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FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 67: May 27, 2003

Energy Secretary Abraham on Security of Radiological Materials

Part 2 of 2

"To do so, I am pleased to announce a new United States initiative to
expand this 'Tripartite' model to other countries in need of
assistance. It is my hope that this model, which is working so well
in the former Soviet Union, will become global in scale.  The United
States will focus our resources where the need is greatest. Our
emphasis will be on developing countries. We are prepared to work
with other countries to locate, consolidate, secure, and dispose of
high-risk, orphan radiological sources by developing a system of
national and regional repositories to consolidate and securely store
these sources.  The international efforts to choke off the illicit
traffic in these sources must also be given highest priority....  I
recently initiated a new Department of Energy project to improve our
ability to detect nuclear materials or weapons en route to the United
States. 

"As the third prong of our plan, I will now expand this project by
focusing on other major transit and shipping hubs, which will improve
our efforts to interdict and prevent illicit trafficking in high-risk
radioactive sources globally.  I am also pleased to announce that
next week members of the United States Department of Energy will
participate with the IAEA in important consultations that will set
technical specifications for border monitoring equipment....  By
working together on all these dimensions of the threat, we have a
chance to make rapid and significant progress toward our shared
objective of reducing the potential threats from the highest risk
sources. 

"The Radiological Security Partnership is a United States priority.
To demonstrate our commitment, the United States plans to contribute
$3 million over the next year to support the Partnership. In
particular, this money will support our efforts to work with
developing countries to secure high-risk sources in their countries." 

"I know many of you have also taken important steps, and we will all
benefit from your knowledge and experience as we each strive to
establish 'best practices and procedures' and come to grips with the
challenges presented by radiological sources.  That is why this
Conference is important - it will help all of us to establish a
framework for addressing these issues, and taking the critical next
steps to protect our citizens and provide for our security....  It is
my hope and expectation that, as a result of our intensive and wide
ranging discussions, we will reach a consensus on steps that can be
taken to ensure that the IAEA and other resources are made available
to all nations." 

"We must all identify the high-risk radioactive sources in our
countries and ensure that they are under secure and regulated
control.  We must determine the criteria we will use to identify the
radioactive sources that provide the greatest threat to security, so
that nations can establish effective regulatory infrastructures.  We
must assess the security of our borders, and further improve our
ability to prevent the illicit transit of radiological sources.  And
we must know realistically just how prepared we are to respond, in
the case of an actual emergency involving these sources." 

CONCLUSION:

"I hope that historians will someday write that our deliberations
signaled a turning point - that on March 11, 2003 we began to forge
an international consensus on the need to deal urgently and
decisively with the most dangerous and vulnerable radioactive source
threats." 

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Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi{at}aip.org  www.aip.org/gov
(301) 209-3094
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