Editing Nuclear disarmament (section)

===Key treaties===
* [[Partial Test Ban Treaty]] (PTBT) 1963: Prohibited all testing of nuclear weapons except underground.
* [[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]] (NPT)—signed 1968, came into force 1970: An international treaty (currently with 189 member states) to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. The treaty has three main pillars: nonproliferation, disarmament, and the right to peacefully use nuclear technology.
* [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks#SALT I Treaty|Interim Agreement on Offensive Arms]] (SALT I) 1972: The Soviet Union and the United States agreed to a freeze in the number of [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs) and [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]]s (SLBMs) that they would deploy.
* [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]] (ABM) 1972: The United States and Soviet Union could deploy ABM interceptors at two sites, each with up to 100 ground-based launchers for ABM interceptor missiles. In a 1974 Protocol, the US and Soviet Union agreed to only deploy an ABM system to one site.
* [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks#SALT II Treaty|Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty]] (SALT II) 1979: Replacing SALT I, SALT II limited both the Soviet Union and the United States to an equal number of ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and heavy bombers. Also placed limits on Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVS).
* [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]] (INF) 1987: Banned US and Soviet Union land-based [[ballistic missile]]s, [[cruise missiles]], and missile launchers with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometers (310–620&nbsp;mi) (short medium-range) and 1,000–5,500&nbsp;km (620–3,420&nbsp;mi) (intermediate-range).
* [[START I|Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty]] (START I)—signed 1991, ratified 1994: Limited long-range nuclear forces in the United States and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union to 6,000 attributed warheads on 1,600 ballistic missiles and bombers.
* [[START II|Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II]] (START II)—signed 1993, never put into force: START II was a bilateral agreement between the US and Russia which attempted to commit each side to deploy no more than 3,000 to 3,500 warheads by December 2007 and also included a prohibition against deploying multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)
* [[SORT|Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty]] (SORT or Moscow Treaty)—signed 2002, into force 2003: A very loose treaty that is often criticized by arms control advocates for its ambiguity and lack of depth, Russia and the United States agreed to reduce their "strategic nuclear warheads" (a term that remained undefined in the treaty) to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012. Was superseded by New START Treaty in 2010.
* [[Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty]] (CTBT)—signed 1996, not yet in force: The CTBT is an international treaty (currently with 181 state signatures and 148 state ratifications) that bans all nuclear explosions in all environments. While the treaty is not in force, Russia has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1990 and the United States has not since 1992.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uspw.org/index.php?title=Portal:Nuclear_Disarmament |title="Nuclear Disarmament," US Policy World|access-date=September 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102062608/http://uspw.org/index.php?title=Portal:Nuclear_Disarmament |archive-date=January 2, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[START treaty (2010)|New START Treaty]]—signed 2010, into force in 2011: replaces SORT treaty, reduces deployed nuclear warheads by about half, will remain into force until 2026.
* [[Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]]—signed 2017, entered into force on January 22, 2021: prohibits possession, manufacture, development, and testing of nuclear weapons, or assistance in such activities, by its parties.
Only one country ([[South Africa and weapons of mass destruction#Nuclear weapons|South Africa]]) has been known to ever dismantle an indigenously developed nuclear arsenal completely.  The [[apartheid]] government of [[South Africa]] produced half a dozen crude [[fission weapon]]s during the 1980s, but they were dismantled in the early 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nti.org/learn/countries/south-africa/nuclear/|title = South Africa &#124; Countries &#124; NTI}}</ref>