Nuclear Club Powers under NPT – U.S., Russia, United Kingdom, France, China Non-NPT – India, Pakistan, North Korea Undeclared – Israel From a high of 65,000 active weapons in 1985, there are now more than 22,000 total nuclear warheads in the world as of 2010.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Treaty to limit the spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons. – Now 189 countries in the treaty, five of which are recognized as nuclear weapon states: U.S., Russia, U.K., France and China (also the five permanent members of the UN Security Council). – All 187 signatories were committed to goal of nuclear disarmament Four non-parties to the treaty are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons. – India, Pakistan, and North Korea have openly tested and declared that they possess nuclear weapons – Israel is deliberately ambiguous about its nuclear weapons. North Korea withdrew in 2003.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 1963: prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons (atmosphere, underwater, in space) except underground. – Developed both to slow the arms race and to stop the excessive release of nuclear fallout into the atmosphere. – Neither France nor China (nuclear powers) have signed.

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM): Entered into between the U.S. and USSR to limit the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons; ended by the U.S. in Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties I & II (SALT I & II): 1972 / Limited the growth of U.S. and Soviet missile arsenals. Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement: Committed the U.S. and USSR to consult with one another during conditions of nuclear confrontation.

Red = nuclear weapons countries Blue = nuclear weapon free zone Yellow = neither, but NPT

Doomsday Clock Symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at the Univ. of Chicago. – The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. Originally, the analogy represented the threat of global nuclear war, but since 2007 (five minutes to midnight) it has also reflected climate change and life sciences that could inflict harm. Music: “Minutes to Midnight” by Linkin Park and Midnight Oil; “Two Minutes to Midnight” by Iron Maiden; “Doomsday Clock” by Smashing Pumpkins

Doomsday clock moved closer to midnight January 2012 Citing ongoing threats from nuclear proliferation, climate change, and the need to find sustainable and safe sources of energy, scientists moved the "Doomsday Clock" one minute closer to midnight. – The clock was moved from six to five minutes to midnight. The clock is symbolic and has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since The closer to a setting of midnight it gets, the closer it is estimated that a global disaster will occur. "There are still 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world, enough to kill all of humanity many times over," Professor Socolow of Princeton University. The clock came closest to midnight — just two minutes away — in 1953 after the successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the USA. It has been as far away as 17 minutes, set there in 1991 following the demise of the Soviet Union.

m/watch?v=pQG4oA66 uzI

Blasting ring, NYC. Scene from “Countdown to Zero”

Scene from “Countdown to Zero”

Demonstrating that it would only take a tennis ball sized amount of uranium to destroy a city.

List of the Nuclear Club – &feature=endscreen&NR=1 &feature=endscreen&NR=1 » 4 mins Nuclear detonation timeline: – » 14 mins