SEA mulls tougher nuclear rules

MANILA (AFP) - Southeast Asian nations will look at toughening security rules for atomic energy when they meet next week to review a treaty on keeping nuclear weapons out of the region, diplomats said Saturday.

With several countries looking at nuclear power to meet their energy needs, the 10-member ASEAN bloc wants to ensure atomic material and technology does not get used for non-peaceful ends, they said.

Under the wide-ranging 1997 treaty, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may not develop or test nuclear weapons and pledge not to allow ships carrying those weapons from passing through their waters.

But diplomats say it is all but impossible to monitor what ships are carrying -- the United States, for example, routinely refuses to confirm whether its ships have nuclear weapons aboard.

Now as nations look at building more civilian nuclear power plants, ASEAN wants to tighten the rules to address proliferation concerns, said Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

"We want to ensure that... the countries do not allow the exportation of certain materials which could lead to the development of nuclear power other than for peaceful purposes," he said.

ASEAN members Indonesia and Vietnam have both announced plans to build nuclear power plants in the next few years.

Romulo said the bloc would seek the expertise of the UN's atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as it mulls any new restrictions.

"The IAEA has a set of ... safeguards and so we want these safeguards to be available and we would make use of it," he said.

ASEAN foreign ministers hold talks in Manila starting Sunday ahead of next week's annual meeting of the region's main security body ARF, which groups the bloc and key partners including the EU, US, China, India and Australia.