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Global Fissile Material Report 2008. Scope and verification of a Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty (2008)

Auteur	IPFM
	6-03-2-20-01.pdf
Datum	2008
Classificatie	6.03.2.20/01 (PROLIFERATIE - FISSILE MATERIAL (CUT OFF) TREATY)
Voorkant

IPFM Draft FM(C)T Article-by-article explanation 16 March 2009

Introduction
A treaty banning the production of fissile materials (1) for nuclear weapons is
essential to constraining nuclear arms races and to achieving the goal of nuclear
disarmament. Negotiation of such a treaty was endorsed without a dissenting vote
in 1993 by the United Nations General Assembly. (2)

The Review Conference of the Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2000
agreed that negotiations “on a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally
and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile materials for
nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices” should commence immediately
in the multilateral Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva, “with a view to
their conclusion within five years.” (3) Nevertheless, the CD has, for various
reasons, not yet formally launched negotiations on such a treaty.

In the discussion of the proposed treaty at the CD, two issues have been especially
contentious: verification and pre-existing stocks. The debate over whether the treaty
should involve a ban on the use of some pre-existing stocks for weapons has even
led to the use of two different names for the proposed treaty: Fissile Material
CutoffTreaty and Fissile Material Treaty. Here, we will use a name that makes
this unresolved issue explicit: Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty, or FM(C)T.

We present below a draft FM(C)T based on discussions within the International
Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM). It is an alternative to the draft treaty with
limited scope and without verification submitted by the Bush Administration
to the CD on May 18, 2006.