|
Introduction In the aftermath of the Cold War, the international community faces a common threat. It is the possibility that nuclear weapons materials, technology and knowledge will illegally cross state borders and accelerate the weapons acquisition efforts of terrorist groups or rogue states. The consequences of these vulnerabilities for international security are alarming and potentially devastating. These materials are the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons. The greatest danger in this respect is presented by weapons-usable fissile materials (plutonium and highly enriched uranium) that are vulnerable to theft or diversion. An international nuclear proliferation crisis would result if they were smuggled into an aggressive state. Stolen nuclear material could also be used to carry out a nuclear terrorist attack against any target in the world. In contrast to the limited damage caused by the World Trade Center bombing, a terrorist nuclear device could destroy several New York City blocks and cause fatalities in the tens of the thousands. In response to this threat the United States Department of Energy created the Russia/NIS Nuclear Material Security Task Force. The objective of the Task Force is to assist other nations in improving the material protection, control and accounting (MPC&A) for weapons-usable nuclear materials on their territories. Under the auspices of this program, U.S.-supported MPC&A cooperation is taking place at more than 40 locations in Russia, the Baltic States and the Newly Independent States (NIS). The Republic of Uzbekistan is one of the Newly Independent States which has significant nuclear material quantities in use or in storage. The Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP), Tashkent, Uzbekistan is the third location in the former Soviet Union and Baltic States at which site-wide NIPC&A improvements have been completed. This brochure describes the MPC&A systems and equipment installed by the Russia/NIS Nuclear Material Security Task Force at INP to prevent the proliferation of nuclear materials. |