Nuclear Non-Proliferation

In 1990, the Fund sharpened its work in nuclear non-proliferation to focus on horizontal non-proliferation, with emphasis on extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), due for review in 1995; tightening nuclear export controls in Europe; and controlling surplus plutonium. A 1991 grant to the University of Southampton’s Programme for Promoting Nuclear Non-Proliferation (PPNN), launched by the RBF and the Ford Foundation in 1987, targeted the NPT’s extension. PPNN was the most prominent activity in the field, able to reach government officials, academics, and NGOS, and disseminating the work of other non-proliferation groups funded by the RBF. A second grant, to the Monterey Institute of International Studies, enabled the Emerging Nuclear Suppliers Project (ENSP) to install an online service making its database monitoring nuclear transactions more widely available internationally, and to include for the first time trade profiles of Central and Eastern European countries. ENSP was established with RBF support at the University of California in 1987, and became a major resource for analysts, governments, journalists, and policymakers.