Scientific Support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
- 1University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Meteorology & Climatology, Wien, Austria (petra.seibert@univie.ac.at)
- 2Columbia University, Chemistry, United States of America (ih2194@columbia.edu)
- 3Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, United States of America (ih2194@columbia.edu)
- 4VERTIC, Hermanus, South Africa (noelfstott58@gmail.com)
- 5Department of Seismology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico (gersua@yahoo.com)
- 6Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards Division, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority, Dhaka, Bangladesh (zoardar@gmail.com)
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was negotiated and adopted in 2017, entered into force 2021, and currently has been signed by 93 states, of which 69 have ratified. The Treaty was born out of concern about the devastating impact of nuclear war and growing frustration among non-nuclear-weapon states about the lack of progress with serious nuclear disarmament [1, 2]. It is built on a solid scientific base, laid during a series of conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in 2013 and 2014, held in Norway, Mexico, and Austria [3]. The Treaty not only bans a wide range of activities related to nuclear weapons, but it also includes provisions for victim assistance and environmental remediation in places affected by nuclear weapons use and testing [4].
Recognising the importance of science for the implementation of the Treaty, the 1st Meeting of States Parties in summer 2022 decided to create a Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of 15 members, nominated by States parties, but acting independently. It mandated the SAG to produce a ”Report on the status and developments regarding nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon risks, the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament and related issues”, which was delivered in autumn 2023. Furthermore, the SAG was tasked to ”identify and engage scientific and technical institutions in States parties and more broadly to establish a network of experts to support the goals of the Treaty”.
The presentation will highlight some key points of our first report [7], and outline our current plans for building the Scientific Network. We also plan to offer a Townhall Meeting for those interested in network membership.
References
[1] Alexander Kmentt, The Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons, How it was Achieved and Why it Matters. Routledge 2021/2021. ISBN 9780367531959.
[2] Ray Acheson, Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy. Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. ISBN 9781786614896.
[3] Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, 2014,
[4] United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,
[5] ICAN, Intersessional Progress on the TPNW – Scientific Advisory Group,
[6] Institutionalizing scientific and technical advice for the effective implementation of the Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, TPNW /MSP/2022/WP.6,
[7] Report of the Scientific Advisory Group on the status and developments regarding nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon risks, the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons nuclear disarmament and related issues, 2023,
How to cite: Seibert, P., Hughes, I., Stott, N., Suarez, G., and Kabir Zoardar, A. K. M. R.: Scientific Support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-4455, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-4455, 2024.
Comments on the supplementary material
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I was surprised to know that number of nuclear head increased last 20 year for Korea and israel
do you have a graph of how much increased in blast 20 year?
Yama
Hello, there is a 5-year trend in the presentation, not 20 years. We have not prepared 20 year trends.
For North Korea, it is not surprising to see an upward trend, as DPRK is the latest state to have acquired nuclear weapons (first test in 2006).
Data for Israel are highly uncertain, our numbers rely on the work of Hans Kristensen. I assume that the increase is assumed because of ongoing Pu production.
Thank you