What’s next for the nuclear non-proliferation treaty?

Welcome to a special expanded episode of *Ok, Doomer!*, hosted by the ELN’s Deputy Executive Director Bekki Field and outgoing Project and Communications Officer Edan Simpson. Today, we ask a fundamental and urgent question: what comes next for the NPT at a moment of mounting pressure on the global nuclear order? This episode was released to coincide with our webinar “Three Strikes and We’re Out? What’s Next for the NPT Review Process”, featuring Ambassador Đỗ Hùng Việt, President-designate of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, in conversation with the ELN about the 2026 conference and the NPT’s next chapter. To begin, Bekki and Edan are joined by ELN Policy Fellow Jana Baldus to set the scene: what is the NPT, why does the Review Conference matter, and what is at stake as states prepare for the 2026 conference? In a special debate, Bekki is joined by ELN Senior Network Member Ambassador Alexander Kmentt – who currently serves as the Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office and to the Specialized Institutions in Geneva – and former United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman to examine the state of the NPT and debate its prospects. Their wide-ranging conversation considers the tensions surrounding nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the divisions between nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states, and what repeated difficulties in reaching consensus mean for the Treaty’s future. Edan’s panel brings together Jana, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique Senior Research Felow Emmanuel Maitre, and UNIDIR Senior Researcher Almuntaser Alawi to take a closer look at the challenges facing the NPT review process and what could be done differently ahead of 2026. Together, they discuss: - Why the NPT review process has struggled to produce consensus. - How geopolitical tensions are affecting cooperation among NPT states parties. - What meaningful progress could look like at the 2026 Review Conference. - How the review process might be strengthened for the future. Moving on to “Turn Back the Clock”, Bekki is joined by former United Nations Under-Secretary-General of Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu to look at the history of the NPT and its review process, how the treaty has evolved over more than five decades, and what lessons that history offers as states confront today’s nuclear risks. Finally, in “The Debrief”, Bekki, Edan and Jana reflect on the arguments and ideas raised across this special episode and what they mean for the future of the NPT. Catch up on previous episodes and make sure to subscribe to future episodes of “Ok, Doomer!”