March 2009 Archives

A paper presented by GTRI's Andrew Bieniawski at the 13th annual topical meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management (RRFM), gives an update on GTRI's progress and goals. (See pages 11-14.)

The paper notes that "Immediately after taking office, President Obama issued the goal to lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons materials at vulnerable sites in four years. He will also convene a Summit on preventing nuclear terrorism in 2009 (and regularly thereafter) of leaders of Permanent Member of the UN Security Council and other key countries to agree on preventing nuclear terrorism. President Obama's goal has resulted in an acceleration of the GTRI work. New, more aggressive metrics have been established to achieve his goals."

The paper states that 6 reactor conversions as well as 9 removals of fuel and "gap" materials are scheduled for 2009.

An IAEA release said that today's pledge by Kuwait followed contributions by Norway ($5 million), the United States ($50 million), the United Arab Emirates ($10 million) and the European Union (€25 million or $32 million). NTI noted that the overall contribution, which now totals $157 million, exceeded the $100 matching goal set by Warren Buffet. Thus, the amount necessary for creation of the NTI/IAEA fuel bank has been secured. 

In a meeting today, the IAEA's Board of Governors approved India's Additional Protocol. According to some sources, the draft is weak. New Delhi still needs to ratify the agreement before it is made public. The approval comes a month after the formal signing of the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities.