You're reading: Think-tank: prospects for nuclear disarmament weak

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish think-tank on Tuesday warned that prospects appear weak for a reduction in global nuclear arms arsenals in the coming years.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said eight nations still possessed more than 20,500 nuclear weapons by the end of 2010, including 5,000 ready for use — 2,000 fewer than in 2009.

Although the U.S. and Russia signed the New START treaty in April last year which will limit their strategic nuclear warheads from 2,200 to 1,550, SIPRI says the cuts are "modest" and points out that both countries are either deploying new nuclear weapon delivery systems or have announced plans to do so.

SIPRI Deputy Director Daniel Nord said the U.S. is planning to invest $92 billion in its nuclear arms infrastructure in the next 10 years, while Russia is modernizing its ballistic missile system and plans to buy eight new nuclear submarines.

He said Britain has taken a preliminary decision to retain its current nuclear weapons capacity, China is modernizing its missiles and France has just completed a similar modernization.

"The message from the nuclear weapon states is that they intend to keep their nuclear weapons during the coming 30 to 50 years," Nord told The Associated Press.

SIPRI also said discussions during the Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference last year had revealed "deep divisions" between countries which possess nuclear weapons and those which don’t.

"These divisions cast doubt on the prospects for making progress in implementing even the modest steps endorsed in the final document," it said.

SIPRI said Russia was the biggest nuclear arms nation in 2010, with a total of 11,000 warheads, while the U.S. had 8,500. Other nations possessing between 80 and 300 warheads each were France, Britain, China, India, Pakistan and Israel, according to SIPRI.

SIPRI also said little progress was made in 2010 toward resolving long-running controversies over Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.

It said North Korea is believed to have produced enough plutonium to build a small number of nuclear warheads, but there is no public information to verify that it has operational nuclear weapons.