for further information, contact:
Nickolas Roth 914-673-6666
Ralph Hutchison 865-776-5050

for immediate release: March 26, 2010
GROUPS IN COMMUNITIES WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITIES
APPLAUD NEW ARMS REDUCTION TREATY

On March 25, 2010, the White House announced that the United States and Russia have agreed to a new treaty to further reduce their nuclear weapons arsenals. In April, the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will be signed by President Obama and President Medvedev in Prague, the site of President Obama’s historic speech endorsing a world free of nuclear weapons. The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability supports deeper reductions in the nuclear stockpile and applauds this momentous accomplishment. It is a positive step for U.S. nuclear policy and reinvigorates the international effort to eliminate the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

New START was a significant part of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability’s recent DC Days advocacy event. More than 500 Congressional and Administration offices received briefing materials that called for prompt Senate ratification of the New START agreement without conditions that will undermine prospects for further reductions.

New START will reduce the nuclear arsenals of both the United States and Russia and open the door to even further reductions in the future. The treaty, reportedly, will limit each nation to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, more than 70% percent lower than the original START and 30% lower than the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT). Most importantly, unlike SORT, this new treaty will contain extensive new verification provisions ensuring that this new treaty is carried out confidently and transparently.

Because of its unprecedented reductions to the nuclear weapons arsenals of the world’s largest nuclear powers, New START will further strengthen U.S. security. Although the reduced nuclear stockpile numbers still have world destroying power, this treaty sends a strong message to other countries about a renewed U.S. commitment to strengthening the nonproliferation regime on the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review conference.

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability is a national network of three-dozen grassroots and national groups representing the concerns of communities near U.S. nuclear weapons sites that are directly affected by 65 years of nuclear weapons production and waste contamination. for further information, contact:
Nickolas Roth 914-673-6666
Ralph Hutchison 865-776-5050