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The UN’s global nuclear watchdog has
revealed in its 21-page annual Nuclear
Security Report – released in Vienna this week - that 235 new incidents
of significant nuclear materials losses were reported in the year to end of
June 2018. (https://www-legacy.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC62/GC62Documents/English/gc62-10_en.pdf)
The International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published the report as a suite of documents issued as part of the annual IAEA General
Conference (https://www-legacy.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC62/Documents/).
In another important
development, the report reveals that the nuclear security plans used by all
nations, the so-called Design Basis
Threat (DBT), is under IAEA review, stating: “In 2016, the Agency
agreed to review and revise IAEA Nuclear Security Series No. 10, Development,
Use and Maintenance of the Design Basis Threat. The Agency held a
Technical Meeting in Vienna, Austria in February 2018 to review the draft of
the revised publication, and to discuss an updated methodology for
development, use and maintenance of the nuclear security threat assessment,
representative threat statement and design basis threats (DBTs). Following
this meeting, the draft publication was approved by the NSGC to be sent to
Member States for a 120-day review period”.
IAEA expenditure
on nuclear security in the period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 comprised
disbursements of approximately € 28.3 million., which is a really miniscule
amount considering the near existential
threat being confronted.
The
relevant section on Incident and
Trafficking Database reads as follows:
“9. In the period between the inception of
the ITDB and 30 June 2018, States had reported — or otherwise confirmed to
the ITDB — a total of 3374 incidents. Reports of 235 incidents were added to
the database in the reporting period. Of these incidents, 127 occurred
between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018. While the Agency does not verify
States’ reports, the number of incidents voluntarily reported by
participating States to the ITDB demonstrates that illicit trafficking,
thefts, losses and other unauthorized activities and events involving nuclear
and other radioactive material continue to occur.
10. Of the 235 newly reported incidents, 3
were related to trafficking and 4 were scams. All of the material involved in
these incidents was seized by the relevant competent authorities within the
reporting State. No incident involved high enriched uranium, plutonium or
category 1 sources.
11.
There were 33 reported incidents in which the intent to conduct trafficking
or malicious use could not be determined. These included 17 thefts, 4
unauthorized possessions and 12 incidents of missing materials. In 25
incidents the materials were not recovered including 1 incident involving
category 3 radioactive sources, while the remainder involved lower-risk
sources below category 3.
12.
There were also 125 reported incidents in which the material was out of
regulatory control but not related to trafficking, malicious use or scams.
Most of these incidents involved unauthorized disposal, unauthorized
shipments and unexpected discoveries of material such as previously lost
radioactive sources.”
For an
industry that proclaims it wants to expand worldwide into new countries, and
extend reactor fleets in several
existing nuclear power countries, these figures should really have sent alarm bells ringing that
there are many unclosed holes in the global
nuclear security apparatus.
But complacency
seems to be the prevailing demeanor, as no calls have come from the nuclear sector,
nor from government ministries or
sponsoring agencies for nuclear projects, that urgent action is needed to stop
such highly dangerous leakages from security control of nuclear materials that – in some cases -
could be used to make deadly fission
nuclear bombs or certainly radiological
‘dirty’ bombs. Instead, the report lists dozens of meetings held all
over the planet, aimed at tutoring member states to deal with nuclear materials in the most up-to-date
and secure fashion.
The IAEA
report weakly records “The
triennial Technical Meeting of States’ Points of Contact for the ITDB was held
in Vienna, Austria, in May 2018. During this meeting, an effort to update the
ITDB terms of reference was initiated to bring them in line with previously
agreed ITDB conceptual framework trafficking definitions.”
More
helpfully, the report adds: “The Agency continued to maintain and improve the
Nuclear Security Information Portal (NUSEC) to provide a comprehensive
information tool to meet the needs of Member States and to exchange
information across the nuclear security community. The web-based NUSEC has
more than 4800 registered users from 165 Member States and 17 organizations.
An approximately 18 per cent increase in registered users in the past year
improves the Agency’s capability to reach the wider international security
community with information on developments in nuclear security. Improvements
made to NUSEC in the reporting period include continued support for the
International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) Good Practice
Database, further enhancements to the International Network for Nuclear
Security Training and Support Centres (NSSC Network) database, and
enhancements to the common calendar that provides information on all training
courses and other events hosted by NSSC Network members. In addition, a new
User Group focused on Science and Technology for Nuclear Security facilitates
communication among Member States on this topic.” [GOV/2018/36-GC(62)/10 Page s 4-5]
The report also
revealed that the IAEA also convened a technical meeting on reducing cyber
risks in the nuclear industry supply chain in Vienna, Austria, in June 2018,
with more than 100 participants from 35 Member States attending.
Russia seemed
to be the state at the forefront of training for secure storage of
sensitive nuclear materials, with report recording: “The Agency, in
cooperation with the Russian Federation, conducted four additional training
courses, namely, an international training course on the Practical Operation
of Physical Protection Systems at Nuclear Facilities in Obninsk, Russian
Federation, in November 2017; an international training course for Newcomer
Countries on Nuclear Security Systems and Measures for the Implementation of
a National Nuclear Power Programme in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, in
September 2017; a regional training course on Nuclear Security in Practice:
Field Training for University Students in Obninsk, Russian Federation in
October 2017; and an international training course on the Establishment of a
Nuclear Security Regime for Nuclear Power Programmes in St. Petersburg,
Russian Federation, in May 2018.”
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The IAEA’s Nuclear
Security Series Implementing Guide
Preventive Measures for Material out of Regulatory Control and the Technical Guidance Planning for and
Organization of Nuclear Security Measures for Material out of Regulatory Control
received final approval for publication during the period covered by the report.
By 30 June
2018, there were 30 current publications in the Nuclear Security Series, a further 8 approved for publication, and
17 others (including 3 revisions of existing Nuclear Security Series
publications) at various stages of development, in accordance with the roadmap
agreed, the IAEA reports.
The IAEA hosted
two Information Exchange Meetings in
Vienna, Austria, in November 2017 and in April 2018 “to coordinate activities
in nuclear security and to avoid duplication in the activities undertaken by
various relevant organizations.” Participants from 11 organizations and
initiatives such as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the
Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass
Destruction exchanged information, discussed various themes within nuclear
security, and reached a better understanding of activities being undertaken by
each organization, it reports.
The International Nuclear Security Education
Network (INSEN) continues to assist its member institutions and States in
establishing and enhancing educational programmes on nuclear security based on
international guidance and recommendations, with the Network now having 170
institutions from 62 IAEA member States.
Additionally, in
February 2018 the IAEA signed a Practical Arrangement with Japan, as part of
its preliminary arrangements to provide nuclear security support to the 2020
Olympics, to be held in Tokyo.
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IAEA Nuclear Security
Report 2018
Board of Governors General
Conference
GOV/2018/36-GC(62)/10
6 August 2018
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“The IAEA General
Conference requested that the Director General submit an annual report on
activities undertaken by the Agency in the area of nuclear security, and on
external users of the Incident and Trafficking Database (ITDB) and on past and
planned activities of educational, training and collaborative networks, as well
as highlighting significant accomplishments of the previous year within the
framework of the Nuclear Security Plan and indicating programmatic goals and
priorities …”
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