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7 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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8 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
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9 postgraduate | |
adj.大学毕业后的,大学研究院的;n.研究生 | |
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10 indigenous | |
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的 | |
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11 presidency | |
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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12 accrue | |
v.(利息等)增大,增多 | |
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13 ratifies | |
v.批准,签认(合约等)( ratify的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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15 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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16 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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17 rumors | |
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷 | |
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18 assessment | |
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额 | |
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19 sector | |
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形 | |
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20 arenas | |
表演场地( arena的名词复数 ); 竞技场; 活动或斗争的场所或场面; 圆形运动场 | |
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21 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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