Ashton Palmer

Non Proliferation Treaty

In 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or NPT was entered

into force. This treaty covers three mutually reinforcing pillars which are disarmament, non

proliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”(department of state). With this being said,

the main goals of this treaty are to move countries that already have nuclear weapons towards

disarmament, to make sure countries that don't already have nuclear weapons don't acquire

them, and finally for all countries to have equal access to peaceful nuclear technology. When

we look at Bolivia, the country in South America, one thing that doesn't come to mind is them

being a Nuclear Warhead. They currently do not have any Nuclear reactors in their country as

they are recognized as a Non-Nuclear Weapon State.

Bolivia may be hard for many to point out on a map due to it not creating much buzz

around the world when it comes to heated international conflicts, however it still plays a major

role in the NPT. There are currently 190 countries that are signed onto the Nuclear Non

Proliferation Treaty but only a few of the states currently have nuclear weapons at their

disposal, those being The United States, The United Kingdom, Russia, France and China. As

we said earlier, Bolivia currently does not have any nuclear weapons or energy at this moment

but that could all change in the coming years. This seems to be true due to the fact that Bolivia

is being pressured into becoming a nuclear state with help from the “BRICS coalition” which is

made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. BRICS represents a group of states

that are tired of being put on the back burner compared to the west when it comes to topics

ranging from the global monetary system to nuclear energy production. With this being said, it

may seem as if Bolivia would be breaking their agreement with the NPT. However, Article IV
part 2 of the treaty states that “All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the

right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and

technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”(NPT) which is exactly what

Bolivia is planning to do. From Bolivia’s stand point, the need to enter the nuclear community

could be very beneficial to the country by establishing themselves as a contender around the

world but it would also benefit them domestically on a economic level as well. Bolivia is still

being looked at as a developing country and adding nuclear energy to the country’s list of

resources could really ascend them into the rankings of well established countries.

When first trying to distinguish the quality to life in a country, it was hard to determine

how it would be measured. The United Nations then came up with the Human Development

Index or HDI which measures a country's quality of life on a scale from 0-1 with zero being the

worst and one being the best. This value that is determined is directly related to a countries

access to energy, and Bolivia’s score was a 0.66 only a few years ago. This may seem like a

decent score, but it still isn't great compared to other countries in the world. “Bolivia's only real

energy resource is gas and it is also half of their total export revenue”(Forbes). Considering this,

the demand for energy is constantly growing and it is beginning to exceed supply so for a

country such as Bolivia who like I said receives about half of its total export revenue from gas,

this is can be very problematic for their economic future.

However, if Bolivia goes through with the plans of building a nuclear complex and

research reactor as President Evo Morales stated, then this could create great economic

possibilities for the country. By just building just one single nuclear power plant in Bolivia, “it

could double their electricity generation and allow increased natural gas production to become

additional export revenue.”(forbes). Some may say that by Bolivia building these nuclear

complexes they would be binding their agreement in the NPT, however they are not intending to
use any of these facilities to acquire any nuclear weapons. These facilities would be specifically

designated to researching and producing nuclear technology and energy for the purpose of

generating more energy for the economy as a whole in Bolivia. The neighboring state of

Argentina also agrees that it is in the best interest of Bolivia to produce nuclear energy for it

“sees expansion of nuclear energy in South America as a major business opportunity”.(forbes)

While Bolivia may stay within the lines of the NPT by only wanting to produce nuclear

energy for peaceful reasons and economic progression, they don't entirely have faith in the NPT

that it is strong and withstanding for the years ahead. At a previous meeting at the UN, a

Bolivian speaker stated “that it is imperative for the NPT to be brought up to date” for when this

treaty was signed into place, we were living in a different era. Now however, there are a few

states that still have nuclear military defense systems even though they have been signed into

the NPT for many years. Until this treaty provides an incentive to these states to completely

disarm themselves, then in no way will these states do so. When we live in a world that is

constantly seeking the utmost power, then having nuclear weapons at your disposal for security

and protection will always be an upper hand to have, and until the NPT states otherwise, then

we will never be able to see a world in which the threat of Nuclear warfare is non existent. Pablo

Solon of Bolivia stated “that as long as a single state still had nuclear weapons, others would

wish to acquire them” and this statement strongly solidifies the argument of why the NPT must

be updated. Bolivia does not see the need in acquiring nuclear weapons and believes that the

treaty should be updated in that “the United States and the Russian Federation should reduce

their warheads to no more than 500”(UN website). In doing so, this would reduce the global total

warheads by 90 percent and would be crucial in and trying to reach the goal of of a world free of

nuclear weapons. Bolivia also wants to see “nuclear-weapon free zones be implemented into

the treaty such as in the Middle East” and then those zones should slowly expand over time.
With these two updates to the NPT, the world could be a lot closer to seeing a decline in nuclear

warheads.

When it comes to nuclear weapons as a way of security and defense, Bolivia does not

fall into that category as they believe it is not essential in providing a stable security for the world

as a whole. However, Bolivia believes that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons could be updated and implemented in a way to incentivize countries who already

have control over nuclear weapons to disarm them completely at certain rates over time in order

for us to see a world with no threat of nuclear warfare. The NPT should strongly focus on

countries developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while it will help more developing

countries such as Bolivia itself create a lasting energy source other than fossil fuels which are

slowly decreasing while the demand for these energy resources are increasing. If we begin to

see the countries that currently hold nuclear weapons comply with these regulations that should

be implemented then the NPT would be on the right path but if not, then countries will continue

to try to acquire these weapons for many years to come.