Assistant Deputy Administrator Andrew Bienawski of the US National Nuclear Security Administration, DoE, at the Norwegian Embassy seminar . Photo: Erik SvedahlMini-seminar on Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) minimization held at the Norwegian Embassy 3.Nov.
05/11/2009 //
On 3 November 2009, the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing hosted a mini-seminar on highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization, entitled “Getting Bomb-Grade Uranium Out of Civilian Hands: Implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1887”.
The seminar, organised by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, examined the threat posed by HEU; reviewed the current status of programs to remove this material and gave an overview of the locations and amounts of HEU material in use today; discussed the role of the IAEA in facilitating the creation of research reactor coalitions; and examined the political steps that could be taken to create a global norm against the use of this material.
For three decades many countries have cooperated to remove HEU from civilian reactors, as well as to convert reactors to low-enriched fuel. However, HEU continues to be located at hundreds of sites where it is not provided the level of security given to nuclear weapons materials. Thus, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1887 has called upon “all States to manage responsibly and minimize to the greatest extent that is technically and economically feasible the use of highly enriched uranium for civilian purposes.” The topic is higly relevant also for the Nuclear Security Summit in the US in April 2010 where Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has been inviteted together with heads of State from over 40 nations around the globe.
The seminar brought together participants from the U.S. Department of Energy,
State Department, The International Panel on Fissile Materials, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Chinese authorities, as well as representatives of relevant Embassies
in Beijing and other experts. The Norwegian Ambassador to China, Mr. Svein O. Saether, opened the seminar and delivered this statement.