The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Anti-nuclear weapons action depicts a skeletal Statue of Liberty
emerging from a nuclear bomb.

Anti-nuclear weapons action in Berlin, April 2005, depicts a skeletal Statue of Liberty emerging from a nuclear bomb.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) came into force in 1970. Under the terms of the Treaty, the nuclear weapons states agreed to eliminate their nuclear weapons. In return, the non-nuclear weapons states agreed not to manufacture or acquire nuclear weapons. At the time, stopping all nuclear testing through a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was seen as a key step to stopping and reversing the arms race.

The NPT today is in trouble. The promise of a nuclear test ban has not been met. The United States seems determined to set off a new arms race by creating small, tactical nuclear weapons such as the bunker-busting "mini-nukes." At the same time, the difficulties controlling nuclear materials has led to a fundamental reconsideration of the treaty's central tenet: that you can promote nuclear power and still control nuclear weapons.

April, 2005 As delegates to the Non-Proliferation Treaty prepared for their meeting at the United Nations, leading experts from Korea and around the world gathered at a seminar in Seoul to share information, and solutions, on the increasingly dangerous situation in North East Asia.

The seminar was sponsored by Greenpeace International, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, and the Peace Forum for North East Asia in the 21st century. You can find the conference documents here.

Documents prepared for the 2005 NPT Review

2005 Review Conference to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty

29 April 2005

Greenpeace has played an active role in the NPT Preparatory Committee Meetings (PrepCom) and Review Conferences (RevCon) for the past 25 years. Briefing on the 2005 Review Conference to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT RevCon)

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Nuclear facilities chart

17 May 2005

This table lists the 44 countries noted in Annex 2 of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) who were, in 1996, members of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) that that had Nuclear power and/or research reactors and identifies the nuclear facilities that each country possesses.

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NPT political briefing

02 May 2005

Greenpeace political briefing for the 2005 Review Conference to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT RevCon), May 2 –27, 2005

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A Shifting Agenda, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Counter-Proliferation and Disarmament

02 May 2005

Greenpeace report on the 2005 Review Conference to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT RevCon), New York, May 2 –27, 2005

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The solution? A fissile materials ban.

The Need for a Comprehensive Fissile Material Treaty

02 September 2004

Greenpeace welcomes IAEA Director General Dr ElBaradei's initiative for an Expert Group to consider ways to tighten international controls on the nuclear fuel cycle.

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Greenpeace Draft treaty banning fissile materials

05 May 2004

If you want something done right, you've just got to do it yourself. Since the nuclear weapons states party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty haven't made good the promise of moving us toward a world without nuclear weapons, we took it upon ourselves at Greenpeace to draft a treaty banning fissile materials.

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