The United Kingdom should immediately declare that it will abandon nuclear weapons once the Trident missile system reaches the end of its service life, a group of scientists said today.

Such a declaration would not endanger British national security and would increase pressure on other countries to also give up their nuclear weapons, according to a report prepared by the Pugwash group, released on the 50-year anniversary of the first British nuclear test.  The report’s authors include Joseph Rotblat, a Nobel peace prize laureate who was involved in U.S. efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

“Were the U.K. to show a more determined commitment to nuclear disarmament, especially following a decision not to replace Trident, it could expect to become a leading member, if not the leader, of the group of states actively working for the creation of a nuclear weapon-free world,” the report says.

In the 1998 British strategic defense review, a “sub-strategic” role was referred to for the Tridents, but no further details were provided.  It would be even more dangerous, however, to arm the missiles with smaller, low-yield nuclear weapons, the report says.

“Trident in its current form is less provocative to non-nuclear weapon states than justifying U.K. nuclear weapons afresh by placing new emphasis on sub-strategic nuclear capability,” the report says.  Instead it would be better “for the U.K. to oppose apparent U.S. moves to incorporate low-yield nuclear weapons into areas of conventional defense planning,” it says (Richard Norton-Taylor, London Guardian, Oct. 3).

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