Proponents of nuclear non-proliferation will be pleased in late 2020 as the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) crosses the threshold of 50 ratifications and enters into force. Under this treaty, it will be illegal to hold nuclear weapons, and the parties will have to dismantle any in their possession. The problem with the TPNW approach is that no state that actually possesses nuclear weapons has signed it or is likely to. An alternative to this ‘all-or-nothing’ approach is needed—a freeze on the production of tritium is a different way to manage nuclear disarmament that will gradually bring an end to nuclear weapons. Tritium and its critical role in nuclear weapons Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen (hydrogen-3). It is used in the nuclear weapon systems of most of the five nuclear weapon states (NWS)—China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia—today to ‘boost’ the yield of a fission weapon or fission primary. It is important to n...
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