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1 Pavel Podvig, Practical Steps towards Transparency of Nuclear Arsenals 1 (2012)

handle is hein.unl/stenuar0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Practical Steps towards Transparency of Nuclear Arsenals J an a ry2 012 Pavel Podvig WMD Programme Lead, UNIDIR Nuclear disarmament is one the key elements of the nuclear non-proliferation regime established by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Article VI of the Treaty explicitly commits all states to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament. The number of nuclear weapons has indeed been dramatically reduced-it was estimated that in 2010 all nuclear-weapon states had about 18,000 nuclear warheads in their arsenals, down from the peak of about 70,000 in 1986.1 It is clear, however, that nuclear arsenals can be reduced even further. The 2010 NPT Review Conference Action Plan reinforced the obligation of article VI of the NPT by asking all nuclear-weapon states to undertake further efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate all types of nuclear weapons.2 The Action Plan identified transparency and accountability as an important part of the nuclear disarmament process and encouraged the nuclear-weapon states to agree as soon as possible on a standard reporting form and to determine appropriate reporting intervals for the purpose of voluntarily providing standard information.3 Providing information about nuclear arsenals would be an important confidence- building measure that would help advance the cause of nuclear disarmament, strengthen global and regional stability, and create conditions for bringing all nuclear-weapon states in the disarmament process. As of 2012, the only nuclear-weapon states that have an obligation to provide information about their nuclear forces are Russia and the United States, which exchange data as part of the New START agreement, which entered into force in February 2011. States with smaller nuclear arsenals are reluctant to provide detailed information about their nuclear holdings, arguing that since the two largest nuclear powers still hold about 95% of all nuclear weapons they would have to undertake very deep reductions before transparency can be established as a universal norm. Only two other states-France and the United Kingdom- 1 Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, Global nuclear weapons inventories, 1945-2010, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 66, no. 4, 2010, pp. 77-83. 2 Final Document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, document NPT/CONF.2010/50 (vol. I), 4 June 2010, § I.B.iv, action 3. 3 Ibid., § I.F.i, action 21. * A I A A

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