Two Years After the Prague Speech Much Work Remains

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today - Wednesday, April 6, 2011:

Remembering the Prague Speech - Reid Pauly for "The Prague Project" [link]

• On April 5th, 2009, two years ago today, young President Barack Obama rose to the podium in Hradčany Square at the heart of historic Prague, Czech Republic. In one of his most eloquent and significant foreign policy speeches, Obama took up the mantle of American leadership and reoriented U.S. policy towards the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world.
• It was not a policy rooted in idealism or naiveté. Rather it recognized the concrete steps necessary to begin the long journey of persistent nuclear reductions and most importantly normalized the goal of nuclear zero for decades to come.
• Despite major successes like the Nuclear Posture Review, the Nuclear Security Summit, and the New START Treaty, much work remains to be done. Ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is necessary to stem the production of new nuclear weapons and limit dangerous and destabilizing posturing between nuclear states. The negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty must move forward (with or without the Conference on Disarmament) to stop the flow of the dangerous ingredients for nuclear warheads. The United States and Russia must reach an agreement to cooperate on ballistic missile defense in order to build confidence for further reduction of nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic. None of these tasks will easy and they are only the part of a larger plan, but the work is already underway.
• We need not live under this shadow of nuclear annihilation much longer. Leadership and persistence on concrete policy goals can alter the course of history. As Obama concluded in Prague, “Human destiny will be what we make of it. Here, in Prague, let us honor our past by reaching for a better future. Let us bridge our divisions, build upon our hopes, and accept our responsibility to leave this world more prosperous and more peaceful than we found it.”
• Two years hence the United States must continue to embrace the vision of a nuclear-free world. It is desirable, it is possible, and it is necessary.

Congress Must Help Curb the Nuclear Danger - William Hartung for Talking Points Memo [link]

• Two years ago today President Obama made an historic speech in which he stated "clearly and with conviction" his commitment to seek "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." Other presidents have made similar statements, but none of them have put in as much effort as early in their terms in office as has Barack Obama.
• The administration has made progress over the past two years, by, among other things, concluding the New START nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia; prodding the UN Security Council to endorse the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and the steps needed to get there; convening a 47-nation nuclear security summit designed to step up global efforts to keep nuclear weapons and bomb-making materials out of the hands of terrorists; and building a coalition for stronger sanctions against Iran until such time as it enters serious negotiations about curbing its nuclear program.
• There is far more to be done, from seeking further reductions with Russia to ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to engaging other nuclear nations in discussions about reducing their arsenals. Some of these efforts will take years to bear fruit. But in the mean time, there is one thing Congress can do to address the greatest nuclear threat we face - the risk that a terrorist group might get its hands on a nuclear weapon or nuclear bomb-making materials.
• Ironically, part of the problem in getting full funding for these anti-proliferation efforts is bureaucratic. Because the funding for these essential programs flows through the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), they do not fall under the exemption from cuts that has been largely observed with respect to national security programs funded by the Pentagon.
• Yet dollar-for-dollar, non-proliferation programs are the most effective national security investments we can make...Key players in restoring non-proliferation funding include Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ). If Congress does so, it will be the most important step they can take to make the United States - and the world - a safer place.

Promises, Promises: A Progress Report One Year After the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit - The Fissile Material Working Group in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists [link]

• Two years ago in Prague, President Barack Obama laid out his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Recognizing that this would not likely be met in his lifetime, he outlined practical steps by which the international community might strive for greater security in a world where nuclear weapons still exist.
• To further that agenda, Obama hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, in April 2010, one year after his Prague speech. The summit was part of an international effort to improve the nuclear material security regime and all 47 attending nations endorsed the four-year plan to secure all vulnerable nuclear material.
• One year after the 2010 summit, countries are faring reasonably well in their efforts to meet summit commitments. It is striking that roughly 60 percent of the national commitments made in Washington have been completed.
• Kazakhstan secured enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons-grade plutonium to make 775 nuclear weapons, and Russia ended plutonium production and signed a plutonium disposition protocol with the United States. In the midst of chaos after an earthquake, Chile removed all of its remaining HEU and returned it safely to the United States.
• This is not to say that the world's nuclear security regime is close to being perfect. There will clearly be much work left to do even if all of the commitments made in Washington are met.
• The progress made so far demonstrates the ability of the summit process to generate concrete outcomes and improvements in global nuclear security.

Islamabad Calls for Global Ban on Nuclear Arms - The Daily Mail [link]

• Total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only guarantee to secure durable peace and security for all and the most effective and credible way to promote this objective, both regionally and globally, is through the pursuit of transparent, irreversible and verifiable nuclear disarmament. This was stated by the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, while speaking at the 2011 Substantive Session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission at the UN Headquarter.
• According to the press release issued by forign office here today, stated that “The goals of non-proliferation cannot be advanced while powerful states continue to possess nuclear weapons indefinitely. NPT was not meant to divide the world perpetually into states that possess nuclear weapons and that do not.” he remarked.
• The Ambassador said Pakistan’s views on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) have been clearly articulated and are well known. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s position that no state can be expected to engage in disarmament, arms control or non-proliferation negotiations if these negotiations undermine its security interests.
• Speaking at the 2011 Substantive Session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission at the UN Headquarter, he said the most effective and credible way to promote this objective, both regionally and globally, is through the pursuit of transparent, irreversible and verifiable nuclear disarmament.

US Commander: Iran Expands Ties to Latin American, Nearly Doubles Number of Embassies - The Washington Post [link]

• Iran has expanded its ties in Latin American beyond its close relationship with Venezuela, a top U.S. commander said Tuesday as he described a troubling development that the United States is watching closely.
• Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said Iran has nearly doubled the number of embassies in the region, from six in 2005 to 10 in 2010 while also building cultural centers in 17 countries. Last year, Iran also has hosted heads of state from three countries — Bolivia, Guyana and Venezuela.
• “Iran continues expanding regional ties to support its own diplomatic goal of reducing the impact of international sanctions connected with its nuclear program,” Fraser told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Washington fears that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
• Fraser said the ties between the two countries are based on several shared interests, such as access to military and petroleum technologies and avoiding international isolation.
• On a separate issue, Fraser said Venezuela has purchased $8 billion to $12 billion worth of weapons from Russia, China and Spain, including automatic weapons. The U.S. is concerned the weapons could end up in the hands of illegal groups.

US Anti-Nuclear Activists Slam Reprocessing Plan - AFP [link]

• US anti-nuclear groups Monday condemned a project to build a plant where plutonium from weapons would be reprocessed into fuel for nuclear power plants, saying the plan was costly, dangerous and would benefit mainly the French group, Areva.
• A mixed-oxide, or MOX, plutonium reprocessing plant that is being built in South Carolina has become "an expensive effort that enriches contractors, led by the French government-owned company Areva," Tom Clements of Friends of the Earth said at the launch of a report by an anti-nuclear alliance.
• "In my opinion, it is primarily because of Areva's influence inside the Department of Energy that the US is pursuing a plutonium fuel program and it's because of Areva's influence that there's a push for the US to also reprocess commercial spent fuel to remove plutonium, like France does," he said.
• According to Areva's website, the reprocessing plant will help the United States to fulfill an agreement struck in 2000 with former Cold War foe Russia, under which each country committed to eliminating 34 metric tons of surplus military plutonium by recycling it as fuel for civil nuclear applications.
• "As plutonium leaks from the damaged reactors in Japan, the US Department of Energy (DoE) continues planning for the use of dangerous mixed-oxide fuel in US nuclear reactors of the same design as the Fukushima reactors in Japan," Clements said.
• Anti-nuclear activists would prefer encasing the plutonium left over from dismantled US nuclear weapons in glass, and then storing it as high-level waste.  That method, called vitrification, is "cheaper, quicker and safer" than converting plutonium into MOX fuel, says the report released Monday by ANA, a network of three dozen organizations.