The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit was a summit held in Washington, D.C., on April 12 and 13, 2010. The Summit focused on how to better safeguard weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to prevent nuclear terrorism.
Overview The New START treaty was signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague by United States President Barack Obama and President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. After this summit, Iran hosted its own conference, International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, on April 17–18 (see below). Then in May 2010, the 2010 review conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was held at United Nations headquarters in New York.
Background With the fall of the Soviet Union, the nuclear weapons existing within the former Soviet territory became a concern. There was a priority in disarming the remaining weapons, as well as reducing the number of development facilities and materials. Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the possibility of terrorists misusing nuclear materials and facilities became a real threat, and nuclear security was highlighted as a means to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism.
On April 5, 2009, in Prague, U.S. President Barack Obama had presented a three-part strategy to address the international nuclear threat. The strategy consisted 1.) proposing measures to reduce and eventually eliminate existing nuclear arsenals; 2.) strengthening the Non-proliferation Treaty and halting proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional states; and 3.) preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons or materials. The President stated in his Prague speech that nuclear terrorism is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. He announced an international effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials within four years, break up black markets, detect and intercept materials in transit, and use financial tools to disrupt illicit trade in nuclear materials. In the 2009 L'Aquila Summit held in Italy Obama formally announced his plan to host a Global Nuclear Security Summit in March 2010 for this purpose.
Participants
The Summit was the largest gathering of heads of state called by a United States president since the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization. Delegations from forty-seven governments including the United States attended, thirty-eight of which were represented by heads of state or government. Delegations from the European Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the United Nations also attended.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his plans to attend the Summit due to concerns that there would be demands for Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The United Kingdom was the only official nuclear weapons state (as recognised under the NPT) not to be represented by its head of government. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not attend as the summit took place during the 2010 general election campaign in the UK. The summit was instead attended by Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Country/OrganizationRepresentative Algeria (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Argentina (President) Armenia (President) Australia (Defence Minister) Belgium (Prime Minister) Brazil (President) Canada (Prime Minister) Chile (President) ChinaHu Jintao (President) Czech Republic (Prime Minister) Egypt (Foreign Minister) European Union (President of the European Council) Finland (President) France (President) Georgia (President) Germany (Chancellor) India (Prime Minister) Indonesia (Vice President) International Atomic Energy Agency (Director-General) Israel (Deputy Prime Minister and Intelligence Services Minister) Italy (Prime Minister) Japan (Prime Minister) JordanAbdullah II (King) Kazakhstan (President) MalaysiaNajib Tun Razak (Prime Minister) Mexico (President) Morocco (Prime Minister) Netherlands (Demissionary Prime Minister) New Zealand (Prime Minister) Nigeria (President - Acting) Norway (Prime Minister) Pakistan (Prime Minister) Philippines (President) Poland (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Russia (President) Saudi Arabia (President of the General Intelligence Presidency) SingaporeLee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister) South Africa (President) South KoreaLee Myung-bak (President) Spain (Prime Minister) Sweden (Prime Minister) Switzerland (President) Thailand (Deputy Prime Minister) Turkey (Prime Minister) Ukraine (President) United Arab Emirates (Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi) United Kingdom (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) United NationsBan Ki-moon (Secretary-General) United States (host) (President) VietnamNguyễn Tấn Dũng (Prime Minister)
Schedule and agenda
April 12 Monday's schedule included the following events: United States President Barack Obama holds bilateral meetings with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak of Malaysia, President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, and President Hu Jintao of China beginning at (EDT) Obama welcomes heads of delegation to the Summit at (EDT) Obama holds a working dinner with heads of delegation beginning at (EDT)
April 13 Tuesday's schedule included the following events, many of which were isolated from the news media: Leaders gather for a group photo at (EDT) United States President Barack Obama opens the second day of the Summit with remarks at Plenary Session I at (EDT) Heads of delegation attend a working lunch at (EDT) Obama meets with Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at (EDT) Plenary Session II begins at (EDT) Obama meets with President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at (EDT) Obama holds press conference at (EDT) Heads of delegation reception begins at (EDT) Obama meets with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel at (EDT)
Summit consequences Non-binding communiqué A non-binding communiqué issued after the summit recognized nuclear terrorism as "one of the most challenging threats to international security" and saw parties:Miami Herald: Communique of Nuclear Security Summit Reaffirm the fundamental responsibility of States, consistent with their respective international obligations Call on States to work cooperatively as an international community to advance nuclear security Recognize that highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium require special precautions Endeavor to fully implement all existing nuclear security commitments and work toward acceding to those not yet joined Support the objectives of international nuclear security instruments Reaffirm the essential role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the international nuclear security framework Recognize the role and contributions of the United Nations Acknowledge the need for capacity building for nuclear security and cooperation at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels Recognize the need for cooperation among States to effectively prevent and respond to incidents of illicit nuclear trafficking Recognize the continuing role of nuclear industry in nuclear security Support the implementation of strong nuclear security practices Recognize that measures contributing to nuclear material security have value in relation to the security of radioactive substances
In response to the communiqué offered at the summit, U.S. Senate Republican Jon Kyl said that "the summit's purported accomplishment is a nonbinding communiqué that largely restates current policy, and makes no meaningful progress in dealing with nuclear terrorism threats or the ticking clock represented by Iran's nuclear weapons program." U.S. President Barack Obama said in a news conference after the summit that he was "going to push as hard as I can to make sure that we get strong sanctions that have consequences for Iran as it's making calculations about its nuclear program and that those are done on a timely basis."
Other consequences
The value of informal conversations and discussions is an important aspect of international conferences. Only some lead to directly to an announcement in the summit context.
On the first day of the Summit, Ukraine announced that it would give up its stock of highly enriched uranium and convert its research reactors from highly enriched to low-enriched uranium. It intends to accomplish these goals by 2012.
The topic of a nuclear fuel bank was briefly discussed by some members attending the conference. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev sought the United States' backing to house a nuclear fuel bank while he was in Washington for the event and Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gillani issued a statement saying Pakistan would like to act as a provider and "participate in any non-discriminatory nuclear fuel cycle assurance mechanism". The UAE also reconfirmed its pledge to the IAEA Nuclear Fuel Bank and its policy of foregoing domestic enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing.
The most widely anticipated meeting during the Summit was the bilateral meeting between Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China held on April 12. During the ninety-minute meeting the two leaders discussed global economic rebalancing and Iran's nuclear program. China agreed to work with the United States at the United Nations on a resolution imposing further economic sanctions on Iran. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying sanctions and pressure cannot fundamentally resolve the Iran nuclear issue while reiterating China's adherence to a dual-track strategy. "We support the international nuclear non-proliferation system, maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, oppose Iran having nuclear weapons and support a dual-track strategy," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said.XinhuaNet: China says sanction cannot resolve Iran nuclear issue
On the second day of the Summit, President Obama announced that the next summit meeting about this subject will be in South Korea — see 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.
Also on the second day of the Summit, Canada, Mexico, and the United States reached an agreement "that will help convert fuel at Mexico's nuclear research reactor to a lower grade of uranium unsuitable for nuclear weapons." The project, which will be overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency, will eliminate all highly enriched uranium in Mexico.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an update to a 2000 agreement calling on each country to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium by burning it as fuel in nuclear reactors. Additionally, Russian President Medvedev confirmed plans to close a plutonium production reactor in Zheleznogorsk.
A summit document also highlighted a comprehensive nuclear law passed in March by Egypt to strengthen nuclear security, and funding contributions by several countries to nuclear regulatory agencies and programs.
Reaction to the summit The nuclear security summit generated a variety of reactions from media, organizations, and politicians among others. Charles Hanley, who has reported on nuclear arms control for three decades for the Associated Press, commented that "the world took a big step out of the age of MAD and into an even madder age, when a dark vision of random nuclear terror will shadow our days for decades or more to come."Associated Press: Analysis: Nuke summit sets post-Cold War challenge
Media reactions