Prevention of Nuclear Terrorism is Imperative of Our Times

"Proliferation of  nuclear technologies and the increasing threat that these technologies could be used by dictatorial regimes and forces of international terrorism add urgency to the goal of protecting the international community from the pending nuclear catastrophe," according to senior IMEMO researcher Stanislav Ivanov.

The article, which has been written exclusively for the U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, defines nuclear terrorism as "criminal actions associated with forceful seizure, theft, illegal acquisition, transfer and use of nuclear and other radioactive materials with intent to cause maximum damage to the population, economy and environment with the purpose of intimidation and exercising of pressure on the society and government bodies." Ivanov notes that "there remain a number of differences in the approaches of the Russian Federation and United States towards prevention of nuclear terrorism: the Russian side considers it to be a matter of raising international standards of protection, including fissile material storage facilities while the United States advocates incremental internationalization of the closed nuclear fuel cycle and drastic restructuring of the IAEA further down the road."  Ivanov concludes that "only a quick transition to Global Zero could be the path towards salvation of humankind.

Available in Russian only.