nuclear-news

Here are 5 reasons why the upcoming summit is so important.

Any unsecured nuclear material is a threat everywhereIn the wrong hands, even a little nuclear material could cause devastation anywhere on earth. A simple nuclear bomb requires only 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium (HEU) or 18 pounds of plutonium—and roughly 3 million pounds of HEU and 1 million pounds of separated plutonium exist around the world. For plutonium, more is being made every year.

But bomb-grade materials aren’t the only danger. Any highly-radioactive material—the kind used in cancer treatment, energy exploration, and food safety around the world—could be spread by conventional explosives in a “dirty bomb,” causing widespread chaos. Alarmingly, due to often-weak security, these materials regularly go missing—and aren’t always recovered.

There aren’t any mandatory international standards for securing all nuclear materials

Under the current system, every country basically gets to make up its own rules for securing nuclear materials—and none of them have to tell anyone else what those rules are, or be held accountable for following them.

The nuclear security treaties that are in force are limited in scope and effectiveness. The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material was written for a pre-9/11 world, and isn’t fully effective because a critical amendment to bring it up to date hasn’t yet been ratified by enough countries. And the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism is about responding to terrorism—not preventing it.

The Nuclear Security Summits have been important but inadequate……….