NTI on 25th July reported that its annual Global Incidents and Trafficking Database, produced for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, has identified more than 170 incidents nuclear and radioactive material trafficking across 14 countries in 2017. The 2 most serious cases in 2017 involved 1.4 grams of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that went missing in in the US and the theft and attempted illicit sale of plutonium-239 and plutonium-241 in Kazakhstan. The report offers detailed recommendations to improve physical security measures, international transparency, and reporting standards. The report says that the risky situation is where the material is being transported. It also concludes that nuclear and radiological security may have faded in prominence on the global agenda, yet the risk that malicious actors could acquire and misuse radioactive materials remains heightened. It says that it is incumbent upon national governments, non-governmental organisations, and industry to improve security through transparent reporting practices and better transit security practices. There is a need for training to enhance human security, and a need for enhanced efforts to replace nuclear and other radioactive materials with equally effective non-radioactive alternatives. Even a single incident is one incident too many, yet hundreds of incidents continue to occur annually.
Report – http://www.nti.org/media/documents/global_trafficking_2017.pdf
Database – http://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/cns-global-incidents-and-trafficking-database/
