The Global Nuclear Threat: Some Positive Progress After All

The Global Nuclear Threat: Some Positive Progress After All

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20337038_sSeven countries have eliminated weapons-grade nuclear material from their territory in the past few years, according to a new report from the Washington-based nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Though the elimination of such material represents significant progress in helping reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism, much remains to be done, according to NTI. This includes creating an effective and accountable global system to improve nuclear material security.

Government Security News reports that the countries that removed material from their territory included Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine and Vietnam, according to the 2014 NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index. That brings the number of nations with weapons usable material to 25, from 32 in 2012.

The report, a follow-up to the first index released in 2012, assessed 25 countries with one kilogram or more of weapons-usable nuclear material in addition to 151 countries that have less than one kilogram or no materials but could be used as safe havens, staging grounds, or transit points for illicit materials.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Nearly 2,000 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials – highly enriched uranium or plutonium – are spread across hundreds of sites in the 25 countries, according to NTI, and some of that material is poorly secured. “All it takes to build a bomb is enough highly enriched uranium to fill a five-pound bag of sugar or a quantity of plutonium the size of a grapefruit.”

Among countries with more than one kilogram of material, North Korea ranked last, right below Pakistan, India, and Iran. The report also noted that about 85 percent of global weapons-usable nuclear material is outside of civilian programs, in many cases because it is part of a military program. It is therefore not covered by guidelines from the International Atomic Energy Agency.