Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

The United States and Russia signed a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1993 to eliminate two thirds of their nuclear warheads in ten years. By 1995, nearly 2,500 nuclear warheads had been removed from bombers and missiles in the two countries, according to U.S. government officials. ( Elimination, in this context, does not necessarily mean dismantlement many of the weapons that have been eliminated by treaty have been put in storage.) Although thousands of nuclear weapons still remain in the hands of many different governments, especially those of the U.S. and the Russian Federation, re-... 

Under the first and second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, as well as unilateral pledges made by both the United States and Russia, thousands of nuclear weapons will be dismantled. Initially, this will result in between 70 and 100 metric tons of weapons-related plutonium that will require long-term disposition. The selected disposition strategy (stabilization and storage versus permanent disposal) should not only protect the public and the environment, but must also ensure that the plutonium is not readily recoverable for use in weapons (NRC 1994). The initial U.S. strategy called for... 

The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union was signed and entered into force in 1972 [35]. The ABM Treaty, by limiting defensive systems that would otherwise spur an offensive arms race, has been seen as the foundation for the strategic nuclear arms reduction treaties. In 2001, President Bush announced that the United States would withdraw from the ABM Treaty within 6 months and gave formal notice, stating that it hinders our... 

START I. See TREATY ON THE REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS (START I). 

TREATY ON THE REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS (START I). The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) signed the Treaty on the Reduction and I. imitation of Strategic Offensive Arms on 31 July 1991. Known commonly as START I, this treaty entered into force on 5 December 1994. START I obliges the United States and USSR to make reductions in their offensive strategic nuclear forces over a seven-year period. In 1994, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine assumed START I obligations when the Protocol to Facilitate the Implementation of the START Treaty (1992 Lisbon Protocol) entered into force. Today none of these three states possesses nuclear weapons. See also TREATY ON FURTHER REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS (START ff). 

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