POSITION PAPERS

RELATING TO

CONCERNING ISSUES

OF

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

IN

NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT 2015

WASHINGTON D.C,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Position Paper for the 4th Nuclear Security Summit 2015

The current geographical and political form of the Grand Duchy is a creation
of 19th-century diplomacy. Yet the history behind what is now known as
Luxembourg dates back much further in time. The name Lucilinburhuc, meaning
“small castle”, materialised for the first time in an exchange charter around 963.

Luxembourg became a Grand Duchy after being formed by The Congress of

Vienna in 1815. The German Confederation was dissolved in 1866, and after the 1867
Treaty of London, Prussia withdrew from the fortress and accepted Luxembourg as a
neutral country. It territory split into two in 1939. Half of it been given to Belgium in
1839, but the Treaty of London was confirmed Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as
sovereign and in personal union to the king of the Netherlands in the same year.
Luxembourg full independence was attained in 1867.

Twenty years following the split, the Feierwôn, a patriotic song composed to
celebrate the inauguration of the railway, declared: “Mir wëlle bleiwewat mir sin”
(“We want to remain what we are”). It became a true national song. A different song,
however, Ons Hémecht (“Our homeland”), was adopted as the official national
anthem and performed for the first time in public in 1864. Ons Hémecht is a poem by
Michel Lentz, set to music by Jean-Antoine Zinnen. The rise of Luxembourg
literature from the mid-19th century onwards, with its principal authors Michel Lentz
(1820-1893), Edmond de la Fontaine, better known as Dicks (1823-1891), and Michel
Rodange (1827-1876), also bore witness to the development of a national conscience.

The Second World War brought with it a reorientation of Luxembourg’s

foreign policy. By taking part in the effort of the war alongside the Allies,
Luxembourg abandoned its status of neutrality and ensured its place within the

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |2

international community that formed after 1945. The Grand Duchy was a founding
member of all the multilateral cooperation institutions of the post-war period: the
Organisation of the United Nations, Benelux, the Organisation for European
Economic Co-operation (OEEC), the Brussels Pact, the Council of Europe, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). However, the decisive opening up of the
country took place within the framework of European unification. It was possibly no
coincidence that the historic initiative of uniting Europeans came from Robert
Schuman, a French minister for Foreign Affairs born in Luxembourg of a French
father and a Luxembourgish mother. The education he received in both cultures
provided him with the groundwork for the great task of French-German
reconciliation. When Schuman launched his plan outlining the creation of a European
Coal and Steel Community(ECSC) in 1950, Luxembourg was directly involved. With
great skill, its diplomats succeeded in securing the provisional seat of the High
Authority of the ECSC in Luxembourg City in 1952. The creation of the ECSC placed
the main resource of the Grand Duchy, namely its steel industry, under the control of
a supranational authority. This represented a risk, but also an opportunity for
Luxembourg, since its significant steel production made it become a fully-fledged
member of the Community bodies. In 1957, alongside France, Germany, Italy,
Belgium and the Netherlands, Luxembourg was a signatory of the Treaties of Rome,
which founded the European Economic community (EEC) and regulated the use of
nuclear energy (Euratom). During negotiations, the government managed to have the
principle of equity in law of all the states accepted, even the smallest, and to obtain
direct representation in the European institutions (European Commission, Council of
Ministers, etc.). The 1965 treaty merging the executive bodies of the different
Communities consolidated the position of Luxembourg City as one of the three
capitals of Europe, alongside Brussels and Strasbourg. The capital of the Grand
Duchy became home to important Community institutions the Secretariat of the
European Parliament, the Court of Justice, the European Investment Bank, various
services of the European Commission, the European Court of Auditors, the
Publications Office, etc. To accommodate these institutions, the Luxembourg
government established a European district on the Kirchberg plateau.

In January 2013, Luxembourg assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN

Security Council for the 2013 – 2014 term.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |3

 GENERAL VIEW ABOUT NUCLEAR ENERGY

In the early 1960s the search for peaceful applications of nuclear energy had
brought advances in the technology of nuclear reactors for the generation of electric
power. By 1966 such nuclear reactors were operating or under construction in five
countries. It was estimated that by 1985 more than 300 nuclear power reactors would
be operating, under construction, or on order. Nuclear reactors produce not only
power, but plutonium -- a fissionable material which can be chemically separated and
used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. By 1985 it was estimated that the
quantity of plutonium being produced worldwide would make possible the
construction of 15 to 20 nuclear bombs daily, depending upon the level of the
technology employed.

LUXEMBOURG POSSESION ON NUCLEAR

During energy crisis in 1970s, Luxembourg also got the impact as well. The
crisis made Luxembourg considered to establish nuclear power plant. During the
construction of nuclear power plant, Luxembourg received little support and also
being opposed by public. Finally, in 1977 the construction project was stopped. Until
today, Luxembourg has had a non-nuclear matters policy and does not have a nuclear
power programme. However we have a public body in charge of nuclear matters: The
Division de Radioprotecion Department of the Minister of Health which assumes the
major responbility for nuclear matters in collaboration with other government
department such as Work and Mines Department. Nowadays Luxembourg belongs to
the Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Nuclear Receptor Society (BNL-NR), an
association which tries to coordinate all Nuclear Receptor researches within the
Benelux countries.

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 PURPOSE ON PARTICIPATING THE SUMMIT

Expectation
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg attends the Nuclear Security Summit in hope of not
to support any form of nuclear weapon to maintain the stability and the security of
each state, due to the presence of nuclear weapons national security would be
compromised.

Visions
Construct peaceful countries without sacrificing public welfare for nuclear weapon.

Missions
 To stabilize national security that nuclear is not used as a weapon
 Nuclear exist only for peaceful purposes rather than as a tool of war
 The use of nuclear energy safety should be highly considered, because as
basically a nuclear has ingredients that are harmful or have fatal impact to
humans.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |5

 CONCERNING ISSUE

In 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by atomic bomb developed

by Manhattan Project. Before the bomb launched, President of US had already
informed regarding the dangers of atomic technology. But the US kept proceed the
atomic project. The news of the success of Manhattan Project spread worldwide and
brought the world into nuclear age. The other countries such us USSR started to
develop similiar technology. Atomic technology as alternative energy indeed brings
many advantages but on the other side like the case above, nuclear as a weapon could
bring catasthrope to the entire world. Atomic technology mainly nuclear development
is like develop capacity to destroy our own existance.
Regarding to this concerning issue, our country Luxembourg have been
through dangerous and uncertain situation caused by nuclear plant which belongs to
France. It was Cattenom power plant located in the Lorraine region near Luxembourg
region. The plant, which consists of four pressurised water reactors, went online in
1986 and remains one of France’s most productive nuclear reactors. But a series of
accidents, which last year culminated in the deaths of two workers, have brought
renewed demands for its early closure from France’s neighbours and provoked
demonstrations by anti-nuclear groups. The leakage of hydrochloric acid from
France's trouble-plagued Cattenom nuclear plant motivated countries nearby like
German and our countries Luxembourg to demand the closure of French’s nuclear
power plant. Luxembourg Parliament unanimously adopted a motion last year stating
that Cattenom "threatens the sovereignty and sustainability of the Luxembourg
nation," and demanding "the strengthening of government action to attain its
permanent closure”. To protect our citizens from Cattenom’s effect, we took
unprecedented step of spreading iodine pills to half a million citizens to protect them
from serious incident at power plant.
Nuclear as we see from two different sides, which the first side who has
nuclear power we will see it as detterence power to prevent war between countries,
but the other side we will see it as never-ending tension of insecurity which somehow
could cause destruction to other countries. The proliferation of nuclear power could
also trigger the missperceiving between states about it’s purpose on developing
nuclear power in their countries.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |6

 WHAT IS EXPECTED

The Future Goals

Nuclear weapon is one of the many weapons that will harm the world civilization.
Luxembourg hope with the Nuclear Security Summit will be result as world peace
without nuclear misuse and high level of security in the use of nuclear.

What has been done

 Hosting International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe
from 2007 – 2014
 Participated, signed and ratifies in Convention on the Physical Protection of
Nuclear Material (1991-10-06).
 Participated, signed and ratifies in Convention on Nuclear Safety (1997-07-
06).
 Ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty in 26 May 1999
 Participated, signed and ratified in Convention on Early Notification of a
Nuclear Accident (2000-10-27).
 Participated, signed and ratifies in Convention on Assistance in the Case of a
Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (2000-10-27).
 Participated, signed and ratifies in Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent
Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
(2001-11-19)

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |7

 LUXEMBOURG PLAN FOR THE POSSIBLE
AGENDA SETTING AND BLUEPRINT

In spite of our nation does not have nuclear power plant but we do put
our concern about the safety and security of nuclear power plant in another countries
regarding Luxembourg has been through incident with France’s nuclear power plant
and put our citizens in dangerous situation. For achieving desired nuclear peace, we
will elaborate Luxembourg measured plan an adapt it in our processes. Also we put
our concern on the spread of nuclear raw materials that could lead to various situation
of nuclear possesion. Luxembourg expecting all countries will cooperate to safeguard
the world from nuclear terrorism and together as the citizen of the world strive for the
desired nuclear peace.
Our nation aim to create the possible draft agenda setting which contain
the following issue :
 Cooperate with allies in striving to eradicate utilization nuclear power as
weapon and resist Nuclear Terrorism.
 Oversee the use of nuclear energy, restrict the allowance only for peaceful
purposes and also cooperate with nuclear regulatory agencies such as IAEA.
 Hinder the nuclear weapons being deployed and the spread of nuclear raw
material which can lead to various situation of nuclear possesions.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |8

 LUXEMBOURG – UNITED STATES
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONSHIP

In 1867, Luxembourg gained full independence from the Netherlands, and was
guaranteed perpetual neutrality by European powers.
The United States established diplomatic relations with Luxembourg in 1903.
Luxembourg was occupied by Germany in World War I and World War II, and was
liberated by forces that included U.S. troops. The final toll of World War II was high:
as a result of the armed conflict and the Nazi terror, Luxembourg suffered 5,700
deaths, accounting for approximately 2 % of the total population. The immediate
post-war period was characterized by reconstruction. Thanks to the American aid
received as part of the Marshall Plan, significant progress was achieved in terms of
modernisation and infrastructure.
Luxembourg is a longstanding ally of the United States. The friendship
between the two countries is strengthened by a shared commitment to advancing
freedom and prosperity. Luxembourg has long been a prominent supporter of
European political and economic integration. It is a charter member of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is one of the founding members of what
became the European Union (EU).
U.S. Assistance to Luxembourg
The United States provides no development assistance to Luxembourg.
Bilateral Economic Relations
Luxembourg is a member of the European Union (EU). The U.S. economic
relationship with the EU is the largest and most complex in the world, and the United
States and the EU continue to pursue initiatives to create new opportunities for
transatlantic commerce.
U.S. exports to Luxembourg include commercial aircraft and
information and communications technology equipment. Luxembourg also purchases
U.S. services and intellectual property, such as medical research and entertainment.
U.S. firms are among the most prominent foreign investors in Luxembourg. The
country is a major financial center in Europe, and U.S. banks have a significant
presence. Luxembourg participates in the Visa Waiver Program, which allows
nationals of participating countries to travel to the United States for certain business
or tourism purposes for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

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