Dresden 2000 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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PV: Plenarvorträge

PV XIV

PV XIV: Plenarvortrag

Donnerstag, 23. März 2000, 09:00–09:45, H 01

Perspectives of Nuclear Disarmament — •Richard L. Garwin — Council on Foreign Relations, New York, USA

From a stockpile of some 45,000 Soviet nuclear weapons in 1982 and 33,000 U.S. nuclear weapons in 1967, some progress has been made in reaching the present holdings of perhaps 18,000 and 12,000. But the potential for enormous destruction in the world is little changed. What seemed a reasonable projection in 1989 to 1000 or so nuclear warheads now seems farther from achievement, and domestic politics in Russia and the United States imperil the modest gains made thus far by the Non-Proliferation Treaty and by the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. These problems are underscored by the 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan. A drop to 1000 warheads, should be supported by those who see a necessity for zero nuclear weapons and those who see nuclear weapons persisting indefinitely. A further reduction by a factor ten might be possible, or remaining nuclear weapons could be placed at the service of the international community.