Officials from the United States and Armenia on Monday conducted a review of the nations’ bilateral Joint Action Plan on Combatting Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said in a statement.
The Joint Action Plan was signed in 2008 through the U.S. State Department’s Nuclear Smuggling Outreach Initiative, which has made similar agreements with other countries, including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Georgia.
The agreement outlines measures for Armenia to build capacity in preventing, detecting, and responding to smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials. The United States has offered Armenia training and equipment as assistance through the initiative.
“Together, the two governments have strengthened security at Armenian facilities that house radioactive materials, improved Armenia’s ability to detect radioactive materials that might cross its borders, and developed Armenia’s capacity to investigate nuclear smuggling incidents,” the U.S. Embassy said.
The U.S. delegation for Monday’s review was headed by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills Jr. and included experts from the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. The Armenian delegation, led by Gagik Hovhannisyan, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Security Department, also included representatives from the Armenian Ministry of Energy and other border security, customs, and nuclear regulatory agencies.
Last May, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced that its Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation had helped Armenia’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority remove three unused radioactive sources from Yerevan, the Armenian capital.
In October, U.S. experts met with their Armenian counterparts for a nuclear forensics coordination meeting, during which they discussed the provision of nuclear forensic equipment and training to counter nuclear smuggling.
Nuclear smuggling has been a growing concern in the South Caucasus, an area that has served as a transit corridor for those materials. Earlier this year, six men were arrested in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for attempting to sell uranium. In January, another three were arrested for selling cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.
Armenia’s national progress report during the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit held earlier this year noted, “Seizures of nuclear and radiological materials out of regulatory control in the South Caucasus region highlight the need for enhanced cooperation to counter the smuggling of these materials.”