Nobel Peace Prize Address: Nukes Should Be As Repugnant As Slavery

From: Reuters By John Acher and James Kilner

The world should work to make nuclear weapons as universally condemned as slavery or genocide, UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday after receiving the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the world had 27,000 nuclear warheads and "to me, that is 27,000 warheads too many."

"The hard part is how do we create an environment in which nuclear weapons -- like slavery or genocide -- are regarded as a taboo and a historical anomaly?" ElBaradei, an Egyptian, said in his acceptance speech.

Announced as laureates in October, ElBaradei and the IAEA shared the Peace Prize for their work to prevent the spread of nuclear arms and promote the safe use of atomic power in a year marking the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
ElBaradei and IAEA Board of Governors Chairman Yukiya Amano of Japan received gold medals and Nobel diplomas at a ceremony at Oslo City Hall to applause from about 1,000 guests.

ElBaradei urged a halt to proliferation of nuclear arms and disarmament by the "eight or nine" states that now have them. "We must ensure -- absolutely that no more countries acquire nuclear weapons," he said, adding: "We must see to it that nuclear weapon states take concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament."