The United States will update the size of its nuclear stockpile at the Preparatory Committee meeting for the 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, and the announcement is expected to come today when Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller provides opening remarks for the U.S. at the New York conference. The U.S. last revealed the previously-classified size of its active nuclear stockpile in 2010 when it declared that it had 5,113 warheads in 2009, but it hasn’t released the stockpile totals since. The most recent estimate of the size of the U.S. stockpile by nuclear weapons experts Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris suggests that the nation has 4,650 nuclear weapons that are ready to be launched on more than 800 delivery vehicles.
The U.S. is also expected to release a report on the steps it has taken to implement the 2010 NPT action plan, which includes the ratification of the New START Treaty with Russia and the creation of nuclear-weapons free zones around the world. “At the PrepCom, the United States will advance efforts to promote full compliance with the NPT and IAEA safeguards agreements and gain support for actions to reduce nuclear arms and promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” the State Department said. “The PrepCom is an opportunity to build on the Action Plan approved by consensus at the 2010 NPT Review Conference and to discuss priorities for the next Review Conference in 2015.”