Year One: Building a Sustained Dialogue on Peaceful Uses for the NPT and a Brighter Future

“What more can we do?” 

That question was at the forefront of our minds when we launched the Sustained Dialogue on Peaceful Uses (SDPU) one year ago at the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference in New York.   

For over 50 years, the NPT has served as the cornerstone of the global nuclear nonproliferation regime as well as a force multiplier for sustainable development by affirming the inalienable right to access the benefits of the peaceful atom.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has worked to empower Member States to leverage nuclear science and technology not only to generate emissions-free power, but to also improve human and animal health, increase food security, and monitor the state of precious natural resources like water and soil in the face of climate change.  But as we passed the halfway point last year on the global march towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, it has become increasingly apparent that progress must be accelerated. 

This can only be done if we break down siloes of conversation and work together to bring the strengths of diverse communities to bear on the most pressing global challenges.  In my line of work, this means identifying and removing barriers to access nuclear science and technology for peaceful purposes.  That is precisely what the United States, in partnership with the United Kingdom and with political support from 29 other nations, aimed to do with the launch of the SDPU last year. 

To answer this question, the United States and United Kingdom hosted a side event in August 2023 on the margins of negotiations on “Pillar 3” of the NPT Preparatory Committee meeting to speak directly to a packed room of representatives from States Parties and civil society alike.  CRDF Global, to whom the United States and United Kingdom awarded a $3.9 million grant in September 2022 to facilitate the SDPU, began by recalling the spirit of the initiative and how they are bringing it from idea to reality.  Representatives from Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the United States then stressed the essential role the NPT plays in spreading nuclear science and technology as a tool for good and highlighted the many ways the SDPU can serve as a commitment to the NPT’s third pillar.   

A panel of subject matter experts from the IAEA, the Water Authority of Jordan, and the Ghana Ministry of Health, which played integral roles in shaping the SDPU, then described the progress made under the initiative.  They recounted new collaborations seeded by the SDPU,  including work on: 

• Water Security in the Middle East and North Africa:  The Water Authority of Jordan hosted a regional dialogue series with over 100 participants aiming to address one of the biggest challenges facing the region – water resource management – and identify ways that naturally occurring stable isotopes like oxygen and hydrogen can provide critical insights into the replenishment of aquifers.  
• Access to Nuclear Medicine in West Africa:  The Ministry of Health of Ghana brought together African experts from diverse backgrounds to identify ways to increase access to radiation medicine in West Africa to improve health outcomes and combat cancer while sparking new collaborations with regional and global initiatives like the U.S. Cancer Moonshot and the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer. 
• Sustainable Financing for Women’s Health:  The Center for Global Health and Development convened experts on the margins of numerous international conferences to identify the most important aspects of sustainable financing for nuclear medicine to improve women’s health outcomes. 
• Food Security in the Context of Climate Change:  The U.S. National Academy of Sciences held a roundtable symposium with over 300 participants from academia and the development community to discuss the unique role that nuclear technologies and multilateral organizations like the IAEA play in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) in the face of climate change and conflict. 

“So what’s next?” 

The interest in the Sustained Dialogue was clear, as evidenced by the political support from eight new NPT States Parties co-sponsoring the SDPU working paper that we submitted with the United Kingdom, but people wanted to know what was next. 

The answer to ‘What’s next?’ is simple – (1) breadth and (2) depth.   

To start, we plan to expand in breadth – to build the SDPU in new regions and on new topics while staying true to our guiding principle that the initiative is participant-driven and expert-oriented.  For example, in its capacity as an SDPU implementing partner,  CRDF Global is building networks focused on collaboration to increase food security and safety in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.  Nuclear science and technology can be used to improve the yield and quality of rice in the face of climate change and combat spoilage in fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, and spices – the SDPU aims to identify ways to expand access to these transformative technologies. 

In parallel, we plan to expand in depth – by identifying promising avenues of potential work which can be built into pilot projects.  We are already seeing this in Ghana, where improving equipment maintenance and sustainability has the potential to amplify the impact of IAEA programs like Rays of Hope for countries with little or no access to radiotherapy treatment.  This realization, sparked by the SDPU, is seeding follow-on discussions to develop pilot projects which will make nuclear medicine more accessible and reliable in West African partner states. 

The Sustained Dialogue was launched last year to answer the clear call to do more to improve access to nuclear science and technology.  Since then, CRDF Global, through the SDPU, has begun an ambitious program to engage a diverse community of experts to tackle the most pressing development priorities of States Parties in pursuit of the UN SDGs.  This initiative, born of the NPT, serves to demonstrate that the Treaty is alive and well, not only securing the world from the spread of nuclear weapons, but building a world that is safer, healthier, and more prosperous for all.   

About the Author: Dr. Sam Meehan is a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.