NPT Talks Cement Status Quo

[The.Greenbase@gb.greenpeace.org]

PROLIFERATORS 1; DISARMERS 0:  NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY TALKS

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                   GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROLIFERATORS 1; DISARMERS 0:  NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY TALKS
                CEMENT STATUS QUO, GREENPEACE SAYS.

NEW YORK, May 10, 1995 -- (GP) A nuclear conference called 'an
historic opportunity' has failed to grapple with both the
massive arsenals of the nuclear powers and the dangers of
nuclear proliferation, Greenpeace said today.

"The outcome of the Non-Proliferation Treaty talks is likely
to be a Nuclear Power Trip for the world's worst proliferators
at the expense of global security," Greenpeace's Stephanie
Mills said. "The promise of more talks but no real decisions
on nuclear disarmament -- even with the Cold War over -- makes
the chasm between the rhetoric of the nuclear powers and any
real commitment to non-proliferation and eliminating nuclear
weapons gape wider than ever."

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) talks at the United
Nations in New York have effectively decided to postpone any
real disarmament decisions until the end of the century, when
the next NPT Review Conference meets.  A decision
acknowledging that a majority of around 110 countries, of the
185 Treaty members, support indefinite extension, is expected
to be adopted tomorrow.  However, key Middle East, Asian,
African and Latin American states are not included in this
majority.  Yearly meetings from 1997 are also likely to be
agreed.

Major splits between non-nuclear countries and the nuclear
weapon states over nuclear disarmament will be papered over by
the decision, Greenpeace said.

"Non-nuclear countries asked the right questions about the
nuclear powers' commitment to disarmament, but they refused to
answer," Mills said. "The nuclear powers seem to have induced
a collective amnesia about the dangers of nuclear weapons and
proliferation."

While diplomats met during the past month:

* the U.S. spent an estimated $780 million on nuclear weapons;
* Britain sent its newest Trident nuclear submarine on patrol;
* France inaugurated a new above-ground nuclear testing
facility and now threatens to resume underground tests in the
Pacific;
* Russia continued to produce new nuclear warheads;
* Some 4.8 tonnes of plutonium was created in nuclear power
reactors world-wide; and
* Around one tonne of weapons-usable plutonium -- the
equivalent of 130 nuclear weapons -- was produced in civil
reprocessing facilities globally.
                               -more-

"If this is a commitment by the nuclear powers to non-
proliferation and disarmament, then the real test of whether
an extended NPT is successful lies ahead," Mills said. "The
nuclear powers have claimed they need a permanent NPT to
provide certainty for nuclear
disarmament: they must now take action to prove that.  If not,
an indefinite NPT could mean a permanent nuclear fix,
guaranteeing additional addicts in future."

It is expected that the conference will formally adopt
decisions on the Treaty's extension and related documents
Thursday morning.
                                  ENDS

Further information:  Blair Palese, Stephanie Mills ph +212
941 0994 ext 211 or 755 3659.

* Greenpeace will hold a press briefing on the outcome of the
NPT meeting on Thursday, May 11, 1995 in the United Nations
Correspondents Association Press Club at 3:30 p.m.