Health, Environment, and Energy

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Health, Environment, and Energy

Introduction

This section looks beyond the immediate requirements of a nuclear weapons convention to the larger context of the Nuclear Age. The development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons have had effects on health and environment that have yet to be fully understood. As these are better understood, they can also help determine the best approach to nuclear disarmament, taking into account health, environmental, and energy concerns.

The problem of nuclear waste, whether from the nuclear energy industry or dismantled nuclear weapons, has no solution yet. Susan Wareham and Clare Henderson counter arguments that propose a waste dump in Australia as an aid to nuclear disarmament. Harry Cohen explores some of the details of this proposal. Both pieces point to the dangers of existing nuclear materials, their effects on human life and communities, and the need to seek better solutions.

Better solutions will also require coming to terms with damage already done, i.e., telling the truth. Arjun Makhijani suggest a global truth commission on the health and environmental damage caused by nuclear weapons. Another type of truth commission took place during the 2000 NPT Review Conference of Project EDNA (Engaged Democracy for the Nuclear Age), using the future to study the past and the present.

Learning the truth about the consequences of past and current policies is essential to addressing challenges yet to come. Complete nuclear disarmament will require a framework approach in order to minimize the variety of risks inherent in the handling, transportation, and storage of nuclear weapons materials. Such a framework would determine what materials are to be stored, in what form, for how long, and where, while further solutions to health, environment, and energy challenges are sought. A preliminary research agenda for safe nuclear disarmament along these lines is proposed at the end of this section.