Missing nuke materials pose summit challenges
Print Edition
ABOUT 140 cases of missing or unauthorized use of nuclear and radioactive material were reported to the UN atomic agency in 2013, highlighting the challenges facing world leaders at a nuclear security summit next week.
Any loss or theft of highly enriched uranium, plutonium or different types of radioactive sources is potentially serious as al-Qaida-style militants could try to use them to make a crude nuclear device or a so-called “dirty bomb,” experts say.
Denis Flory, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said most of the reported incidents concerned small quantities of radioactive material.
But, “even if they can’t be used for making a nuclear weapon, they can be used in radioactive dispersal devices, which is a concern,” Flory said.
In a “dirty bomb,” conventional explosives are used to disperse radiation from a radioactive source, which can be found in hospitals, factories or other places that may not be very well protected.
Holding a third nuclear security summit since 2010, leaders from 53 countries — including US President Barack Obama — are expected to call for more international action to help prevent radical groups from obtaining atomic bombs.
At the meeting in The Hague on Monday and Tuesday, they will say that much headway has been made in reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism but also make clear that more must be done to ensure that dangerous substances don’t fall into the wrong hands.
The Dutch hosts say the aim is a summit communique “containing clear agreements” to prevent nuclear terrorism by reducing stockpiles of hazardous nuclear material, better securing such stocks and intensifying international cooperation.
Flory said member states had reported a total of nearly 2,500 cases to the IAEA’s Incident and Trafficking Database since it was set up two decades ago.
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