Plans produced and released at last week’s Nuclear Security Summit highlight information sharing and the creation of a new contact group as means to address the threat of nuclear terrorism by building upon the progress made throughout the summit process. The summit, which brought together over 50 heads of state to discuss the risk of nuclear terrorism and offer country commitments to prevent such an incident, was the last of four held under the Obama administration. One of the summit’s most welcomed milestones was ratification by a number of nations last week of an amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) that sets the amendment up for likely entry into force in the coming weeks. The amended treaty now covers nuclear material used for peaceful purposes in domestic storage, use, and transport.
The summit communiqué highlighted universalization of international agreements such as the CPPNM, hailing its “imminent entry into force.” The statement also reaffirmed international nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation goals and emphasized the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as central to the global nuclear security architecture, encouraging the agency to regularly convene high-level international conferences “to maintain political momentum and continue to raise awareness of nuclear security among all stakeholders.”
“Today we agreed to maintain a strong [nuclear security] architecture . . . to carry out this work,” President Obama said at a press briefing at the close of the summit. He announced the creation of a new Nuclear Security Contact Group made up of senior-level experts from more than 30 countries “who will meet regularly to preserve the networks of cooperation we’ve built, to institutionalize this work, and to keep driving progress for years to come.”
According to the White House, the Nuclear Security Contact Group that will convene annually at the IAEA General Conference and discuss the implementation of summit commitments and maintain nuclear security cooperation. A few dozen nations and two international organizations committed themselves to participate in the group, including Belgium, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Ukraine, the U.K., the U.S., and the United Nations.
Summit participants released five action plans for international institutions and initiatives meant to advance this work. An action plan in support of the United Nations called for increased efforts by 2021 to implement security obligations under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, which requires member states to take measures against weapons of mass destruction proliferation, and to submit voluntary reports on the resolution’s implementation. The plan said that “for those in a position to do so, support the provision of adequate assistance” to states that request it, through means such as technical expertise, technology transfers, and funding.
The action plan in support of the IAEA called on the agency to continue coordinating international security activities and conduct information exchange meetings with international institutions like the U.N., and encouraged states to work with the agency on highly enriched uranium minimization and the development of guidance documents on nuclear incident response. The action plan supporting the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) highlighted transnational information exchanges between law enforcement agencies worldwide and called for greater cooperation between Interpol and the IAEA in countering nuclear and radiological trafficking.
An action plan for the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, a partnership of over 80 countries and five organizations, called for greater technical capacity among the initiative’s participating nations. The plan encouraged more workshops for member state capacity building, particularly for nuclear detection, forensics, and response and mitigation, as well as information sharing on multilateral activities. An action plan for the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction called for the implementation and funding of expanded cooperation on projects involving nuclear and radiological security. It encouraged member states to assist with programs on insider threat reduction, transportation security, the disposition and conversion of nuclear materials, and best practices information exchanges.
