Road to Disarmament Likely to Be Slow, Britain Says

LONDON —  Britain said Sunday that it sees no swift moves toward nuclear disarmament despite a commitment by nuclear powers to scrap their atomic arsenals.

Britain and other key nuclear powers agreed at the United Nations on Saturday to give an unequivocal commitment to do away with their atomic weapons, but the pact included no timetable.

“What we have agreed to together with the United States is that, in principle, we would like to see the end to nuclear weapons,” British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said.

“I think every sensible person around the world agrees with that. But there’s no specific timetable agreed on and obviously it is dependent on every other nuclear weapons state agreeing to the same and taking appropriate action.”

In an interview with the BBC, he added: “I think realistically it’s unlikely to lead to action tomorrow, next week or next month.

“But it is a declaration of principle and to that extent it is an important principle that those countries with nuclear weapons have accepted that ultimately they would prefer not to have them.”

He said he hopes that nuclear weapons will be a thing of the past during his lifetime.

“But it is dependent on all the countries with nuclear weapons and access to that very dangerous technology,” he added.