Discussions to center on HEU minimization, international convention ratification, financial contributions


The Nuclear Security Summit, first held in Washington in 2010, takes its origin in U.S. security strategies to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Since taking office in 2009, U.S. President Obama has tackled global threats stemming from nuclear terrorism in a multilateral scheme.

During his speech in Prague in April 2009, Obama singled out nuclear terrorism as the most serious threat to international security, announcing his plan to lead a global effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years.

A year later, he held the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington where 47 heads of states and three international organizations, the U.N., IAEA and EU, gathered together.

In Washington, the participating countries agreed on the urgency and seriousness of nuclear threat, promising to work together toward the four-year goal to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials.

Nuclear security experts say the Washington summit did not produce with many results, except for adopting the Washington Communique and the following work plan.

However, making all leaders come together for the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials was first of its kind, they say.

The Washington Communique states that the 47 countries “reaffirm the fundamental responsibility of states, consistent with their respective international obligations, to maintain effective security of all nuclear materials, which includes nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons, and nuclear facilities under their control.”

It also aims to prevent non-state actors from obtaining the information or technology required to use such material for malicious purposes, and emphasizes the importance of robust national legislative and regulatory frameworks for the nuclear security.

Besides the existing agenda on how to prevent nuclear terrorism, the Seoul summit adds two new agenda items: how to ensure the safety and security of radioactive materials widely used in people’s daily lives, and how to create “synergy effects” between nuclear security and nuclear power safety, as the recent incident in Fukushima, Japan, drew much attention on how to ensure the safety of a nuclear plant.

At the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, encouraging the participating countries to set concrete national commitments such as minimizing highly-enriched uranium will be the key to making the event fruitful, experts noted.

According to the Global Fissile Material Report 2011 by the International Panel on Fissile Materials, global stocks of highly-enriched uranium for military and civilian purposes are estimated to have reached 1,600 tons. The stock of plutonium, is estimated to be 500 tons ― enough for about 100,000 nuclear weapons.

Russia is estimated to possess 616 tons of HEU available for weapons, followed by the U.S. with 260 tons, France with 26 tons and China with 16 tons, according to the report.

Russia has eliminated 446 tons and plans to “blend down” 71 tons by converting them to low-enriched uranium, while the U.S. has eliminated 135 tons and plans to convert 200 tons to LEU.

Civilian HEU is an attractive target for terrorists because it can be made into a crude nuclear weapon comparatively easily.

Minimizing, removing or blending down HEU is the key to reducing threats of nuclear terrorism.

According to officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S., Mexico recently shipped its remaining 10.8 kilograms of 70 percent HEU to the U.S., becoming the newest HEU-free country.

Frank von Hippel, co-chair of the IPFM, said civilian separated plutonium is also of great concern.

“Because of the fierce opposition of the governments of France, Japan, Russia and the U.K., the dangers from civilian plutonium separation have been blocked from official discussion at the Nuclear Security Summits,” said Hippel at a symposium in Seoul, Friday.

After the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit, the U.S. signed an agreement with Russia to eliminate at least 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium, said Miles Pomper, senior research associate of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Pomper said, however, there are “missing commitments” in HEU minimization.

Belarus, which did not attend the Washington summit, has a total stock of 170 kilos of fresh HEU and 40 kilos is weapons-grade, he said.

Russia currently holds about 20 tons of civil HEU but it remains to be seen whether it will convert those reactors, he said.

Ratifying the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and its 2005 amendment is another major issue at the Seoul summit.

Whereas the obligations for physical protection under the CPPNM covered nuclear material during international transport, the amendment to the CPPNM makes it legally binding for state parties to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage and transport.

While 42 out of the 47 Nuclear Security Summit participants are part of the CPPNM, only about half of the 47 participants are party to the 2005 amendment. The U.S. is not one of them.

Other key issues to be discussed at the Seoul summit include financial contributions to the IAEA Nuclear Security Fund.

“More ambitious goals are needed for the communique and work plan for 2012 and especially 2014,” Pomper said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)