Sierra Club and a coalition of national environmental, peace, and public health groups celebrate the entry into force of the TPNW. We congratulate the United Nations, our affiliate the
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and the fifty one countries who have ratified the historic TPNW. The Sierra Club has long called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear war also call on the Biden Administration and the 117th Congress to deny further funding for the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons or upgrades of existing warheads.
Endorsed by more than 120 nations, and ratified by fifty one so far, the TPNW prohibits parties from participating in, or assisting in any way, the engineering, manufacture, testing, deployment
or transfer of nuclear weapons within their jurisdictions.
The legacy cost and environmental damage caused by the development of nuclear weapons from 1943 to the present is incalculable. The Congressional Government Accounting Office
estimates the remediation of sites across the U.S. associated with nuclear weapons production at $505 billion. This cost could easily double to one trillion dollars, as the GAO’s Office of Legacy Management adds more nuclear weapons production sites to its list. Some sites like Rocky Flats, CO or Hanford Site, WA, will never be reclaimed.
In response, Sierra Club Nuclear Policy Director John Coequyt released the following statement:
“The Sierra Club looks forward to this landmark international treaty coming into full effect, and continues to urge all nations to work towards the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Jeff Carter
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Ira Helfand
Nuclear Ban U.S., Timmon Wallis