NUCLEAR SECURITY AROUND THE WORLD

• In 2009 President Obama delivered a speech in Prague in which he called nuclear terrorism one of the greatest threats to international security. With that in mind, US hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Washington DC in 2010, in order to draw attention, at the highest possible level, to the need to secure nuclear material and thus prevent nuclear terrorism.

• Forty-seven countries and three international organisations participated in the first Nuclear Security Summit, held in Washington in 2010. The aim of the summit was to improve worldwide nuclear security by enhancing cooperation and to make concrete agreements aimed at better securing nuclear materials and facilities.

• Commitments made in Washington in 2010:
  • Leaders jointly affirmed the seriousness and urgency of the threat posed by nuclear terrorism.
  • The participating countries agreed to work to secure all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide.
  • The participating countries agreed to shoulder their responsibility for securing nuclear material within their own borders.
  • The participating countries agreed to work together as an international community to improve nuclear security.

• In 2012 the second NSS was held in Seoul. Fifty-three countries and four international organisations were invited. The first summit was concerned with making political agreements, while the follow-up in Seoul focused on the progress made on implementing those agreements.

• New ambitions were added to the Washington Work Plan: the participants recognised the need to increase synergy between nuclear safety and security and better protect radiological sources from theft and misuse. Radiological sources may not be usable for a nuclear weapon, but they are well suited for making a ‘dirty bomb’, which can release radiation and cause social upheaval.

• Nuclear Materials Security Index has been introduced, which surveyed the precautions,  each country had in place and ranked them based on their security practices

• The 2014 summit(Third NSS summit) will chart the accomplishments of the past four years, identifying which of the objectives set out in the Washington Work Plan and the Seoul Communiqué have not been met and proposing ways to achieve them.

The Netherlands will focus on the following achievable and visible goals:

1. optimal security for and, if at all possible, a reduction in the use of highly enriched uranium and plutonium.
2. Ratification of the amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material by more countries to ensure that the amendment enters into force as soon as possible.
3. More frequent reviews of state security structures by IAEA advisory missions.
4. National registration and protection of highly radioactive sources (e.g. medical equipment).
5. Greater role for industry in nuclear security, to enhance the security culture and existing regulations.
6. States should provide information to their own people and the international community to demonstrate that they are taking appropriate measures to maintain the security of their nuclear material and facilities. These confidence-building measures will increase trust in the international protection system.

• Gift baskets

Certain countries involved in the NSS are interested in taking a specific security theme a step further. These countries are being given the opportunity to offer a ‘gift basket’, an extra initiative. The idea is for presenters of such gift baskets to acquire the backing of as many countries as possible, which will in turn function as role models for a given aspect of security.

• For example, the Netherlands, with the help of the highly respected Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), has taken the lead in further developing a gift basket that fosters expertise and cooperation in the field of nuclear forensics (forensic analysis of incidents involving nuclear or radiological materials) and international cooperation in this field.

• In a US based study, it has found that India has one of the weakest nuclear securities in the world.
• Number of nations having material for making nuclear bombs has been reduced by 25% over the past 2 years.

• But there remain weak links which could be dangerous as these could be exploited by terrorists.

• Study  used various factors such as accounting methods, physical security and transportation security etc for finding safety of nuclear material.
• Israel, Pakistan, India, Iran and North Korea are the weakest link in nuclear security.

• Study has ranked Australia as having the best nuclear security arrangements, followed by Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Norway. The US is at 11th rank.

• Australia was able to do so by reducing its quantity of nuclear materials and by ratifying a treaty that commits countries to criminalise acts of nuclear terrorism and to cooperate in bringing nuclear criminals to justice.
• Belgium improved by passing new security legislation, joining a treaty and decreasing its quantity of materials.
• Canada ratified treaties and issued new regulations on the transport of atomic materials for improving its score
• Japan has made sweeping nuclear upgrades after the 2011 Fukushima reactor disaster, including the formation of a regulatory body to address nuclear safety and security. It rose from 23rd in the rankings to 13th.
• As per the study, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine, Vietnam, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary have removed all or most of the weapons-usable nuclear materials on their territories since 2012.
• The drop in the number of countries possessing such materials could be seen as encouraging for President Barack Obama’s declared ambition to lock down all of the world’s highly enriched uranium and plutonium.
• North Korea remained in last place.
• There are an estimated 1,400 tons of highly enriched uranium and almost 500 tons of plutonium stored in hundreds of sites around the world.
• The 2014 and 2016 meetings will provide opportunities for the moments of accountability for states to show progress on their own nuclear materials security and their commitment to working toward a robust global nuclear security system.