Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON -- A number of governments have moved since early last year to help prevent nonstate actors from obtaining substances that could be used to fuel a nuclear weapon, a Washington-based nonproliferation organization announced last week.

Austria, Mexico and Ukraine ridded themselves of all weapon-relevant fissile materials following the release of a January 2012 analysis of atomic material protections around the world, the Nuclear Threat Initiative indicated in a statement. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Vietnam have also pledged to relinquish all bomb-usable fissile stocks, according to the NTI release.

The number of nations holding at least 1 kilogram -- 2.2 pounds --  of fissile material has dropped from 32 to 28 in the last year.

The organization announced it is cooperating with the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit to develop a new edition of the report in advance of next year's Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands.

Kazakhstan, Poland, South Africa, Sweden and Uzbekistan have also curbed their quantities of such resources, which last year's report defined to include highly enriched uranium, separated plutonium and unirradiated mixed-oxide fuel. In addition, the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea saw reduction commitments from Australia and Italy, the organization said.

The group noted Ivory Coast and Vietnam had acceded to the Convention of the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, which calls for various measures to protect atomic substances in international transit. The pact had 148 member states as of Oct. 17, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Twelve additional countries have endorsed a 2005 amendment that would add guidance to the original agreement for guarding nonmilitary atomic substances held, employed or moved within the territory of a single nation. The update must be ratified by two-thirds of member nations to take effect; 62 countries had submitted instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval as of Jan. 22, according to a U.N. document.

The International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism has gained five additional government backers, the NTI statement says. The pact, which entered into force in 2007 and now has 83 states parties, requires member nations to legally prohibit individuals from holding or using nuclear or radiological weapons, as well as from possessing related materials with the intent of causing death and destruction. It also establishes guidelines for cooperating in the extradition and prosecution of individuals linked to a nuclear plot or threat.

The United States remains outside the ICSANT regime and has not completed ratification of the 2005 CPPNM amendment.

The organization cited China and India for issuing their initial grants to the IAEA Nuclear Security Fund -- an initiative to finance government activities aimed at thwarting, identifying and reacting to nuclear terror threats -- and it commended Kazakhstan, Mexico and Ukraine for joining a multilateral initiative to prevent the spread of unconventional armaments. The establishment of an autonomous atomic oversight office in Japan's government marks "a substantial policy reform," the NTI release says.

Persistent "significant challenges" include the vulnerability of atomic material to insiders, obfuscation on nuclear issues by certain governments, and the continued absence of an international atomic material monitoring system, the group said. "Because the threat of nuclear terrorism remains one of the greatest challenges to global security, all states can and should do more to strengthen global nuclear materials security, both individually and collectively," according to the report.

The group said it is sponsoring a "Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities" in an effort to prevent overreliance on the Nuclear Security Summit forum as a driver for increasing atomic material protections around the world.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article should have stated that Sweden has reduced its holdings of weapon-usable nuclear materials to less than 1 kilogram since January 2012.

[Editor's Note: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]