NTI Awards Two Grants to Improve Nuclear Security Conditions Worldwide

The
Nuclear Threat Initiative is announcing the winners of the NTI Nuclear Security Index Challenge, an effort to inspire innovative ways to communicate or apply
data to help improve nuclear security conditions around the world. Two grants
of approximately $50,000 each have been awarded to:

• Travis
  Carless (Stanton Nuclear
  Security Fellow), Kenneth Redus (Pittsburgh Technical), and Sola
  Talabi (Pittsburgh Technical) for their proposal, Estimating Nuclear Proliferation Risks associated with the Introduction
  of Nuclear Power into Emerging Markets.  This
  project will use NTI Index data to
  help experts to quantify nuclear security risks of Generation III and IV
  nuclear power plants in emerging markets.
• Carlos
  Soto, Shinjae Yoo, and Yonggang Cui from Brookhaven National Laboratory for their
  proposal titled Towards a Predictive
  Nuclear Security Threat Model, which aims to create a predictive nuclear
  security threat model by integrating NTI Index data into machine learning and
  sentiment analysis.

Designed
to prompt new, explorative approaches to using NTI Nuclear Security Index data,
the NTI Index Challenge invited proposals from students, professors,
researchers, and advocates. The two winning teams will draw on the Nuclear
Security Index results from 2012 to 2018 to produce academic and policy
insights that will improve the understanding and security of nuclear materials
and facilities around the world.

NTI awarded
the grants based upon the centrality of the NTI Index data in the project, the creativity
and feasibility of the method proposed, the focus on key nuclear security
challenges and policy issues, and the project’s ability to reach its target
audience.

In
addition to the grants, NTI will award multiple prizes totaling $5,000, $3,000,
and $1,000 for completed, creative uses of the NTI Index data, which could
include robust new data analysis, curricula, infographics, apps, games, or
other new tools and research. NTI welcomes submissions until May 6, 2019.

About
the NTI Nuclear Security Index

The
NTI Nuclear Security Index is a unique public assessment of the world’s nuclear
security conditions, evaluating the security around some of the world’s
deadliest materials (highly enriched uranium and plutonium that can be used to
build nuclear weapons), as well as the security of nuclear facilities, which,
if sabotaged, could lead to dangerous releases of radiation. Since the first
edition was released in 2012, it has sparked global discussions about
priorities to strengthen security and encouraged governments to take action. In
September 2018, NTI released the fourth edition of the NTI Nuclear Materials
Security Index; the fifth edition is expected to be published in 2020.

About
NTI

The Nuclear Threat Initiative works
to protect our lives, environment, and quality of life now and for future
generations. We work to prevent catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass
destruction and disruption (WMDD)—nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical,
and cyber. For more information, visit www.nti.org.