Nuke summit to endorse crackdown on illicit stocks

The US-hosted Nuclear Security Summit, to be attended by leaders of 40 countries including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is expected to issue a communique endorsing a global crackdown on illicit trade of nuclear material. A draft communique also calls for securing all vulnerable nuclear materials within 4 four years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The summit, convened by US President Barack Obama, will be held in Washington on April 12 and 13 and will see the participation of leaders of 47 countries, including India. Singh will represent India at the summit. It said a draft communique reviewed by it calls for tougher criminal prosecution of traffickers, better accounting for weapons-grade nuclear materials and more international collaboration in such cases."The international community must effectively prevent and respond to incidents of illicit nuclear trafficking," the draft says.

The world leaders are expected to agree on a proposal urging countries to convert nuclear reactors powered by highly enriched fuel, which can be more easily re-purposed for use in nuclear weapons than low-enriched uranium, into reactors using low-enriched fuel, the report said.

"The proposed communique also reaffirms the essential role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in policing compliance with existing international nuclear treaties and calls on states to cooperate in developing databases of incidents of suspected illicit trafficking," the journal said.

"In addition to the communique, leaders at the summit are expected to endorse a work plan that outlines more detailed actions that countries can take to reduce nuclear trafficking. A follow-up conference is planned for 2012, according to the draft," it said.

Obama who has convened this summit as part of his ambition to achieve a nuclear weapons free world, said the nuclear security summit will be an opportunity for the participating nations to commit to specific steps to pursue the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years.

Some of the countries participating in the two-day summit are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Russia Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, South Africa, Spain and the UK. The United Nations, the IAEA, and the European Union will also be represented.