The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has released its Top Five List of
Nuclear Events for 2001. Topping the list is the US notice of withdrawal
from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The second spot on the list is
the US boycott of an international conference to speed up entry into force
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Foundation president David Krieger stated, "The US withdrawal from
the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and its hostility to the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty reflect a pattern of US unilateralism that is extremely
dangerous in the area of nuclear weapons. It is likely to lead to new
regional nuclear arms races, to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to
competition for the weaponization of space."
Rounding out the Top Five List are the pledge by US President Bush
and Russian President Putin to reduce nuclear arsenals, the destruction by
the Ukraine of its last nuclear missile silo and Germany's decision to phase
out nuclear power by 2025.
The Foundation also released Top Five Lists for 2001 of nuclear
secrets revealed; events related to nuclear terrorism; events related to
nuclear waste during the year; and nuclear accidents. The Foundation also
prepared a list of the Top Five Nuclear Dangers for 2002.
Below are the summaries of the Top Five Lists. Detailed versions of
the Foundation's Top Five List of Nuclear Events for 2001 as well as the
other Top Five lists may be found at
http://www.wagingpeace.org/resources/index.html.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan international
education and advocacy organization. The Foundation initiates and supports
worldwide efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, support and strengthen
international law and institutions, promote the responsible and sustainable
use of technology and empower youth to create a more peaceful world.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five List of Nuclear Events in 2001
1. The US gives notice of withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) Treaty.
2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to
between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten
years. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will "respond in
kind."
4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge
to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the
USSR.
5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five List of
Nuclear Secrets Revealed in 2001
1. Reports surface about the use of humans as guinea pigs in nuclear
experiments from the 1950s to the 1970s.
2. In a documentary, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres goes further than
any other Israeli official in confirming that Israel has nuclear capability
and discloses for the first time details about Israel's acquisition of
nuclear weapons.
3. The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) admits for the first time partial
details of seven politically sensitive accidents involving British nuclear
weapon, drawing attention to an institution shrouded in secrecy and
cover-up.
4. The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) admits that Moruroa Atoll is
threatened with collapse because of sustained nuclear testing.
5. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Agency (NRPA) reveals that radioactive
waste from a nuclear research plant in Norway has been wrongly fed into a
town's sewage system for nine years.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five List of
Events Related to Nuclear Terrorism in 2001
On 11 September, terrorists hijacked four US jetliners, crashing two
into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City, one into the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and one in Pennsylvania. In the aftermath of
11 September, the question of nuclear terrorism became a serious
international concern. The following are the top five nuclear terrorism
related events of 2001.
1. In exercises designed to test security, US Army and Navy Teams
successfully penetrate nuclear facilities and obtain nuclear materials. The
US takes legislative measures to increase security at and around nuclear
facilities.
2. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf orders an emergency redeployment of
the country's nuclear arsenal to at least six secret new locations.
3. The UK Ministry of Defense publishes details about the transport of
nuclear weapons and plutonium throughout the country on the Ministry of
Defense website, raising controversy over offering potential terrorists a
guide to the rail lines, roads and airports used for nuclear materials.
4. As a precaution against suicide attacks, France increases the number of
surface-to-air missiles near La Hague, Europe's largest nuclear waste
reprocessing plant.
5. Weapons experts testify to attendees of the International Atomic Energy
Agency conference in Vienna, Austria that terrorists could use a nuclear
device.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five Nuclear Accidents in 2001*
*This list is subject to modification as documents are declassified in the
future revealing other accidents that occurred in the year 2001.
1. A nuclear explosion in a Russian factory leaves four dead and three
injured.
2. After being kept secret for some six months, The Romanian National
Commission for the Control of Nuclear Activities (CNCAN) reported on 12
December that nine workers were exposed to serious levels of radiation while
dismantling a smelting plant in western Romania.
3. A serious accident at the Chapelcross nuclear reactor in Annan, Scotland
sent 24 radioactive fuel rods crashing to the floor, nearly causing the
death of plant workers and the release of a radioactive cloud which would
have contaminated the entire region.
4. Russia loses contact with four military satellites for part of the day on
10 May after a fire ravages a ground relay station southwest of Moscow.
5. Local Officials reveal in May that a nuclear reactor at the Nuclear Cycle
Development Institute in Fukui (185 miles northwest of Tokyo) has been
leaking radioactive tritium since January.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five Events
Related to Nuclear Waste in 2001
1. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approves the site suitability
study to build an underground nuclear dump for radioactive spent fuel from
nuclear power plants at Yucca Mountain.
2. Although current laws in the UK prohibit the construction of nuclear
power plants in national parks, British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) unveils
plans to build an above-ground nuclear waste dump the size of a football
stadium in the heart of Snowdonia National Park.
3. Despite not informing the public or releasing an official statement,
Minatom, Russia's atomic energy agency, selects a permanent geological
repository to store nuclear waste in Siberia.
4. Both nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield in Cumbria, UK are
shut down due to high level nuclear waste reaching unacceptable levels.
5. Anti-nuclear protesters chain themselves to rail tracks, forcing a train
carrying nuclear waste to retreat near the end of its journey to France in
Northern Germany.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Top Five Nuclear Dangers for 2002
1. One or more countries break the existing moratorium on nuclear testing
and resume testing, following the lead of the US in its hostility toward the
entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
2. The onset of new regional nuclear arms races, particularly in the Asia
and the Middle East, as a consequence of US withdrawal from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and development of ballistic missile defenses.
3. Terrorists construct and use radiological weapons on cities, or attack
nuclear power plants and/or their spent fuel storage pools, turning these
into radiological weapons. Terrorists obtain and threaten to use nuclear
weapons on one or more cities.
4. India and Pakistan engage in nuclear war over Kashmir.
5. An accidental nuclear launch occurs because US and Russian nuclear
weapons are maintained in launch-on-warning posture, despite deficiencies in
Russian early warning systems.
* These are listed in order of probability of occurrence.
CONTACT:
Carah Ong
Research and Publications Director, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Tel: (805) 965-3443 Fax: (805) 568-0466 Email:
research@napf.org