International Conference on Nuclear Security 2020

Synergistic Regional Capacity Building Efforts on Nuclear Forensics in the GUAM Countries

Not scheduled

15m

Paper MORC: Nuclear forensics

Speaker

Liz DALLAS

Description

The European Union and the United States have a long standing cooperation with the GUAM countries in the nuclear security area. For many years the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been implementing cooperative projects with Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova related to countering nuclear smuggling, to improving national preparedness and to nuclear forensics. Similarly, the US DOE, through it National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the National Laboratories, operated projects related to enhancing technical nuclear forensics and inter-agency cooperation in GUAM countries. In recent years, JRC and the Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence program of NNSA implemented nuclear forensics related projects in partnership. This close coordination and cooperation enabled a better use of resources and ensured a coherent approach for training, for developing protocols and procedures, for promoting best practices and for conducting exercises.
Within the framework of the STCU (Science and Technology Center in Ukraine), a project set has been developed to support sustainable nuclear forensics capacity across regional partner countries as part of the region's nuclear security culture. The project set is co-funded by the European Union and the United States and the implantation is supported and monitored by experts from JRC and NSDD. Within this project set, nuclear forensics subject matters experts from the GUAM (Georgian, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) region participate in three STCU projects, and integrate new nuclear forensics experts as appropriate to the project.
The three projects cover:

• National nuclear forensics library (NNFL) development work, enabling GUAM countries to use available resources and international experience while maintaining the opportunity for a country-specific technical implementation of the NNFL;
• Technical work and training intended to bolster and sustain existing nuclear forensics expertise, and to extend regional and international collaboration; and
• Multifaceted project aimed at training the next generation of nuclear forensic scientists at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels.

The presentation will provide an overview of the implementation of the three projects, pointing out the additive synergies between project activities, and offer insights as to the benefits of regional capacity building work. Additionally, the paper will illustrate how these three projects build on achievements of previous activities and contribute to sustain nuclear forensic capabilities in the region; further improve the ability to investigate and prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the nuclear security culture of the four countries.