Global Nuclear Materials Management: Building the Framework

摘要

The Global Nuclear Materials Management concept of system of national andinternational programs to address the safety, security and legitimate use of civilian, excess defense, and defense materials has gained increasing attention and acceptance over the last year. Senior officials and scientists in the United States and key international organizations have acknowledged the urgent need to transparently ensure this responsible management of nuclear materials worldwide, from cradle to grave. They have recognized that to meet this need, all states possessing nuclear materials, whatever their policy towards nuclear power and nuclear weapons may be, must help build and subscribe to a system of effective, durable, and consistent minimum standards for nuclear materials management. The framework for this system, including verification and transparency activities, can be built on a combination of domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and international regimes. There has been significant progress towards building such a framework in the past year through initiatives in the United States, between the United States and Russia, and within the international community. For example, Integrated Safeguards will be a step forward for international assurance that civil nuclear materials are not being diverted for weapons purposes, and to detect any such clandestine activity, if it exists. Cooperative nuclear transparency projects, such as one initiated in the past year among Asian nuclear states, promise to openly provide assurance that power plants are operating safely. In the area of defense nuclear materials management, the United States Department of Energy initiated a comprehensive domestic Nuclear Materials Stewardship Initiative, and, in addition, opened the world's first deep geologic repository for transuranic wastes at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Progress has continued in the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting programs in Russia's nuclear weapons complex. In the area of excess defense materials, the United States Department of Energy issued a record of decision for excess materials disposition in January 2000. Further progress has been made between the United States and Russia for an agreement on excess plutonium disposition, and between the United States, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency for a verification regime to ensure that nuclear materials are irreversibly removed from defense programs. Much remains to be done. The European community, through a broadened vision within EURATOM, can play a key role in building this global framework. In particular, we believe that ESARDA can make significant contributions by leading efforts in the European technical community to identify new verification and transparency technologies and processes to monitor not only the safety, but also the security, and legitimate use (i.e., use as declared) of nuclear materials of all classes. This paper reviews some of the progress in the last year towards building a global nuclear materials management framework, and recommends areas of emphasis for continued development within the community worldwide.