September 09, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO–Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell has been appointed to the International Steering Committee of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), Senator Douglas Roche, MPI Chairman, announced today.
Ms. Campbell will chair an MPI Strategy Consultation at the United Nations, New York, October 3, and lead an MPI delegation of civil society leaders to meet with Canadian government officials in Ottawa October 29-30. Both events will deal with MPI’s new Briefing Paper, “Priorities for Preserving the Non-Proliferation Treaty in the New Strategic Context.”
The Middle Powers Initiative, formed in 1998 to encourage middle power governments to press for nuclear disarmament negotiations, is a program of the Global Security Institute (GSI), whose president is Jonathan Granoff.
Ms. Campbell served as Canada’s 19th and first woman Prime Minister. She previously held several cabinet portfolios and was the first woman to be Defense Minister of a NATO country. She is Visiting Professor of Practice at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is also Executive Vice-President of the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of women of significant and diverse achievements.
Two other international figures will also join the MPI International Steering Committee: Nick Dunlop, former Executive Director of Earth Action and currently Director of the e-Parliament initiative; and Aaron Tovish, a member of the Earth Action International Board of Directors and an internationally recognized leader in the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation field.
“The skills of all three leaders will boost the profile and effectiveness of MPI’s Track II diplomatic effort to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons,” Mr. Granoff said.
Senator Roche and Mr. Granoff also welcomed Dr. Urs Cipolat, a Swiss expert on weapons non-proliferation and military export controls, to the GSI staff in San Francisco. Dr. Cipolat, a multilinguist who holds a doctorate in law from Yale Law School, will manage MPI’s operations.
Senator Roche also announced that Rob Green and Kate Dewes of New Zealand had stepped down from MPI’s International Steering Committee but will continue to work on MPI’s Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. Commander Green is the author of “The Naked Nuclear Emperor,” and several other works. Dr. Dewes is a member of the U.N. Study on Disarmament Education.
For more information please contact Zachary Allen at 415 775 6760.
Posted by zack_allen at 04:30 PM
September 01, 2002
Did You Know?
Number of nuclear weapons in the world: 30,000 *
8 countries (US, Russia, China, Great Britain, France, Pakistan, India and Israel) posses nuclear weapons. Several thousand of these weapons can still reach the US within 30 minutes of launch.
Number of countries capable of developing nuclear weapons: 44
44 countries have access to the fissile material and technology to build nuclear weapons. With the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty jeopardized, nuclear weapons could quickly spread.
Pounds of existing Russian weapons-grade fissile material: 2,360,000*
Much of this material is vulnerable to theft or diversion by potential terrorists or hostile organizations.
Pounds of fissile material necessary to build a crude nuclear bomb: 50
As little as 50 pounds of plutonium is needed to build a bomb. A missile is not needed to deliver such a device; a tugboat or truck could be used.
Casualties of a crude nuclear bomb attack on San Francisco: 60,000-400,000
Top military experts predict that a nuclear device will explode in a major US city in the next five years if more is not done to prevent it.
Number of accidents, false alarms, and malfunctions involving nuclear weapons according to the US Dept. of Defense: 563
Several of the accidents put us on the brink of accidental nuclear war.
Dollars the US spends per day on maintaining its nuclear arsenal: $100 Million
In comparison, the International Atomic Energy Agency spends only $100 million per year to safeguard nuclear materials worldwide.
What can you do?
Visit the Global Security Institute Action Center and consider making a contribution.
*Estimated. For sources, please see below.
—
Sources:
Number of nuclear weapons
Source: “Global Nuclear Stockpiles” by William M. Arkin and Robert S. Norris, NRDC Nuclear Notebook, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (November-December 1997), p. 67. (Updated)
Nuclear Capable Countries
The number of nuclear capable states is frequently cited at 44, since the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty cannot go into effect until it is ratified by the 44 states with nuclear power plants (as of June 1996). The treaty provides this list in annex 2: http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/ctbt/ctbt-annex2.html
Estimated pounds of Russian material
Bunn, Matthew, and John P. Holdren. “Managing Military Uranium and Plutonium in the United States and the Former Soviet Union: Current Security Challenges.” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 22 (1997): 403-486.
Available online: http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/pubs/mmup4
Pounds of fissile material to build a crude nuclear bomb
These figures depend upon whether plutonium or uranium is used, upon the purity of the materials, and the design of the bomb. For details, see http://www.nci.org/k-m/makeab.htm
Estimated casualties if a crude nuclear bomb were detonated in San Francisco
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War: Crude Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and the Terrorist Threat
http://www.ippnw.org/NukeTerrorism04.html
Accidents, false alarms, malfunctions
“According to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report entitled Navy Nuclear Weapons Safeguards and Nuclear Weapon Accident Emergency Planning, a total of 563 nuclear weapon incidents were reported by the Navy between 1965-1983”. In 1980, the US Department of Defense (DoD) released a list, considered a conservative estimate, that catalogued 32 serious nuclear accidents between 1950-1980.
Source: US NUCLEAR WEAPONS ACCIDENTS by Jaya Tiwari and Cleve J. Gray http://www.cdi.org/Issues/NukeAccidents/accidents.htm
Dollars spent, per day, to maintain US Nuclear Arsenals
US nuclear spending: http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/fp/projects/nucwcost/curspend.htm
IAEA Budget
http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2002/4/16/4s.html
Posted by zack_allen at 02:35 PM