Nuclear safety tops agenda for nuclear security summit

Improving the safety of atomic energy, including measures to prevent a repeat of Japan's nuclear disaster, will top the agenda of next year's nuclear security summit in Seoul, key organizers said Monday. Efforts have also been made to find new lines of "practical and specific" actions to address the threat posed by nuclear terrorism. Some 50 heads of state and international organizations will descend on Seoul next March for the second Nuclear Security Summit. Nuclear safety has been in sharp focus since March's giant quake and tsunami ruined Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years, prompting countries with nuclear power plants to review the safety of atomic energy. Japan's nuclear tragedy publicized the damage caused by nuclear accidents and the vulnerability of safety systems, raising dire concerns of a possible terrorist attack on a spent fuel pool or its cooling systems. The Seoul summit is expected to focus on the interrelated subjects of nuclear security and safety, said Kim Bong-hyun, deputy foreign minister for multilateral and global affairs who serves as South Korea's chief expert for the world's largest gathering. "There is a consensus that the issue of nuclear safety should be dealt with in the context of nuclear security and how it will help achieve it," Kim told Yonhap News Agency in an interview. Other agenda items are the securing of all vulnerable atomic materials worldwide and preventing terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials as well as detecting and intercepting the illegal trade of nuclear goods, Kim said. Expanding the scope of security for nuclear materials to radiological sources in hospitals and other public locations, beyond plutonium and highly enriched uranium, will also be discussed at the upcoming Seoul summit, he said. Nuclear security has emerged as an important concept in countering nuclear terrorism as the possibility of nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorist groups has turned into a tangible threat since the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the first summit in Washington last year with the vision of "a world without nuclear weapons." Hosting the second summit is a symbolic occasion for South Korea where North Korea's nuclear defiance has been the pressing crisis and the upcoming summit is expected to present opportunities to underline renewed international efforts to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions, officials said. The multilateral talks on ending the North's nuclear programs, involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008. But a flurry of renewed diplomatic efforts has recently been underway among the six-party members to resume the stalled negotiations. In May, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he will invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the Seoul summit, but only if Pyongyang renounces its nuclear weapons programs. Among leaders attending the Seoul summit will be heads of five nations in the six-party talks, including U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. South Korea, which is trying to boost its international profile, is gearing up for preparations to make the upcoming summit a successful gathering. South Korea has ample experience of staging a variety of global events, including the 1988 Summer Olympics, the 2002 World Cup and, most recently, the Group of 20 summit of world leaders last November. But next year's nuclear summit will be the biggest-ever diplomatic gathering for a nation that has created a vibrant democracy and an economic miracle from the ruins of the 1950-53 Korean War. "The 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit will be the largest gathering of heads of state to be hosted by South Korea," said Cho Hee-yong, secretary-general at the Preparatory and Planning Office for the summit. "By letting us become one of the leading groups on the issue of international security and peace, the summit is expected to significantly boost our national profile and brand."