NTI Goes to #ICONS2020

Nuclear
Threat Initiative (NTI) experts are headed to Vienna for the third International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference
on Nuclear Security
(ICONS), from February 10-14. Government ministers and experts from
international organizations, non-governmental organizations, academia, and
nuclear industry will gather to share progress, priorities, and approaches for strengthening
national and global nuclear and radiological security regimes.

On the first
day of ICONS, senior government officials and ministers will meet to share
their national experiences and issue a joint declaration outlining global
priorities for nuclear and radiological security and an agenda to guide the
IAEA’s work in these areas. During the remainder of the week, experts and
government officials will speak on panels and at side events on a variety of
nuclear and radiological security topics.

This year’s
theme, “Sustaining and Strengthening Efforts,” will put the challenges of enhancing
political attention and international cooperation and collaboration at the
center of discussion. Earlier this month, Laura
Holgate, NTI’s Vice President of Materials Risk Management, appeared on a panel in Vienna with newly-elected
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to discuss
the upcoming ICONS. While Holgate applauded the progress made over the past few
decades, the discussion touched on how ICONS can further promote and gain
support for the IAEA’s nuclear security work.

For a preview of what to look for at the 2020 ICONS, check out Samantha Neakrease’s post in the Atomic Pulse here.

NTI
Papers and Presentations for ICONS

• Laura
  Holgate, Models for Impact: Civil Society Engagement in Support of
  Nuclear Security, which explores ways that civil society can play an
  important role in strengthening nuclear security around the world.
• Ioanna
  Iliopulos and Chris Boyd, Preventing a Dirty Bomb: Case Studies and
  Lessons Learned, which offers solutions for securing and eliminating
  the most dangerous types of radiological sources and shares case studies from
  successful efforts at Emory University in Atlanta, across the University of
  California system, and in New York City.  
• Samantha
  Neakrase, Strengthening Nuclear Security with a Sustainable CPPNM Regime,
  which makes the case for robust, substantive, and regular review conferences
  and provide options for procedural and substantive outcomes at the 2021 review
  conference.
• Page
  Stoutland, Erin
  Dumbacher, and M. Nina Miller, Enhancing Global Cybersecurity
  Capacity at Nuclear Facilities: The Cyber-Nuclear Forum, which provides
  a summary of the Cyber-Nuclear
  Forum, which NTI developed to strengthen protection of civilian nuclear
  facilities from cyber-attacks.
• Jessica
  Bufford, Voices of Nuclear Security, a new visual project
  highlighting the people who work across the nuclear security sector and their
  perspectives on nuclear security.
• Leon Ratz,
  Lost in Translation: Addressing Semantic
  Challenges in Nuclear Security Discourse Across Languages, which reviews
  common problems and related consequences in translation of the term “nuclear
  security” and related terms.

In
addition to their papers, NTI experts will be speaking on various panels and at
government or NGO-sponsored side events throughout the conference. Their full schedule can be found here.

See the papers for the Side Event on the CPNNM/A Review Conference, hosted by the Fissile Materials Working Group (FMWG), below.

FMWG Side Event Papers

• Laura Holgate and Jessica Bufford, Nuclear Material Management Trends: Past and Future.
• Nickolas Roth, The Risks and Rewards of Emerging Technology in Nuclear Security.
• Jor-Shan Choi, Assessing Trends in Nuclear Security That Impact the Prevailing Situation: Non-Nuclear Emerging Technologies—Cyber and Artificial Intelligence.

Voices of Nuclear Security

While at ICONS, NTI will
also be debuting Voices of Nuclear Security, a project made possible by the
Government of the Netherlands. Voices of Nuclear Security highlights the
experiences of nuclear security professionals as part of a broad effort to humanize nuclear security by highlighting the experiences of people working in the industry. For more, follow @NuclearVoices on Facebook and Instagram and use #NuclearVoices.

Additional
Reading Materials

• Ioanna M.
  Iliopulos and Christopher Boyd, Preventing a Dirty Bomb:
  Case Studies and Lessons Learned.
• Samantha Neakrase, Promoting an
  Ambitious, Forward-Leaning ICONS.
• Samantha
  Neakrase, Reviving Political
  Momentum to Strengthen Nuclear Security, European Leadership Network.
• Samantha
  Neakrase, Strengthening Nuclear Security With a Sustainable CPPNM Regime, Arms Control Today.
• 2018 NTI Nuclear Security Index.