Indiana's Lugar is nominated for Nobel Prize

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and former Sen. Sam Nunn (D.-Ga.) have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union's arsenal.\nThe senators co-sponsored legislation in 1991 to dismantle nuclear stockpiles remaining after the Soviet Union's breakup, prompting nonproliferation achievements such as the destruction of more than 5,000 warheads previously aimed at the United States. \nThe Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has helped Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine acquire non-nuclear weapons status. \nAlso, because of the Nunn-Lugar initiative and related programs, the number of nuclear weapons extracted from the former superpower is higher than China's, France's and the United Kingdom's current arsenals combined, said Clay Moltz, associate director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in The Nonproliferation Review last spring. The Center conducted a two-year study researching the decrease in threats prompted by Nunn-Lugar and programs that followed it.\nMoltz said because of the far-reaching effects of the legislation and because it is approaching its 10th anniversary, Lugar has "a reasonably good chance this year in particular to receive the Nobel Prize."\nLugar's press secretary, Andy Fisher, said Lugar plans to remain committed to nonproliferation.\n"His reaction has been that we're only partway done," he said. "In terms of nuclear warheads ' 5,000 are deactivated. There's still another four or five thousand to go."\nNunn said he also views this issue as a top concern. \n"The proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons is the world's number-one security challenge," Nunn said in a statement Monday. "I am hopeful that our nomination may shed additional light on this important issue."\nNunn and Lugar met frequently with Russians as the breakup was occurring and saw the opportunity to do something about potential threats, including the possibility of weapons falling into terrorists' hands, Fisher said. \nThe program includes providing financial assistance to countries to remove weapons and sending American contractors oversees to complete the work, Fisher said. He said parts from the weapons are sold back to the United States to be made into products such as baseball bats and bicycle frames.\nMoltz said this assistance has placed very little burden on taxpayers. Fisher said the yearly budget of about $400 million a year accounts for two-tenths of 1 percent of the military budget.\nThe winner will be announced after the vote in October, according to the Nobel Foundation's Web site. The peace prize will be awarded Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway.\nThe Institute announced the nominations Sunday. William Potter, director of the Institute's nonproliferation center; David Hamburg, president emeritus of the Carnegie Corporation of New York; and Rolf Ekeus, Swedish ambassador to the United States and former executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq, collectively nominated the two senators.\nMoltz said the accomplishments of this legislation have been instrumental in minimizing the threats posed by the weapons supply left over from the Soviet Union's collapse.\n"I think it's made probably the single largest contribution to promoting nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union," he said. "I think it's fairly clear that we would be facing much worse nuclear threats in the former Soviet Union without this program"