STRENGTHENING NUCLEAR MATERIAL AND NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS SECURITY IN ROMANIA

The terrorist attacks starting with 11 September 2001 surprised the world because of the unconventional ways used by the terrorist groups. All the events have demonstrated that the States have to take into consideration the nuclear threat and have to re-evaluate the actions and the asymmetric scenarios used by the terrorists against a nuclear facility. At the international level, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has adopted a resolution against nuclear terrorism, during the General Conference, in September 2001. Romania, as Member State of the IAEA, is very active in committing actions at national and international level and has taken measures to strengthen the physical protection regime for nuclear material and nuclear facilities. National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control, as national regulatory authority in the nuclear field, has initiated a new strategy regarding the security for nuclear material and nuclear facilities in Romania. This strategy has been improved after September 11 events in order to amplify the specific response at the national level through the following objectives: evaluation of the efficiency of the physical protection systems for nuclear facilities; revision of nuclear safety aspects related to nuclear facilities; strengthening of the physical protection of nuclear material during transportation; evaluation of the physical protection design aspects for nuclear facilities; detection of nuclear material and radioactive sources at the Romanian borders; updating the illicit trafficking databases; performing exercises to evaluate the response and the coordination with other institutions; re-evaluation of nuclear threat. Under the Global Threat Reduction, within the cooperation framework with the US Government, projects have been developed in Romania to minimize the nuclear threat. The concepts, ideas and activities presented hereby may be of value when developing measures and practices aimed at ensuring efficiency of nuclear materials and nuclear installations security.