Washington, March 02: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an international treaty to bar production of plutonium and uranium for use in nuclear bombs, saying it was a crucial step to fulfilling President Barack Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons.
“Nearly 20 years after the end of the Cold War, the world has more than 20,000 nuclear weapons. As I speak to you today, centrifuges around the world are spinning out more enriched uranium,” Clinton told a meeting of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament yesterday in Geneva, where she also held separate talks on the political turmoil in Libya and across the Middle East.
Halting production of bomb-grade materials “is in the interest of every country,” Clinton said, urging the UN to open negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty “without further delay.”
The Obama administration says a successful treaty would halt production of material for nuclear weapons worldwide and would reduce the risk that plutonium or bomb-grade uranium would fall into the hands of terrorists. Though Clinton did not mention any country by name, opposition from Pakistan has been an obstacle to the so-called FMCT. Pakistan has used procedural maneuvers for months to block the start of negotiations on the treaty.
Pakistan’s leaders say they need to produce more nuclear material to keep pace with India. Pakistan has enough plutonium and highly enriched uranium for about 100 bombs or more, while India has a sufficient supply for 140 bombs, according to the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based non-partisan advocacy and research group.
‘No Justification’
“Our patience is not infinite. There is no justification for a single nation to abuse the consensus principle and forever thwart the legitimate desire of the 64 other states to get negotiations under way on an agreement that would strengthen our common security,” Clinton said.
If the stalemate continues, “then the United States is determined to pursue other options,” she said.
Alternatives may include separate talks outside the UN’s Conference on Disarmament to negotiate a verifiable fissile material production halt, according to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.
The delay in treaty talks reflects traditional tensions between India and Pakistan, which each tested nuclear weapons in May 1998. The U.S. has embraced India’s pursuit of nuclear energy for civilian use while tussling with Pakistan over its weapons program and threats from militants on its soil.
Nuclear Security
India and Pakistan have “more than enough nuclear weaponry to deter attack by the other,” Kimball said. “More plutonium and highly enriched uranium will not make Pakistan any safer, and it will only deepen nuclear security problems in South Asia and the world.”
If the world is “serious about reducing the possibility that fissile material could fall into terrorists’ hands, then we must reduce the amount of such material that is available,” Clinton said in Geneva.
The U.S. also supports “reducing stocks of separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium and minimizing the future use of highly enriched uranium for civilian purposes,” Clinton said, adding that the Obama administration has made significant progress toward those goals with Russia and other countries.
Clinton referred to last year’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, where 47 countries agreed to lock down vulnerable nuclear materials within four years, and completion of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia that will cut deployed strategic warheads to the lowest numbers since the 1950s.
–Agencies