From the global Nuclear Threat Initiative. Please note the international concern of the “military-styled” attack on Pelindaba’s ops room last November, yet few answers have been forthcoming in SA. Furthermore, no two figures on how much HEU there is at Pelindaba seem to correlate. It poses a deadly threat to this country.November 19, 2008
We are pleased to alert you to this week’s public release of Securing the Bomb 2008.
The report, commissioned annually by NTI, finds that the world still faces a “very real” risk that terrorists could get a nuclear bomb. The Obama Administration must make reducing that risk a top priority of U.S. security policy and diplomacy, according to the report, which is accompanied by a paper offering a specific agenda for the presidential transition and the opening weeks of the new administration.The report was written by Matthew Bunn of the Belfer Center at Harvard University. This is the seventh edition of Dr. Bunn’s annual report, which has the most up-to-date information regarding the security of nuclear weapons and materials around the globe. The report details a broad range of progress in efforts to reduce the danger, including programs that have eliminated potential nuclear bomb material entirely from dozens of buildings and have substantially beefed up security for scores of sites. But it warns that major gaps in these efforts remain, and the risk of nuclear terrorism is still unacceptably high. The study provides a frightening survey of incidents around the world, from an armed break-in at a South African site with hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU), to a Russian colonel arrested for soliciting bribes to overlook violations of nuclear security rules, to increasing terrorist threats amid Pakistan’s ongoing strife, to weak security at many of the roughly 130 research reactors worldwide still using HEU fuel.Securing the Bomb 2008 is available on-line at www.nti.org/securingthebomb. Yesterday, The Washington Post published a feature article on the report which you can read here. Printed copies of Securing the Bomb 2008 will be available in December 2008. Please fill out an online form and we will mail you a copy as soon as it is available.A number of recommendations for the incoming Obama Administration and new Congress are outlined in the report. We hope you will continue to support efforts to reduce nuclear dangers and make a safer and more secure world. Sincerely,Charles Curtis
President
Nuclear Threat Initiative
To visit the Securing the Bomb web section, click here
Nuclear Threat Initiative1747 Pennsylvania Ave., NW7th FloorWashington, DC 20006www.nti.org
