It appears a group of 19 nations are preparing to pledge at this week’s Nuclear Security Summit to further drive down their use of weapon-usable highly enriched uranium for civilian purposes, one expert said on Wednesday.
The two-day summit, which begins Thursday in Washington, D.C., will include new pledges by individual and groups of states on measures aimed at preventing terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials.
“I’ve heard that the upcoming ‘gift basket’ on HEU minimization and elimination will include 19 countries. But I also understand that not all countries that have stocks of HEU will be signing on to that,” Elena Sokova, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said on the sidelines of a conference of nongovernmental organizations, “Solutions for a Secure Nuclear Future.”
Pledges would include not using HEU in any new nuclear power reactors and pursuing further study of alternative fuels, Sokova said.
Norway appears to have a leading role in developing the pledge. However, several states with significant stocks of HEU — including France, Germany, and summit no-show Russia — are not likely to sign on, Sokova said. “I’m not sure what we will hear from other holders, particularly countries like Pakistan, India, and some other countries with stocks of HEU. That remains to be seen. Hopefully some countries will change their mind and join,” Sokova said.
The Norwegian Embassy in Washington had by deadline not answered a request for confirmation and detail on the pledge.
Sokova and other speakers at the conference noted advances made in global nuclear security during the Nuclear Security Summit process dating to 2010, including 12 new countries divesting themselves of all highly enriched uranium and recovery and elimination of over 1,500 kilograms of HEU and separated plutonium. But they also offered modest outlooks for the outcome of this fourth and final summit. For example, observers should expect no significant movement to address security of the 83% of weapon-usable nuclear materials worldwide that are held by just nine nations’ militaries, said Andrew Bieniawski, a Department of Energy veteran who led the U.S. Global Threat Reduction Program for eight years.
Events such as the 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons site in Tennessee demonstrate the security of military-held nuclear materials should not be taken for granted, said Bieniawski, now vice president for material security and minimization at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. “Unfortunately, on military materials we are all going to be disappointed and not enough steps are going to be taken on military materials and the 83 percent. There’s going to be no significant language in the communique, there’s going to be no tailored gift basket despite trying to have done this for two summit attempts. … And so what we will need to do, and what we will ask your help on, is looking at the national statements and then keep trying to have attention focused on this issue.”
