Countries around the world are making progress in securing nuclear material within their borders, according to a report released yesterday by the Nuclear Threat Initiative that continued to push for a global system governing all nuclear materials. The report, released in advance of the third Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands in March, noted that seven countries since NTI released its first Nuclear Materials Security Index in 2012 had given up their nuclear materials, lowering the list of countries with more than one kilogram of weapons-usable material to 25. However, the report notes that “much work remains to be done” in the effort to secure nuclear material around the world, highlighting the lack of an international system and deficiencies among some of the 25 countries that continue to maintain quantities of nuclear material. “A nuclear detonation in any part of the world will affect us all,” said former Senator Sam Nunn, the Co-Chairman of NTI. “We need a global nuclear materials security system to secure all materials, to employ international standards and best practices, and to give states the capacity to assess nuclear security globally and hold each other accountable.”
The index predictably singles out North Korea, Iran, India, and Pakistan as having the worst commitment to nuclear security, ranking the countries as the four worst on the index, though it lauded Pakistan for updating its nuclear security regulations. Australia retained the top spot among the 25 countries with more than one kilogram of weapons-usable material, improving its score from 90 to 92 on the index’s 100-point scale by scaling back the amount of nuclear materials it possesses and ratifying a key international treaty that criminalizes nuclear terrorism. Belgium, Canada, and Japan made the most strides since 2012, while the United States dropped a point because it hasn’t ratified two key treaties and has excluded a key nuclear facility from international inspection. It was tied with the United Kingdom at 11th on the index. Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine, and Vietnam were recognized for giving up their nuclear materials over the last two years.
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