Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

See also: International Atomic Energy Agency

See also: Nuclear weapon

More often known as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), this treaty is correctly named the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) With the first signatures in 1968, the Treaty became active in 1970. A total of 187 parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States. An active UN organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, works both with enforcement and the promotion of peaceful use of nuclear weapons. ^[1] Its actual language is reviewed at five-year intervals. ^[2]

After the ratification, states were only allowed to join the five nations, China, France, Soviet Union/Russia, United Kingdom, and United States that were "declaratory" and announced they had a nuclear arsenal they would keep. New signatories were expected to be "non-declaratory" and renounce having their own nuclear weapons. As a result, several nations that either have or are strongly suspected to have nuclear weapons have refused to sign as "non-declaratory" states: India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan. One special case is South Africa, which built nuclear weapons but disarmed itself under secret international monitoring, and is a nondeclaratory signatory.

Specific weapons proliferation

Complexities of related techologies

References