U.S. Seeks Halt to Production of Nuclear Weapons Materials

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr. | Staff Writer | 24 January 2012

Washington — At the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, the United States called for a worldwide halt to the production of materials used in the making of nuclear weapons.

“A verifiable end to the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons is necessary if we are to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons,” Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said January 24.

Gottemoeller, who is the assistant secretary for arms control, verification and compliance, is in Geneva for the opening week of the Conference on Disarmament’s 2012 session. She spoke for the United States at the first plenary session, in which she pressed for the immediate start of talks on a fissile material cutoff treaty. Fissile materials are the raw and refined materials that are used in producing nuclear weapons.

“Some states have already declared a moratorium on such production, but others have not. Some, such as the United States, have reduced their military stocks of fissile material, whereas others are actively engaged in further production,” Gottemoeller said.

While the path to a nuclear-free world has many steps, Gottemoeller said, one of the first steps is halting the manufacture of the materials necessary to make nuclear bombs.

Gottemoeller reviewed U.S. arms control accomplishments since the last opening session of the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament, which is the premier multilateral disarmament forum. The forum has fostered treaties banning biological and chemical weapons, as well as underground nuclear weapons testing. The last major weapons treaty the conference implemented was the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The 2011 New START Treaty between the United States and Russia entered into force on February 5, 2011. It will eventually reduce the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals to their lowest levels since the 1950s.

In addition the U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) and its protocols also entered into force in 2011, Gottemoeller told the conference. That agreement commits the United States and Russia each to dispose of no less than 34 metric tons of excess weapons-grade plutonium, which is enough material in total for approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Gottemoeller said that the five Nuclear Weapon States — the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China — have begun regular talks on verification issues and confidence-building measures related to nuclear disarmament, which is part of their commitment to carry out obligations in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In addition, the United States has been a leading nation in publicly declaring its nuclear stockpile numbers; participating in voluntary and treaty-based inspections measures; working with others on military-to-military, scientific and laboratory exchanges, sponsoring weapons site visits and briefing others on U.S. nuclear programs and disarmament efforts, she said.

Gottemoeller told delegates at the conference that President Obama has committed the United States to securing ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, and “we have been engaging the United States Senate and the American public on the merits of the treaty.”

Earlier in the opening session, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the nuclear disarmament forum to end a deadlock on disarmament measures and advance efforts to curb weapons proliferation. In a message read to the conference by the head of the U.N.’s Geneva office, Ban said: “I urge you to seize this moment, when the world is focused intently on advancing disarmament goals.”

Ban said that the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament has not produced anything substantial since the 1996 CTBT. He appealed to the world’s main nuclear disarmament forum to move forward after years of deadlock, warning the forum that it is “in danger of sinking.”

“In 2012, the future of the Conference will be under the spotlight as never before. Lamenting the constraints of the rules of procedure or the ‘absence of political will’ can no longer suffice as explanations for any further lack of progress,” Ban said.

Gottemoeller told the conference that the road will remain blocked until all members are convinced that beginning talks on treaties is in their national interest, or at least are not harmful to those interests.

On January 25, Gottemoeller travels to Vienna to meet with treaty partners and discuss arms control–related issues of mutual interest, including the future of conventional arms control in Europe.