President Obama on Friday highlighted that three new countries have completely eliminated their stockpile of highly enriched uranium and plutonium just before his fourth and last nuclear summit: Argentina, Switzerland and Uzbekistan.
Obama also used the meeting to welcome the pledges that China and six other countries have made since Thursday to reduce stockpiles, convert reactors to non-weapons grade elements, secure nuclear facilities and combat nuclear smuggling.
“China recently opened its new center for promoting nuclear security and training, and I’m pleased that the United States and China are cooperating on nuclear security,” Obama told representatives of the 50 countries and international organizations attending the summit. “And Japan is working to complete the removal of more than half a ton of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, which is the largest project in history to remove nuclear material from a country.”
The White House noted that since the 2014 summit, the U.S. has helped China, Jamaica, Kazakhstan and Russia convert reactors away from highly enriched uranium and confirmed closure of such reactors in Russia, Switzerland and Uzbekistan.
Additionally, Indonesia pledged on Friday to eliminate any highly enriched uranium it still possesses by September. Upon completion, Indonesia will become the 30th country, plus Taiwan, to not have any highly enriched uranium.
Finally, Obama highlighted that 102 nations have ratified the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, a treaty that outlines cooperation in the event of nuclear material theft.
Obama noted that participating countries “have made some 260 specific commitments to improve nuclear security — and so far, three-quarters of these steps have been implemented.”
