NukeChat: Talking Nuclear Responsibilities in a Third Nuclear Age

In this final episode of the series, attention returns to how nuclear responsibilities are talked about, with particular emphasis on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and its review cycle. In the episode, Dr Megan Dee and Dr David Chambers (Head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Research Unit, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom) discuss the di...

From medicine to food and power, nuclear technologies produce multiple benefits for individuals in their day-to-day lives and are playing an increasingly crucial role in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), States Parties have a sovereign right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. That right nevertheless comes with...

The international nuclear non-proliferation regime is coming under increasing strain in this new nuclear age. Vertical proliferation concerns are rife as the nuclear possessor states modernise their nuclear arsenals while signalling the possibility of a return to nuclear testing. Horizonal nuclear proliferation concerns now centre not only on "rogue states" and non-state actors, but also the domes...

For non-nuclear weapon states, nuclear disarmament is considered both the primary and special responsibility of the nuclear-weapons states and particularly the P5 signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Yet in a nuclear age where the nuclear-weapons states seek to advance and modernise their nuclear arsenals, pursue technological development, and even signal the return of nuclear testin...

Nuclear responsibilities can be associated with a variety of norms, practices, and state behaviours that have been generated, diffused, and institutionalised since the first nuclear age commenced in 1945. In this episode, Dr Megan Dee and Dr Ben Zala consider how nuclear responsibilities have evolved over the first and second nuclear ages. They reflect on how nuclear responsibilities have also bee...

What are nuclear responsibilities and why do they matter? In this opening episode, Dr Megan Dee and Dr Alice Spilman introduce nuclear responsibilities as a prevalent theme and loaded term within contemporary global nuclear politics and diplomacy. The episode introduces the different ways in which nuclear responsibilities have been talked about in global nuclear weapons politics and diplomacy, and...