It was a major achievement that Ukraine and Mexico decided to completely eliminate HEU, he said.

Regarding concerns about the possibility of trafficking of nuclear materials from North Korea and Iran, Lee said the international community would closely cooperate in tracking nuclear sources.

The Seoul Communique, adopted by the 58 participating countries and international organizations including the U.N., IAEA, EU and Interpol, called for further minimizing HEU and plutonium, enhancing protection of atomic energy facilities and preventing trafficking of nuclear materials.

The communique encouraged summit participants to adhere to international conventions in the area of nuclear security, including the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

It also called on the states to voluntarily announce and take specific actions to minimize the use of HEU by 2013 and addressed transportation security to prevent theft of nuclear materials by terrorists.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who initiated the Nuclear Security Summit in 2010, urged participants to continue fighting nuclear terrorism.

“There were those who questioned whether our nations could summon the will to confront one of the gravest dangers of our time,” Obama told the other leaders at the meeting, according to a transcript released by the White House.
“There was some skepticism that we would be able to sustain an effort around this topic. But that‘s exactly what we’ve done.”

Along with the communique, participating countries announced their individual goals to reduce or scrap civilian HEU. Others vowed to convert military-purpose HEU into material for non-military purposes.

At the luncheon session, led by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, the leaders focused talks on nuclear safety in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

They agreed that nuclear security and safety measures should be implemented in a coherent manner to maximize synergy between the two.

Ban called on the states to boost transparency in terms of nuclear security and safety.

“Determining the appropriate energy mix is a decision of sovereign states. But nuclear safety and security is a global public good. The general public has a right to know,” Ban said.

He also touched upon how emergency response, disaster risk reduction and resilience building were significant.

“Whether the challenge we face is a natural disaster or a terrorist attack, the wisdom of the human race is tested. We must all cooperate closely and combine our wisdom, so as not to make light of nature or lose this ‘battle of wits’ against terrorists,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said during the luncheon.

At the end of the year, Japan plans to hold an international conference in cooperation with the IAEA in Fukushima to help nations share knowledge and lessons learned, Noda said.

Since the 2010 Washington summit, more than 10 nations including Australia and Argentina have eliminated some 400 kilograms of HEU, the equivalent of 16 nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and Russia, the world’s two largest possessors of nuclear materials, also got rid of seven tons and 48 tons of HEU each, according to the summit’s preparatory secretariat.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)

Main points of the Seoul Communique

●Urges states to enhance universal adherence to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism

●Urges states to accelerate domestic approval of the 2005 amendment to the CPPNM, seeking to bring it into force by 2014

●Encourages states to announce specific voluntary actions to minimize the use of highly-enriched uranium by the end of 2013

●Urges states to ensure the security of radioactive sources in the use in industrial, medical, agricultural and research applications

●Encourages states to consider establishing appropriate plans for the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste to enhance nuclear security and safety

●Encourages states to establish effective nuclear material inventory management and domestic tracking mechanisms