Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 05/2010

Nuclear-Free Security: Refocusing Nuclear Disarmament and the Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Tarja Cronberg

April 2010

Finnish Institute for International Affairs

Abstract

This report is about a nuclear-weapon-free world, a political vision of President Obama and others for which there is an unusual window of opportunity. Nuclear weapons are losing their military meaning, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is seen as the main threat to security in the world. In spite of this, change is not easy. States have investments in these weapons, often at great cost. Infrastructures such as weapons laboratories and production facilities are built around them. The world's leading scientists have invested their future in nuclear weapon activities. The nuclear industry is a powerful lobby.