05 May 2003
Moscow Treaty Cuts Top List of U.S. Non-Proliferation Treaty Support
(Fissile material disposal, cooperative threat reductions also key)
(730)
The U.S. Mission in Geneva has issued the following May 5 fact sheet
on U.S. policies and its actions in support of Article VI of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT):
(begin fact sheet)
U.S. ACTIONS AND POLICIES
IN SUPPORT OF ITS
NPT ARTICLE VI OBLIGATIONS
RELATED TO NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
FACT SHEET
MOSCOW TREATY
-- Reductions under START Treaty {Strategic Arms Reductions) completed
December 2001. Level went from 10,000 U.S. strategic warheads to less
than 6,000.
-- Moscow Treaty reduces to 1,700-2,200 by December 31, 2012 -- the
lowest level in decades. Senate approved March 6.
-- U.S. reductions have already begun. 50 Peacekeeper missiles to be
deactivated in next two years. Two Trident missile submarines have
been removed from strategic service; two more to follow.
-- Warheads removed from operational service will be stored, disabled
and not available for quick redeployment, or retired/dismantled.
Spares are needed if a warhead is found to be unreliable/unsafe.
-- Under START and Moscow Treaty, U.S. will have eliminated or
decommissioned more than three-quarters of its strategic nuclear
warheads over two decades.
FISSILE MATERIAL
-- U.S. has dismantled more than 13,000 nuclear weapons over the past
15 years. Dismantling continues.
-- U.S. has not produced fissile material for nuclear weapons for more
than a decade.
-- U.S. supports a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty that would advance
U.S. national security. This Treaty would ban new production of
fissile material for nuclear weapons.
-- U.S.-Russian 1997 Plutonium [Production] Reactor Agreement codified
the shutdown of 24 plutonium production reactors. Recent amendment
calls for shutdown of last 3 Russian reactors.
-- U.S. and Russia will dispose of more than 700 tons of excess
fissile material so that it is no longer useable in nuclear weapons.
Contributes to irreversibility of nuclear reductions. This quantity
could be used to manufacture more than 30,000 nuclear weapons.
-- For example, more than 170 tons of Russian weapons-grade uranium
has been converted under a 1993 agreement to peaceful uses. U.S. has
identified 174 tons for this purpose.
-- A 2000 U.S.-Russian agreement calls for each side to dispose of 34
tons each of excess plutonium.
COOPERATIVE THREAT REDUCTION
-- Since 1992, U.S. has provided $8.2 billion in nonproliferation and
threat reduction assistance in the former Soviet Union.
-- U.S. has helped eliminate almost 900 ballistic missiles, over 100
strategic bombers, and nearly 50 ballistic missile submarines.
-- U.S. has assisted in removing nuclear weapons from Kazakhstan,
Ukraine and Belarus.
-- U.S. is working at more than 850 institutes to redirect former
Soviet scientists working on weapons of mass destruction to civilian
programs.
-- U.S. has export control assistance programs in more than 30
countries that involve training and providing equipment.
-- G8 Global Partnership pledged up to $20 billion over next 10 years
for nonproliferation, disarmament, counterterrorism and nuclear
safety. Priorities include CW [chemical warfare] destruction and
plutonium disposition in Russia.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY
-- U.S. is reducing reliance on nuclear weapons. Placing more emphasis
on conventional deterrence and missile defense.
-- U.S. is not developing, testing or producing any nuclear warheads
and has not done so in more than a decade.
-- There is no current requirement for a new nuclear warhead; the
President has not directed such an action.
-- U.S. maintains its moratorium on nuclear testing. It has no plans
to conduct nuclear tests.
-- We do not target any countries with nuclear weapons. There has been
no change in U.S. negative security assurances policy toward NPT
parties.
NON-STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS (NSNW)
-- The total of U.S. NSNW has been reduced nearly 90 percent. In
January 2003 U.S. completed dismantling of all NSNW under the 1991
Presidential Nuclear Initiative.
-- Nuclear weapons have been removed from the Army and Marines Corps,
as well as from the surface and air components of the Navy.
-- The only remaining U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe are gravity
bombs, the numbers of which have been greatly reduced.
-- NATO has considerably reduced its reliance on nuclear weapons.
Alert status of delivery aircraft lengthened to months.
-- U.S. committed to pursuit of transparency on NSNW. Issue has been
discussed with Russia in bilateral consultative group established at
Moscow Summit, and within NATO-Russia Council.
(end fact sheet)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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