NTI Joins 80+ IPNDV Participants in Utrecht for Dismantlement Exercise and More

NTI
experts Corey Hinderstein, Andrew Newman, Rachel Staley Grant, and Alex Bednarek joined more than 80
experts from 20 countries in Utrecht, the Netherlands during the week of June
17, 2019 for a Joint Working Group meeting of the International Partnership for
Nuclear Disarmament Verification (IPNDV). The meeting was hosted
by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Participants
engaged in a “walkthrough” tabletop exercise of the IPNDV’s 14-step dismantlement process. The walkthrough gave
participants an opportunity to advance conceptual thinking about the 14-step
process and explore cross-cutting issues such as the role of and challenges
associated with the use of technology during verification. Participants also were split into two groups—hosts
and inspectors—and challenged to examine the 14-step process through these two
different points of view. Themes and outcomes from the walkthrough will be
featured in a summary report from the Partnership at the end of Phase II, which
will conclude in December 2019.

In
addition to the walkthrough exercise, the Partnership’s three technical working
groups furthered their discussions on verifying declarations of nuclear
weapons, verifying reductions of nuclear weapons, and identifying tools and technologies
to be applied at each step of the nuclear dismantlement process. They also
discussed preliminary plans for the IPNDV’s third multi-year phase, which will
begin in 2020.

On
the final day of the meeting, participants were welcomed at the Netherlands
Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) where a demonstration of
high explosion detection methods was conducted. These demonstrations
illustrated three categories of technologies—X-ray imaging, neutron detection,
and vapor tests—that could be used to detect the presence or absence of high
explosives, a key element of the nuclear weapon dismantlement process as outlined by the
Partners in the 14-steps.

Learn
more about the IPNDV on the Partnership’s website www.ipndv.org.