The world’s current conflicts could lead to a new global nuclear arms race. Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN atomic watchdog IAEA, warns about this in an interview with ‘The Telegraph’. According to him, more and more countries are openly discussing the development of nuclear weapons again. The US has doubled its budget for nuclear weapons when presenting its budget for next year.
Source: The Telegraph, Belga, 404 Media
In recent decades, countries have mainly reduced their nuclear arsenals. The United Nations Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has been signed by 191 countries, has been in force since 1970. Its aim was to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
“We will see a crack in the system at some point,” Rafael Grossi said of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In several countries there is again talk of buying or stationing nuclear weapons. Countries such as Poland, South Korea and Japan are said to be thinking about this.
I fear a domino effect
“That will have a domino effect,” he fears. Countries will encourage each other to such an extent that they will have no choice but to acquire nuclear weapons themselves.
Grossi also says he is concerned about “friendly proliferation.” This means that countries store their nuclear weapons with friendly countries. For example, France this year started talking to European partners about closer nuclear cooperation.
Trump doubles budget for nuclear weapons
Meanwhile, the Trump administration in the US has committed to spending double the amount on developing nuclear weapons next year. The government announced its final budget for 2027 this week.
Technology news site ‘404 Media’ investigated those plans. Trump’s proposed 2027 budget would nearly double the budget for plutonium cores, the site writes.
These are chemical-filled metal spheres that sit inside a nuclear warhead and trigger the explosion of a nuclear weapon. Notably, the same budget plan states that almost $400 million would be cut from nuclear waste storage and remediation.
