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A major international summit convened by BarackObama to discuss ways of improving the securityof nuclear materials got under way on April 12, 2010with the American President underlining the im-portance of preventing terrorists from getting holdof the ingredients for a nuclear bomb in Washing-ton.The two-day summit brought together 47 countries,including the U.S., 37 of whom are being represented

by their heads of state or government. A final dec-laration, negotiated over the past few months byofficials from participating countries has been re-leased.

Romania has nearly 1500 MWe of nuclear generat-ing capacity and sources 20 per cent of its electric-ity from nuclear energy, Bulgaria's two reactorsaccount for 35 per cent of its national power grid,and Hungary has four reactors generating one-thirdof its power. All three countries also figure in the

list compiled by the International Panel on FissileMaterial with stocks of Highly Enriched Uraniumin the 10-100 kg. range. Yet, neither country willbe at the Washington summit, even though Arme-nia, with just 370 MWe of nuclear power has beeninvited. Uzbekistan has also not been invited, de-spite holding HEU stocks in the 100-1000 kg range.But Georgia, with no nuclear programme to speakof, will be in Washington.

Nuclear Security SummitAdop ted Communiqu and Plan of Work

By: Sant Prasad Gupta

Two other countries whose presence ought to havebeen considered essential to such an endeavour areNiger and Namibia, who together account for nearly18 per cent of the world's mined uranium. But thetwo African states, whose yellowcake drives muchof the world's nuclear programme, were not con-sidered important enough for the summit.

Laura Holgate, Senior Director, WMD Terrorism

& Threat Reduction at National Security Council,told that the idea was to get a representative set ofcountries. We couldn't invite every single countrythat has any nuclear connectivity and so we werelooking for countries that represented regional di-versity where we had states that had weapons, statesthat don't have weapons, states with large nuclearprograms, states with small nuclear programs.

Both India and Pakistan has attended the summit atthe prime ministerial level. Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu pulled out at the last minute,opting to send his Foreign Minister instead.

Statement by Ind ian Prime

Minister

Nuclear security is one of the foremost challengeswe face today. I therefore wish to commend Presi-dent Barack Obama for his initiative in convening

this Summit on Nuclear Security. We would like

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the Summit to lead to concrete outcomes which helpmake our world a safer place.

The developmental applications of nuclear sciencein areas such as medicine, agriculture, food preser-

vation and availability of fresh water are by nowwell established. Today, nuclear energy has emergedas a viable source of energy to meet the growingneeds of the world in a manner that is environmen-tally sustainable. There is a real prospect for nucleartechnology to address the developmental challengesof our times.

In India we have ambitious plans for using nuclearenergy to meet our growing energy needs. Our tar-get is to increase our installed capacity more than

seven fold to 35000 MWe by the year 2022, and to60,000 MWe by 2032.

The nuclear industrys safety record over the lastfew years has been encouraging. It has helped to re-store public faith in nuclear power. Safety alone,however, is not enough. The challenge we face to-day is that of ensuring nuclear security.

The danger of nuclear explosives or fissile materialand technical know-how falling in to the hands ofnon-state actors continues to haunt our world. Indiais deeply concerned about the danger it faces, as doother States, from this threat.

Since 2002, we have piloted a resolution at theUnited Nations General Assembly on measures todeny terrorists access to Weapons of Mass Destruc-tion. We fully support the implementation of UnitedNations Security Council Resolution 1540 and theUnited Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.

The primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear se-curity rests at the national level, but national re-sponsibility must be accompanied by responsiblebehaviour by States. If not, it remains an empty slo-gan. All States should scrupulously abide by theirinternational obligations. It is a matter of deep re-gret that the global non-proliferation regime hasfailed to prevent nuclear proliferation. Clandestineproliferation networks have flourished and led toinsecurity for all, including and especially for In-

dia. We must learn from past mistakes and instituteeffective measures to prevent their recurrence.

The world community should join hands to elimi-nate the risk of sensitive and valuable materials and

technologies falling into hands of terrorists and il-licit traffickers. There should be zero tolerance forindividuals and groups which engage in illegal traf-ficking in nuclear items.

Global non-proliferation, to be successful, shouldbe universal, comprehensive and non-discrimina-tory and linked to the goal of complete nucleardisarmament.We welcome the fact that the worldis veering around to our view that the best guaran-tor of nuclear security is a world free from nuclear

weapons.

Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru over five decadesago, India has been in the forefront of the call forglobal and complete nuclear disarmament. In 2006India proposed the negotiation of a Nuclear Weap-ons Convention. We have also expressed our readi-ness to participate in the negotiation of an interna-tionally verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treatyin the Conference on Disarmament.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had put for-ward a concrete Action Plan in 1988 for the univer-sal and non-discriminatory elimination of nuclearweapons leading to global nuclear disarmament ina time-bound framework. I once again reiterateIndias call to the world community to work towardsthe realisation of this vision.

We welcome the agreement between the UnitedStates and Russia to cut their nuclear arsenals as a

step in the right direction. I call upon all states withsubstantial nuclear arsenals to further accelerate thisprocess by making deeper cuts that will lead tomeaningful disarmament.

We are encouraged by the Nuclear Posture Reviewannounced by President Obama. India supports theuniversalisation of the policy of No First Use. Thesalience of nuclear weapons in national defence andsecurity doctrines must be reduced as a matter ofpriority. The dangers of nuclear terrorism make the


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early elimination of nuclear weapons a matter ofeven greater urgency.

The Indian Atomic Energy Act provides the legalframework for securing nuclear materials and fa-cilities, and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Boardensures independent oversight of nuclear safety andsecurity. We are party to the Convention on thePhysical Protection of Nuclear Material and its 2005amendment.

Indias three stage nuclear power programme whichbegan sixty years ago is based on a closed nuclearfuel cycle. A direct benefit of this is that it ensurescontrol over nuclear material that is generated asspent fuel. At the same time, we are continually

upgrading technology to develop nuclear systemsthat are intrinsically safe, secure and proliferationresistant. We have recently developed an AdvancedHeavy Water Reactor based on Low Enriched Ura-nium and thorium with new safety and prolifera-tion-resistant features.

India has maintained an impeccable non-prolifera-tion record, of which we are proud of. As a respon-sible nuclear power, India has and will not be thesource of proliferation of sensitive technologies. We

have a well-established and effective export controlsystem which has worked without fail for over sixdecades. We have strengthened this system byharmonisation of our guidelines and lists with thoseof the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the MissileTechnology Control Regime. Our commitment tonot transfer nuclear weapons or related materialsand technologies to non-nuclear weapon states ornon-state actors is enshrined in domestic lawthrough the enactment of the Weapons of Mass

Destruction Act. We stand committed not to trans-fer reprocessing and enrichment technologies andequipment to countries that do not possess them.

As a founder member of the International AtomicEnergy Agency, we have consistently supported thecentral role of the IAEA in facilitating national ef-forts to strengthen nuclear security and in fosteringeffective international cooperation. We have so farconducted nine Regional Training Courses onNuclear Security in cooperation with the IAEA. We

have entered into a Safeguards Agreement with theIAEA in 2008, and have decided to place all futurecivilian thermal power reactors and civilian breederreactors under IAEA safeguards.

We will continue to work with the IAEA and ourpartners in the United Nations as well as other fo-rums such as the Global Initiative to CombatNuclear Terrorism to upgrade standards, share ex-periences and ensure effective implementation ofinternational benchmarks on nuclear security.

we have decided to set up a Global Centre forNuclear Energy Partnership in India. We visualizethis to be a state of the art facility based on interna-tional participation from the IAEA and other inter-

ested foreign partners. The Centre will consist offour Schools dealing with Advanced Nuclear En-ergy System Studies, Nuclear Security, RadiationSafety, and the application of Radioisotopes andRadiation Technology in the areas of healthcare,agriculture and food. The Centre will conduct re-search and development of design systems that areintrinsically safe, secure, proliferation resistant andsustainable. We would welcome participation in thisventure by your countries, the IAEA and the worldto make this Centres work a success.

Communiqu and Plan ofWork

The 47-nation Nuclear Security Summit ended withthe adoption of a short final communiqu and sevenpage work plan aimed at promoting the effectivesecurity of nuclear materials worldwide.

The communiqu includes general commitmentswhile the more specific work plan constitutes a po-litical commitment by participating countries tocarry out applicable measures, on a voluntary basis,in all aspects of the storage, use, transportation anddisposal of nuclear materials.

Unlike most nuclear documents springing from theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty system, theWashington communiqu makes no legal distinc-tion between nuclear weapon states and the rest. Nor


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is there any reference to the NPT. Instead, it reaf-firms the fundamental responsibility of States, con-sistent with their international obligations, to main-tain effective security of all nuclear materials. Thesematerials are defined as including nuclear materi-

als used in nuclear weapons, and nuclear facilitiesunder their control.

The document calls for wider support for existinginternational instruments on nuclear security suchas the 1979 Convention on the Physical Protectionof Nuclear Material and its 2005 amendment, theConvention on the Suppression of Nuclear Terror-ism.

There is no reference in the documents to U.N. Se-curity Council Resolution 1887 on nuclear securityand non-proliferation, passed last year at the urgingor U.S. President Barack Obama. Indian officials saythe reference in that to NPT adherence meant it couldnot be included in the communiqu.

But the communiqu and work plan have words ofsupport for the G8-led Global Partnership againstthe Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Thisinitiative includes the annual G8 statements on non-

proliferation, the last of which sought to preventIndia from accessing enrichment and reprocessingtechnologies.

The work plan covers a wide range of issues fromnuclear detection and forensics to exchange of in-formation to detect and prevent illicit nuclear traf-ficking, and the promotion of nuclear security cul-ture.

The document recognises that highly enriched ura-

nium (HEU) and separated plutonium basic in-gredients of a nuclear weapon require special pre-cautions and that participating countries agree topromote measures to secure, account for, and con-solidate these materials. It also says that they agreeto encourage the conversion of reactors from HEUto low-enriched uranium, a stated priority of theU.S. in the run-up to the Summit.

Next Nuc lea r SecuritySummit in the South Korea

President Barack Obama announced that the next

Nuclear Security Summit would be held in the Re-public of Korea (South Korea) in two years. He saidthat this would help to ensure that our progress isnot a fleeting moment, but part of a serious and sus-tained effort.

Mr. Obama said the summits provided the nationswith the opportunity to take specific and concretenational-level actions to secure the nuclear materi-als, to strengthen the International Atomic EnergyAgency, and to deepen international cooperationaimed at preventing nuclear materials from fallinginto the hands of terrorists.


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