THE INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON FISSILE MATERIALS (IPFM)

The IPFM was established on January 1, 2006. It is an independent panel of arms-control and nonproliferation experts -- initially from six nuclear-armed states and nine nonweapon states. Its mission is to develop and present the technical bases for practical and achievable policy initiatives to reduce global stocks of fissile materials and the number of locations where they can be found. The initial reports of the IPFM will be on: 1) Global stocks of military and civilian highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium, and the policies that are affecting the these stocks and the locations where they can be found; 2) The basis for progress toward a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty; 3) Implications of the operation of the Rokkasho-mura reprocessing plant for Japan’s plutonium stocks; 4) Implications of the U.S.-India nuclear deal for the production weapons materials in South Asia; 5) Possible initiatives for broadening efforts to eliminate civilian use of highly enriched uranium; and 6) Verification of the denuclearization of North Korea. IPFM reports may be found at fissilematerial.org. The findings and recommendations of some of these reports will be summarized.