Articles and Documents Focusing on Nuclear Nonproliferation Issues
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (its full name) has been signed by all the nations of the world but three. It has been effective in providing assurances against proliferation of nuclear weapons since it came into force in 1970.
A number of organizations maintain websites relating to the treaty. They provide interpretations and additional links.
- United Nations
- IAEA site
- State Department
- Arms Control Association Fact Sheet
- Federation of American Scientists
- BBC fact sheet
- Tutorial on the NPT from the Nuclear Threat Initiative
- Lesson plan on the NPT from the News Hour. Suitable for several class sessions at the high school level.
Every five years, a review conference is convened of all signatories to the NPT. The next two links provide background and the resulting proposals from the 2005 review conference.
- Resources for the 2005 Review Conference from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies.
- Proposals from the 2005 Review Conference
When the Soviet Union broke up, nuclear weapons were stationed in newly independent Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The Lisbon Protocol brought those three states into the NPT, and the nuclear weapons were consolidated in Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons state status under the NPT.
The following links are commentary on the NPT.
- Statement of November 4, 2004 from the US State Department Bureau of Public Affairs"
- Jeffrey Lewis on the successes of the NPT
- James Goodby on possible effects of the US-India nuclear deal on the NPT