NSS 2016: nuclear security cooperation to continue
- By Sumantra Maitra
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 28, 2016
I think there will be another question that will be urgently discussed, and we will see this week if my prediction is correct. With the emergence of global jihadism, the spread of ISIS in Europe, and the attack on guards in the Belgian nuclear establishment, there will and should be discussions regarding nuclear terrorism, which is an increasing global threat. The chances of terrorists becoming fully nuclear is relatively low, however the threat can be two fold, both related to security. First, terrorists can try and make a "dirty bomb," with the potential of a devastating nuclear attack on a single city with nuclear fallout. Secondly, a nuclear facility can be sabotaged, or worse, terrorists can hold governments' hostage or blackmail them by rigging nuclear security. Post Paris and Brussels, it is the Western nuclear establishments which are at risk.
According to a report from Xinhua, China is expanding its reliance on nuclear energy, and plans to spend around US$ 4.8 billion on constructing two more nuclear power reactors. This is part of the plan for the Chinese government under the current plan to reduce its dependence on coal and move on towards a cleaner and more stable energy source. The Chinese government is attempting to increase its share of non-fossil energy to 15 percent by 2020 and 20 percent by 2030, and reduce coal consumption. Additionally, China is on its way to building a "meltdown proof" reactor, which doesn't rely on the obsolete Fukushima model and is in theory not supposed to overheat and therefore never meltdown. The plant is being built in Shandong Province, south of Beijing, and construction is almost ready, as per the director of China's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, before it goes "critical" around November 2017. If China can do this, it will take away a massive headache regarding nuclear accidents and provide a model for safer nuclear energy sources worldwide.
It is acknowledged that nuclear energy cooperation and security is an area which can be the bulwark for Sino-American joint action and trust building measures. China has taken a lot of actions and provided leadership and that has been acknowledged in the United States as well. Xinhua recently quoted a number of eminent scholars from both China and the United States, who said that the attitude towards nuclear safety changed in both China and the United States, and both countries came a long way in establishing a joint bilateral framework which is building trust. China and the United States share numerous joint interests, such as stopping nuclear proliferation, enhancing global frameworks against nuclear terrorism, enhancing global nuclear security in different countries including introducing the practices of nuclear safety, among others. This NSS 2016, Obama's last, will provide a significant opportunity to bolster these issues.
Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm
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