14 Apr (NucNet): US-president Barack Obama has said for nations that “uphold their responsibilities”, peaceful nuclear energy can unlock new advances in medicine, agriculture and economic development.
Mr Obama was speaking at the end of the US-hosted Nuclear Security Summit in Washington attended by 49 world leaders on 12/13 April 2010.
He said all countries represented at the summit had endorsed a goal to “secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years’ time. This is an ambitious goal, and we are under no illusions that it will be easy. But the urgency of the threat, and the catastrophic consequences of even a single act of nuclear terrorism, demand an effort that is at once bold and pragmatic.”
The summit decided that “we do not need lots of new institutions and layers of bureaucracy”, Mr Obama said, but to strengthen existing institutions such as the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “and make them even more effective”.
Mr Obama said other highlights of the summit included:
• An agreement by Canada to “give up a significant quantity of highly-enriched uranium”;
• Ukraine and Mexico pledged to give up their entire stockpiles of enriched uranium;
• Other nations, such as Argentina and Pakistan, announced new steps to strengthen port security and prevent nuclear smuggling.
• A number of countries, including Italy, Japan, India and China, will create new centres to promote nuclear security technologies and training.
• Nations pledged “new resources to help the IAEA meet its responsibilities”.
Details of the summit are available on the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov).
South Korea will convene a follow-up nuclear security meeting in 2012.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers):
EU Boosts Support For IAEA’s Fight Against Illegal Trafficking (News in Brief No. 119, 7 October 2008)
Much More Needs To Be Done On Security, IAEA Chief Tells UN (News in Brief No. 140, 3 November 2009)
