Non-Proliferation

Nuclear testing.
Atomic bomb explosion in the Marshall Islands. National Archives.

RECENT ANALYSIS

Jan 11, 2012
UNSCR 1540 & the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit: A View From Seoul
The Republic of Korea (ROK) has been and remains a staunch supporter of the global nonproliferation regime as it borders a grave security threat and proliferator of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). With the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit just months away, the Republic of Korea should be more interested in enhancing UNSCR 1540, not only as the Summit Chair but against the backdrop of a “Global Korea” policy and the nation’s growing prominence in the nuclear energy industry.
Jan 6, 2012
Where Nuclear Safety and Security Meet
A Fukushima-like nuclear accident does not have to be caused by nature. Similar results could be wrought by a dedicated terrorist group that gained access to a nuclear power plant and disabled its safety systems. To guard against natural accidents, terrorist sabotage, and possible combinations of these two classes of events, nuclear plant operators and regulators should consider a combined approach called nuclear safety-security.
Dec 16, 2011
Energy and Water Conference Agreement Protects Nuclear Material Security Programs, Begins to Reduce Bloated Nuclear Weapons Budget
The final conference agreement on the FY 2012 Energy and Water bill keeps the goal to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years on track and begins to responsibly scale back the nuclear weapons budget, writes Kingston Reif in this new analysis.
See more articles »

Kingston Reif

CENTER EXPERT

Kingston Reif

Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation
202-546-0795 ext.2103
kreif AT armscontrolcenter DOT org

Duyeon Kim

Deputy Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation
202-546-0795
dkim AT armscontrolcenter DOT org

Non Proliferation Funding Resource Center

Since entering into force in 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the NPT, has remained the cornerstone of the international nonproliferation regime. In creating a system of mutual responsibilities and an international taboo against the use or threat to use nuclear weapons, the NPT has proven largely successful in stemming proliferation.

But the nonproliferation regime faces new challenges: insufficient protections against the theft or sale of various nuclear materials in states of the former Soviet Union; nuclear black market activity such as the network operated by A.Q. Khan out of Pakistan; threats by North Korea to share nuclear technology with states or non-state actors hostile to the U.S.; and, most recently, violations of IAEA nuclear safeguard standards by Iran, a signatory of the NPT which is pursuing technology for producing nuclear materials as part of a possible quest for a nuclear bomb.

The threat of nuclear terrorism is producing additional challenges to the NPT regime, particularly in the areas of securing and safeguarding nuclear weapons material, as is a pending agreement between the U.S. and India to share peaceful nuclear technology. The U.S.-India deal challenges the legitimacy of the NPT because it would not require India to join the NPT or to undertake any of the disarmament commitments that the P-5 agreed to.

Many experts agree that some type of nonproliferation regime reform is necessary, particularly since certain states have interpreted the NPT as allowing them to acquire nuclear technologies that take them to the brink of acquiring an actual nuclear weapon without explicitly violating the treaty, sometimes referred to as a "breakout capability." Withdrawing from the NPT also carries no penalty, save possible ad hoc action taken by the U.N. Security Council.

Jun 1, 2011 John Isaacs: Nuclear Arms Control Prospects

John Isaacs speaks at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs on the prospects for nuclear arms control over the next 18 months.

Unless nuclear proliferation challenges are effectively addressed and until nuclear weapon states achieve further progress on their disarmament commitments, the future strength of the NPT regime remains in question.