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ARTICLE ARCHIVE

Nuclear Weapons

Beyond Nuclear advocates for the elimination of all nuclear weapons and argues that removing them can only make us safer, not more vulnerable. The expansion of commercial nuclear power across the globe only increases the chance that more nuclear weapons will be built and is counterproductive to disarmament. We also cover nuclear weapons issues on our international site, Beyond Nuclear International.

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Saturday
Oct242020

CELEBRATING THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON THIS HISTORIC DAY

OCTOBER 24, 2020  

CELEBRATING THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON THIS HISTORIC DAY

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) today celebrates the 50th ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Under the terms of the treaty, it will enter into force, and become part of international law in 90 days, following today’s deposit of its instrument of ratification at the United Nations by the nation of Honduras.   

The TPNW puts legal force behind the aspiration of the nations of the world to be free from the threat of destruction by nuclear weapons. Adopted at the United Nations in 2017 by an overwhelming majority of the world’s countries, formally signed by 84 to date, and now officially ratified, the TPNW bans the development, testing, production, manufacture, acquisition, possession or stockpiling, transfer, control or receipt, use or threat of use, stationing or deployment of nuclear weapons by any state party to the Treaty.

No state currently in possession of nuclear weapons has signed the TPNW. Nevertheless, the entry into force of this Treaty is an historic milestone on the journey to a world free of nuclear weapons. Nations that possess or stage nuclear weapons, including the United States, will now find themselves standing outside the bounds of international law. Today, the international “norm” changes and nuclear weapons are illegal.

As precursor, in 1970, the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) obligated the United States and other states parties to the NPT to pursue in good faith negotiations leading to complete disarmament at an early date. In 1996, the World Court underscored that legal obligation in a unanimous ruling that the NPT required the nuclear weapons states to not only pursue but to achieve disarmament. Today, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adds moral and legal weight to the disarmament aspirations embraced—and the obligations incurred—in the Nonproliferation Treaty.

ANA, a network of thirty-one organizations whose members live downwind and downstream from the U.S. Department of Energy weapons complex sites, calls on the U.S. government to hear the compelling call of the TPNW, and to take immediate steps toward compliance with the Treaty.

ANA President Marylia Kelley noted, “The U.S. should sign and ratify the TPNW. In the meantime, the United States should take immediate steps toward the overarching goal of the TPNW, a world free of the existential threat of nuclear annihilation.” ANA recommendations include constraining the development of new nuclear bombs and warheads and focusing instead on environmental justice and cleanup for communities suffering from the radioactive and toxic pollution that accompanies nuclear development.

ANA is a national network of organizations working to address issues of nuclear weapons productions and waste cleanup. Beyond Nuclear has been an ANA member organization since 2007.

Thursday
Oct222020

PEACE ACTIVISTS SENTENCED: Three others await judge’s decision

Steve Kelly and Patrick O’Neill, two of seven Plowshares peace activists, were sentenced last week almost a year after their trial. Kelly, a Catholic priest, who has already spent 30 months in jail, received a 33 month sentence, with time served. O’Neill was sentenced to 14 months in prison, with credit for several months served.

In June, Liz McAlister was sentenced to time served. The seven broke into the Kings Bay Georgia Trident submarine base on April 4, 2018, where they painted messages of peace and hammered on missile “monuments,” symbolically disarming them. The Plowshares movement has a long history of non-violent acts of civil disobedience against nuclear weapon installations. The remaining three expect to face sentencing in November.
Wednesday
Oct142020

Tuvalu brings the nuclear weapons ban 3 countries away from law

Tuvalu has ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, becoming the 47th state party. Only three more ratifications are now needed for entry into force!

News story: https://www.icanw.org/tuvalu_ratification

Tweet: https://twitter.com/nuclearban/status/1316128086522380288?s=20

Tuvalu is the ninth Pacific island state to ratify or accede to the treaty, following Palau, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Fiji and Niue.

Thursday
Oct082020

ARDETH PLATTE, PRESENTE! 4/10/1936 - 9/30/2020

Sister Carol Gilbert, left, and Sister Ardeth Platte, right.Beyond Nuclear has been honored and privileged, over years and decades, to continually bump into Ardeth Platte (pictured, right), a Dominican Sister, on the front lines of anti-nuclear weapons activism. Ardeth was born and raised in Michigan, where she educated troubled children, served on Saginaw city council, and began her anti-nuclear work. In 1995, she moved to Jonah House in Baltimore, where she took part in Plowshares Movement actions. This included a 2002 action, where she, alongside her best friend and frequent collaborator, Sr. Carol Gilbert (pictured, left), as well as Sr. Jackie Hudson, entered a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in Colorado, wearing white jumpsuits bearing the words "Citizen Weapon Inspection Team." They each served several years in federal prison for that action.


And see the obituary in the New York Times, here.

Thursday
Oct012020

As Kim wooed Trump with ‘love letters,’ he kept building his nuclear capability, intelligence shows

The two-year relationship between President Trump and Kim Jong Un bought a freeze in testing, but all along the North Korean leader was expanding his arsenal and digging new bunkers.

As reported by the Washington Post.