New agreements on securing nuclear material

News item | 02-04-2010

At the recent Nuclear Security Summit countries agreed to better safeguard stocks of nuclear material and improve efforts to combat smuggling and misuse.

The agreements offer 'the prospect of a safer world,' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.

According to Mr Balkenende, the agreements go beyond mere words to embrace concrete actions and commitments:

Canada will return a significant quantity of highly enriched uranium to the United States; Chile will do the same.
Ukraine will, most likely with Russian assistance, dispose of a quantity of enriched nuclear material deemed sufficient to produce various nuclear weapons.
The US has already recovered 91% of the almost 1400 kilos of highly enriched uranium. It has also helped Russia retrieve more than half of the remaining Soviet-era uranium stocks.

Mr Balkenende called these agreements 'an extremely encouraging start, even though there is still a long way to go'.

Communiqué

In the summit's final communiqué, nuclear terrorism is described as one of the most challenging threats to international security.

The international community needs to pool its resources and to both request and offer assistance when needed. 'The most important outcome of this summit is cooperation backed up by commitment,' Mr Balkenende said.

The key role played by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in nuclear security will also be strengthened.

Technology

Mr Balkenende emphasised that there is an important role for technology in tackling the problem. The Netherlands Forensic Institute, for example, is now able to give nuclear material a unique 'fingerprint' that ensures it can always be traced back to its source.

And other countries can offer their own best practices in numerous other areas, the prime minister added. 'We have agreed to join forces and share information. That, combined with a much stronger IAEA, should make a major difference.'

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