Deals reached at nuclear summit
DOI: 10.1063/PT.4.0980
Representatives from more than 40 countries have gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss nonproliferation and securing nuclear material.
“The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to US security, both short term, medium term and long term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon,” said US President Obama at a press conference this morning . “This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come.”
“If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically, and from a security perspective would be devastating. And we know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon—a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using.
“Unfortunately, we have a situation in which there is a lot of loose nuclear material around the world. And so the central focus for this summit is getting the international community on the path in which we are locking down that nuclear material in a very specific time frame with a specific work plan.”
The meeting is being held outside the usual UN or IAEA channels to allow Pakistan, India, and Israel to attend, all be it with an “observer” status.
Obama is also taking an opportunity to build a coalition outside the UN security council, with leaders such as Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Abdul Razak , to pressure Iran to remain within the constraints of the IAEA safeguard protocols, and not to develop nuclear weapons capability, while still retaining an ability to develop nuclear energy.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani assured Obama that the country has an “appropriate safeguard” for its arsenal of 70-90 nuclear weapons. Both Pakistan and India are believed to be expanding their nuclear capability according to reports in the New York Times .
A good start
The summit started with some good news with Ukraine following Chile’s lead and agreeing to ship its highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is a proliferation risk, out of the country. Ukraine has about 90-kg of HEU, mainly for some research reactors, which will now be adapted to run on low enriched uranium.
The US and Russia will also sign a plutonium disposition agreement tomorrow. Both countries agreed to dispose of 34 metric tons each of weapons-grade plutonium that has been removed from military programs by burning it in civilian reactors.
Moreover Razak agreed to put in place some export controls, to stop Malaysia from acting as a hub for smuggling nuclear technology, as it was during the late 90s with Pakistan’s A. Q. Khan.
Paul Guinnessy
More about the authors
Paul Guinnessy, pguinnes@aip.org
