The growing threat of nuclear terrorism and the possibility of nuke materials falling into the hands of non-state actors has prompted the array of world leaders who gathered here for the Second Nuclear Security Summit to call for concerted efforts to tackle it both at the national and international levels.
This affirmation by world leaders came in the Seoul Communiqué that was formulated on the conclusion of the Nuke Summit here on Tuesday evening. It should bring some measure of satisfaction to India, which has often expressed fears about the possibility of nuke materials or technology falling into the hands of “non-state actors” in the case of countries like neighbour Pakistan.
The communiqué said that it was the fundamental responsibility of states “to maintain effective security of all nuclear material which includes nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons.... and to prevent non-state actors from acquiring such materials and from obtaining information and technology required to use them for malicious purposes.” Further, the communiqué also acknowledged that the Nuke Summit is a “valuable process at the highest political level, supporting our joint call to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years”.
Illicit trafficking in nuclear concerns has prompted the world leaders to assert in the communiqué the “need to develop national capabilities to prevent, detect, respond to and prosecute illicit nuclear trafficking”.
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in March last year, the communiqué sought to emphasise the link between nuclear safety and security. Indeed, this is a view that’s held by India and found mention in the speech of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too at the Summit prior to the communiqué’s finalisation.
The communiqué affirmed that “nuclear security and nuclear safety measures should be designed, implemented and managed in nuclear facilities in a coherent and synergistic manner.” It further said: “We also affirm the need to maintain effective emergency preparedness, response and mitigation capabilities in a manner that addresses both nuclear security and nuclear safety.”
As regards the global nuclear security architecture, the communiqué said that it would encourage adherence to multilateral instruments that address nuclear security such as the amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. The communiqué also encouraged countries to accelerate their domestic approval of the 2005 Amendment to the CPPNM, seeking to bring the Amendment into force by 2014.