NTI and INMM Collaboration on Workshops for Global Best Practices in Nuclear Materials Management

The Institute for Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) sponsored two one-week workshops in June 2004 bringing together a select group of nuclear materials professionals from government, industry and research venues around the world to share “best practices” (on an unclassified basis) for securing and accounting for nuclear weapons materials. A special emphasis was placed on recruiting participants from nations not included in multilateral nuclear regimes, as well as on presenting “best practices” that may surpass current standards or regulatory requirements (believed by many experts to be inadequate to protect against modern threats). Owing to the political sensitivities of official interactions with certain countries on subjects related to nuclear materials, this project was designed to approach the subject from the point of view of professional development through the premier international professional society for nuclear materials management, the INMM. This project is linked to NTI’s strategy of improving the security of nuclear materials and weapons worldwide. By providing a context for interaction among professionals responsible for nuclear materials management that is constrained neither by formally agreed standards nor by official political structures, these workshops— and possible follow-on activities—supplement and reinforce existing mechanisms through government-togovernment relationships as well as multilateral organizations. Ultimately, the collection, documentation, and promulgation of global best practices could help form the basis for raising current nuclear materials management standards to be more reflective of the modern threats from terrorists and others in search of weapons of mass destruction.