Fukushima cloud over N-safety meet
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06/03/2012
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Times Of India (New Delhi)
Heads of states and leaders from 57 nations, including India, will attend the Nuclear Security Summit on March 26-27 to discuss a host of measures to prevent nuclear fissile material falling into rogue hands, but the Fukushima disaster in Japan last March seems to have shifted spotlight on the safety of nuclear power plants.
The summit’s agenda proposes to engage the heads of state on the urgent need for down blending (converting the highly enriched uranium based reactors to use low enriched uranium) of nuclear power plants, prevent illicit trafficking of nuclear fissile material, provide radiological security and create an interface between nuclear safety and security.
With a slogan “Beyond Security towards Peace”, the summit will try to build on the 2010 Washington meet’s political declaration for an international cooperation to prevent acts of nuclear terrorism into a practical vision, said Choong-hee Hahn, the event’s spokesman.
Hahn’s optimism for a positive outcome from the March 26-27 deliberations draws inspiration from the unprecedented cooperation shown by the countries in Washington to prevent nuclear fissile material falling into terror groups’ hands.