NPT as the non-proliferation regime's foundation

Koito, Yuko  

This paper is part of the research output of the JSPS KAKENHI project "Nuclear Disarmament without Undermining Security" (21H00688). The project comprehensively assessed nuclear weapons from multiple perspectives, including political, military, international humanitarian law, science and technology, and examined policies and institutions for an age without nuclear weapons, with the aim of following up on the proposal for substantial progress in nuclear disarmament made by the Council of Eminent Persons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (29 March 2018). This paper reviews the debates on the process of establishing the NPT, divided into the period before and after the decision to extend it indefinitely, and, while focusing on the consensus approach that has become the operational method, assesses the role it has played in shaping the order around nuclear weapons and tries to rethink the value of the NPT. In addition, the paper explores the possibility that Japan's advanced reactors could contribute to the WMD zone concept.