The Role of Nuclear Weapons in International Politics

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was designed to prevent testing of nuclear weapons and hence reduce the chance of an arms race.October 13, 1999, the US Senate decided not to ratify the CTBT. This drew condemnation from Bill Clinton and the White House Administration, environmental groups and other governments. The grounds for rejection (ignoring the bipartisan politics that some claim affected this decision) was that if the US ratified this treaty, it would not stop others trying to go nuclear and therefore the US should not ratify on the grounds of national security.
Despite over 10 years of global efforts to promote the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the treaty’s enactment appears a long way off.
President George H. W. Bush signed into law the unilateral declaration to forego full-scale nuclear weapons testing October 2, 1992. The United States signed the CTBT on September 24, 1996, the day it opened for signature, but the Senate dealt a severe blow to the near-term prospects for U.S. participation when it refused to provide its advice and consent October 13, 1999. President Obama, however, stated in February 2009 that he intends to pursue Senate ratification of the treaty “immediately and aggressively.”
The CTBT will formally enter into force after 44 designated “nuclear-capable states” have deposited their instruments of ratification with the UN secretary-general. To date, 183 states have signed and 159 have ratified the treaty. Yet of the 44 specified countries, India, Pakistan, and North Korea still have not signed, and only 36 have ratified the treaty.
The following chart identifies the treaty’s signatories and ratifiers as of April 2013. States whose ratification is required for the treaty to take effect are shaded and marked with an asterisk (*).

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on Aug 27, 2015 to locate the first internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium in the ex-Soviet nation to ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear proliferation.
The storage facility, set to become fully operational in 2017, is intended to provide IAEA member states with confidence in a steady and predictable supply of fuel even if other routes are disrupted.
The IAEA estimates the cost of the bank at $150 million, which includes the procurement of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and its work for the first 10 years.
The bank will contain up to 90 metric tons of LEU, sufficient to run a 1,000 MWe (megawatt electric) light-water reactor
The bank will be located at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in the northeastern industrial city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. The plant has handled and stored nuclear material, including LEU, safely and securely for more than 60 years
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal, the world’s fourth-largest at the time.
The mineral-rich Central Asian nation of 17.5 million is the world’s largest uranium producer and holds more than 15 percent of global uranium reserves, second only to Australia. It has no nuclear power stations of its own.