Showing posts with label FISSILE MATERIAL CUT-OFF TREATY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FISSILE MATERIAL CUT-OFF TREATY. Show all posts

Saturday, May 9, 2015

U.S. STATEMENT ON FISSILE MATERIAL CUT-OFF TREATY AND COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR TEST-BAN TREATY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
05/05/2015 12:33 PM EDT
U.S. Support for Multilateral Measures
Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

The United States is committed to negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, also known as Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.

We are hopeful that the two-year UN Group of Governmental Experts, which first convened in Geneva in March 2014, will serve to motivate and revitalize work on FMCT and progress within the Conference on Disarmament.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is in the security interest of every nation, and the United States remains committed to ratifying the CTBT and bringing it into force.

The United States makes the largest annual financial contribution to the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, paying more than 22 percent of the Commission’s annual budget.

Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones

Protocols to the Africa and South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone treaties were submitted to the U.S. Senate for advice and consent to ratification in May 2011.

The United States and other P5 states signed the Protocol to the Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty in May 2014. It was submitted to the Senate in April 2015.

The United States is committed to signing the revised Protocol to the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty.

The United States supports Middle East regional states as they work towards consensus for a conference on the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

INTERNATIONAL BAN ON PRODUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIAL FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS


FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
An International Ban on the Production of Fissile Material for Nuclear Weapons

Fact Sheet

Bureau of Public Affairs

October 10, 2012
"If we are serious about stopping the spread of [nuclear] weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons grade materials that create them." – President Barack Obama

The United States is revitalizing an international effort to advance a multilateral treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.

Background

Fissile material is nuclear material capable of producing an explosive nuclear chain reaction. Highly enriched uranium and plutonium are the fissile materials that are expected to be captured by a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). Some countries already have voluntarily stopped producing fissile material for nuclear weapons. The United States, for example, has not produced plutonium for weapons since 1988 and halted production of highly enriched uranium for weapons in 1964. However, some countries continue to produce fissile material for weapons to build up their nuclear arsenals.

Elements of a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty

A Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty would, for the first time, place a legal ban on the production of fissile materials for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Achieving a verifiable FMCT has long been a core element of the United States’ comprehensive agenda for seeking the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. It is broadly considered to be the next fundamental step towards multilateral nuclear disarmament.

An FMCT would effectively cap the fissile materials available for use in nuclear weapons. It also would help consolidate the advancements in arms control since the end of the Cold War and provide the basis for further, deeper reductions in nuclear arsenals. Finally, in states possessing nuclear weapons there are enrichment and reprocessing plants capable of producing fissile material that do not operate under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. An FMCT would fold these facilities into an international monitoring regime.

The Way Ahead

The United States believes that the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is the preferred forum for negotiation of an FMCT, but the venue for the negotiations ultimately is less important than the treaty itself. An overwhelming majority of CD members support the early commencement of FMCT negotiations. The United States is consulting with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as others, to find a way to reach consensus and move forward on an FMCT. As Secretary of State Clinton said, the United States believes that an FMCT is "too important a matter to be left in a deadlock forever."

A Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty Will:



Place a legal ban on the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

• Consolidate the advancements in arms control since the end of the Cold War, while moving beyond bilateral reductions.

• Enhance the irreversibility of future reductions in nuclear arsenals.

• Place under international monitoring key nuclear facilities that can produce fissile material.


 

 

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