S8 Ep813: "The Myth of Inalienable Enrichment Rights." GUEST: Henry Sokolski Henry Sokolski discusses the UN review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, arguing that an "inalienable right" to enrich fissile material is imaginary and poses risks.
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
"The Myth of Inalienable Enrichment Rights." GUEST: Henry Sokolski Henry Sokolski discusses the UN review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, arguing that an "inalienable right" to enrich fissile material is imaginary and poses risks.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Conversation with colleague Henry Sikolsky, I'm John Batchel, about the meetings at the UN for weeks now |
| 0:08.4 | over the review of the Nonproliferation Treaty in effect since 1970. This is the sixth review every five years. |
| 0:18.2 | What is important here is the debate over enrichment, the ability to enrich |
| 0:22.4 | fissile material. Do you have the right as a signatory of the NPT? No, you do not, and Henry explains why. |
| 0:32.5 | Non-proliferation treaty being reviewed, is there an inalienable right to enrich fissile material or into fissile |
| 0:42.8 | material for a bomb? That includes the ability to take the spent rods out of a reactor and turn it |
| 0:50.0 | into plutonium for a bomb. Here's Henry. Much more tonight, much more in coming weeks. |
| 0:56.9 | This week in the opening, Christopher Yaw, who is the Assistant Secretary of State responsible |
| 1:02.6 | for non-pliferation issues, spoke and said, the Iranians have a lot of brass and galls to think |
| 1:08.9 | that they have a right to enrich. |
| 1:12.1 | He says there is no inalienable right to enrich. |
| 1:14.9 | It does not exist. |
| 1:16.1 | It is imaginary. |
| 1:17.7 | Now, missing in much of this is any explanation, certainly in the American case, as to why there is no inhalable right. |
| 1:30.3 | You know, I am certainly somebody who's listened to professors decades ago, |
| 1:39.7 | some of whom are no longer with us, make the case that the reason there can't be an |
| 1:46.3 | nailable right to make nuclear fuel is you cannot inspect it and have a reliable signal |
| 1:54.4 | of a possible diversion early enough to prevent the diversion from resulting in a bomb. |
| 2:00.6 | By the time... |
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