Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
5/8/2015
A senior U.S. diplomat defended ongoing efforts to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex late last week at the 2015 Review Conference (RevCon) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, saying such efforts could help advance some disarmament goals. “Modernization of our nuclear enterprise will over time allow for still greater reductions in the number of weapons we retain in reserve as a hedge,” Amb. Robert Wood said. Also in his remarks at last week’s meeting, Wood called on all states to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. “In the multilateral domain, the United States has observed a moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992, and we will continue to pursue ratification of the CTBT. We further call on all states to refrain from nuclear explosive testing and to sign and ratify the Treaty if they have not yet done so.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, though, criticized the efforts by the United States and other countries to modernize their nuclear weapons capabilities. "Instead of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in force or a treaty banning the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, we see expensive modernization programmes that will entrench nuclear weapons for decades to come," Ban said through remarks delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson.
P5 Urge CTBT Ratification
The group of the top five nuclear weapons states under the NPT—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China (known as the P5)— also issued a joint statement seeking to reaffirm its commitment to the NPT and CTBT. “We urge all states that have not done so to sign and ratify the Treaty as soon as possible to bring about its entry into force,” the statement reads. “We take this opportunity to reaffirm our own moratoria on nuclear weapons-test explosions or any other nuclear explosions pending the CTBT’s entry into force, and call on other states to do likewise.”
To date, 36 of 44 “Annex 2” states for the CTBT have ratified the treaty since its 1996 inception. Of the P5, China and the United States have not ratified the treaty. Both countries became signatories in 1996. Iran, Israel, North Korea, Egypt, India and Pakistan also must ratify the treaty before it enters into force. “We further note that nuclear stockpile maintenance programs are and will remain consistent with NPT obligations,” the P5 statement reads. “We emphasize the very substantial efforts made in achieving the cessation of the nuclear arms race as called for in Article VI of the NPT and affirm our intention never to resume such an arms race.”
Russian and U.S. Perspectives
In written remarks delivered at last week’s meeting, Russian diplomat Mikhail Uliyanov said the CTBT’s nearly 20-year idleness affects international relations, and touted Russia’s ratification of the agreement in 2000. In the P5 statement, the group also pointed out its contributions to the CTBT’s on-site inspection element, involving the supply of personnel, equipment and research. “We also call for all signatories to support efforts to complete the necessary preparation for the effective implementation of the CTBT’s verification regime on its entry into force,” the statement reads. U.S. officials have trumpeted State Department contributions to the CTBT Organization as well. During a September speech at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted that the U.S. had given more than $40 million above its assessment for the treaty’s budget the previous two years.
