Securing the Bomb 2010

The latest Bunn Bible was released today to coincide with the Nuclear Security Summit. Bunn places great emphasis on the need for sustainable, lasting security upgrades and protection for vulnerable nuclear materials. This is a point worth remembering as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program approaches its 20th birthday. The United States needs to make sure not only that all the remaining unsecured material worldwide gets locked down soon, but also that the already-secured material remains “effectively and lastingly protected,” as Bunn writes.

His key conclusions include:

--Today, the world is not yet on track to succeed in achieving effective security for all stockpiles of nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials within four years.

--There have been over 18 documented cases of theft or loss of plutonium or highly enriched uranium (HEU), the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons.

--To date, the United States has helped remove all the HEU from more than 47 facilities in countries around the world.

--During FY2009, security and accounting upgrades were completed at 29 additional weapons-usable nuclear material buildings in Russia, bringing the total for such buildings upgraded in Russia and the Eurasian states to 210, only 19 short of the target of 229 buildings to be completed through FY2012.

--[T]he highest risks of nuclear theft today are in: Pakistan, Russia, and HEU-fueled research reactors.

--But serious risks remain, as evidenced by recent incidents at nuclear sites and ongoing cases of theft or loss of weapons-usable nuclear material. Upgraded security systems will not last forever unless states provide the resources to sustain them and write and enforce rules that require sites and transporters to maintain effective security and accounting systems. Strong security cultures—in which all relevant staff take security seriously, every day—are also an essential component of effective nuclear security.