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TOPIC 2022 / 6

COUNTDOWN: WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

SABINE RIEDEL

Cf. PUBLICATION: Nuclear Deals and Nuclear Arms in Ukrainian War. An annotated documentary on the military conflict around the Zaporizhzhya NPP, in: Forschungshorizonte Politik & Kultur, Vol. 7, 2023/1, 46 pages.

Berlin, Deutschland

Picture source: Mural by Peter Seaton, artist from Melbourne, Australia:: Peace before pieces [2022] by CTO, CTOart, Sydney, 3.9.2022. The painting shows the embrace of a Russian (left) and Ukrainian soldier (right) and had the slogan “Peace before the world is destroyed“. 

Introduction:

With the Ukraine war on 24.2.2022, for the first time in the history of modern warfare, a nuclear power plant (NPP) is at the centre of a military conflict. Right at the beginning, the Russian military occupied the NPP ruins of Chernobyl in the north of Ukraine, a few days later the NPP Zaporizhzhya in the south, the largest nuclear reactor in Europe. On 10 July 2022, the Ukrainian company Energodatom called on the military to take it back by force (energoatom, 10.7.2022). Since then, the NPP has been under repeated grenade fire (over 300 impacts until the end of December 2022), although representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived on site in early September.

In his report to the UN Security Council, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said: “We are playing with fire, and something catastrophic could happen.” (digitallibrary.un.org, 7.9.2022: 3) Therefore Grossi proposed demilitarisation of the area around the NPP, but so far without success. This is partly due to the fact that the IAEA bowed to pressure from the G7 and took Ukraine’s side in this conflict. As a result, Russia took full possession of the nuclear power plant by  Decree of 5.10.2022. This made it obvious that the grenade attacks were (also) coming from the Ukrainian military. Since then, Moscow has threatened that a provoked nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant would be similar to the use of a tactical nuclear weapon and lead to a nuclear response. 

The original version of this documentary from September 2022 has been shortened and divided into three focus topics due to lack of space: The issue  4/2022 ocuses on important News on Zaporizhzhya NPP and provides translated quotes from Ukrainian and Russian sources with links to the original documents. The issue 5/2022 is titled Nuclear Deals in the Ukraine War and confronts the reader with the interests of the nuclear industry and the potential misuse of NPPs as tactical nuclear weapons. This issue 6/2022, titled World free of Nuclear Weapons shows ways out of the threatening nuclear confrontation: Since 22.1.2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has come into force, banning both research and the deployment of nuclear weapons.

Possibly the nuclear industry and the IAEA as its interest group have become nervous so that they seek to set up new facts. This explains why the IAEA declared in the middle of the Ukraine war that nuclear power was on the rise worldwide. This makes it all the more important to inform the public that it is not a “clean” technology and can be misused for weapons in the context of dual-use research. The public is hardly aware that about 60 km northwest of the Ukrainian NPP Zaporizhzhya is located the largest radioactively contaminated area in the world, the decommissioned chemical plant Prydniprovsky (PCP). There, 15 times as much nuclear waste is stored as in the Chernobyl NPP ruins, partly in the open air. … The three focus topics can be read at length in the above-mentioned publication by the author: Nuclear Deals and Nuclear Arms in Ukrainian War, in: Forschungshorizonte Politik & Kultur, Vol. 6, 2022/11, 42 pages

NPT

▪ TREATY OF THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS (1.7.1968)

DATE

INFORMATIONS (own texts with “quotations”, of Ukrainian and Russian sources into English: S.R.)

SOURCES (author, title, URL etc.)

1.7.1968

With the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the signatory states commit themselves to the non-proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons. This international treaty was concluded by the five nuclear powers – the USA, France, the People’s Republic of China, Great Britain and the Soviet Union – and entered into force on 5 March 1970. Today, 191 UN members belong to it. Four states have not joined the NPT: South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, and India, Israel and Pakistan, which are believed to possess nuclear weapons.

The original duration of the NPT was 25 years. At the Review Conference on 11 May 1995, it was extended indefinitely. From today’s perspective, it is relevant that Taiwan has ratified the NPT, although it is officially no longer a UN member (cf. Topic in Focus 6/2021).

Article I

Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; and not in any way to assist, encourage,
or induce any non-nuclear-weapon State to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, or control over such weapons or explosive devices.

Article II

Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons
or other nuclear explosive devices. […]

Article IV
 1. Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.

United Nations, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Text of the Treaty, 1.7.1968, https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt/text

22.3.1976

Six years after its entry into force, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) became legally valid in the Federal Republic of Germany after a controversial debate. The GDR joined it with the Soviet Union in 1970.

I.  
Pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 2 of the Act of 4 June 1974 on the Treaty of 1 July 1968 on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Federal Law Gazette 1974 II p. 785), it is hereby announced that the Treaty, in accordance with its Article IX, paragraph 4, is applicable to

The Federal Republic of Germany on 2 May 1975

The instruments of ratification were deposited in London and Washington on 2 May 1975.”

Bekanntmachung über das Inkrafttreten des Vertrags über die Nichtverbreitung von Kernwaffen. Vom 22.3.1976, in: Bundesgesetzblatt Teil II, 1976, Nr. 25, 7.5.1976, S. 552, vgl.: https://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav 

GERMANY

▪ RENOUNCES NUCLEAR WEAPONS SINCE NATO ACCESSION

DATE

INFORMATIONS (own texts with “quotations”, of Ukrainian and Russian sources into English: S.R.)

SOURCES (author, title, URL etc.)

25.3.1955

By joining NATO in 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany renounced the possession of nuclear weapons and other biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction.

Inadmissible arms production

Article 1

The High Contracting Parties and Members of the Western European Union take note of the Declaration by the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (made in London on 3 October 1954 and annexed to this Protocol as Annex I) by which the Federal Republic of Germany undertook not to manufacture in its territory any nuclear, biological or chemical weapons and record their agreement.”

Gesetz betreffend den Beitritt der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Brüsseler Vertrag und zum Nordatlantikvertrag. Vom 24. März 1955, Protokoll Nr. III über die Rüstungskontrolle, in: Bundesgesetzblatt II, 1955, Nr. 7, 25.3.1955, S. 267, www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?start=%2F%2F*%5B%40attr_id%3D%27bgbl255015. pdf%27%5D#__bgbl__%2F%2F*%5B%40attr_id%3D%27bgbl255007.pdf%27%5D__1671125686196

12.9.1990

In the Two Plus Four Treaty, the united Germany confirmed its renunciation of the production and possession of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Currently, 190 states are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“Article 3
(1) The Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic reaffirm their renunciation of the manufacture and possession of and control over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. They declare that the united Germany, too, will abide by these commitments. In particular, rights and obligations arising from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1 July 1968 will continue to apply to the united Germany.”

Auswärtiges Amt, Vertrag vom 12. September 1990 über die abschließende Regelung in bezug auf Deutschland „2+4-Vertrag“, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, MULT-781, www.auswaertiges-amt.de/blob/243466/2851e102b97772a5772 e9fdb8a978663/vertragstextoriginal-data.pdf;

Two-Plus-Four Treaty on Germany (September 12, 1990), https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=176

TPNW

▪ NUCLEAR WEAPON BAN TREATY OF 7.7.2017

DATE

INFORMATIONS (own texts with “quotations”, of Ukrainian and Russian sources into English: S.R.)

SOURCES (author, title, URL etc.)

7.7.2017

The UN General Assembly adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) with 122 of 193 votes. It prohibits the development and production of nuclear weapons as well as their deployment or even use in the event of war. The nuclear powers, among others, did not join the treaty.

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 7.7.2017, in: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, www.icanw.org/tpnw_full_text

COUNTDOWN

▪ FOR A WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

DATE

INFORMATIONS (own texts with “quotations”, of Ukrainian and Russian sources into English: S.R.)

SOURCES (author, title, URL etc.)

22.1.2021

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force after Honduras becomes the 50th UN member to become a state party and 90 days have passed. It thus becomes part of international law. Today, 68 states worldwide are party to the TPNW, and 23 more countries have already signed it and are about to ratify it.

“First of all, it is hardly surprising that states whose security policy is explicitly based on nuclear weapons reject their prohibition. Already in 2016, the USA explained in a letter to NATO partners how a ban on nuclear weapons will undermine the legitimacy of nuclear deterrence, which is why all NATO countries were called upon to boycott the treaty. With the TPNW, Germany also stayed away from international negotiations on a multilateral disarmament treaty for the first time.”

Internationale Anti-Atomwaffen-Kampagne (ICAN), Der Vertrag zum Verbot von Atomwaffen tritt in Kraft. Auswirkungen und Hintergrund, Oktober 2020, www.icanw.de/wp-content/up­loads/2020/10/20-10-23_AVV_Inkrafttreten.pdf

27.11.2023

The second TPNW States’ Conference will take place in New York from 27.11. to 1.12.2023:

“Nuclear weapons are banned!

The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force on 22 January 2021. Two years later, there are almost 70 States Parties. On 22 January 2023, we will celebrate the anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with many actions across Germany. The first TPNW States’ Conference was held in Vienna from 21-23 June 2022, the second will take place in New York from 27 November to 1 December 2023. The highlight in 2023 will be the I CAN act on it Forum in Oslo on 9-10 March.”

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Comment:

The countdown is also on for the German government:
By the beginning of the next States’ Conference on the TPNW on 27.11.2023, Germany should accede to this UN treaty banning nuclear weapons!

This would mean that Germany would fully comply with its obligations under the 2+4 Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (see above).

ICAN = Internationalen Kampagne zur Abschaffung von Atomwaffen, https://nuclearban.de