Norway to contribute NOK 20 million to improve nuclear security

At the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg today announced a total Norwegian contribution of NOK 20 million to the Nuclear Security Fund of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The increased means will be spent on nuclear security efforts in developing countries in the years ahead.

”The Nuclear Security Summit has passed a declaration and an action programme to enhance our efforts against nuclear terrorism. In this the IAEA will be central. That is why we will increase our support to the IAEA to NOK 20 million, in order to contribute to a safer world”, says Prime Minister Stoltenberg.

A central Norwegian message at the Nuclear Security Summit has been that the IAEA needs to be strengthened. As the use of nuclear energy in developing countries is expected to increase considerably, Norway deems it important that this should take place in a safe and secure way. Stoltenberg also underlined the continued need for nuclear disarmament, in order to prevent the uncontrolled spread of fissile material.

Prime Minister Stoltenberg is one of the heads of state and government from more than 45 countries participating at the Nuclear Security Summit, which has been called together and is moderated by US President Barack Obama. The aim is to enhance international efforts against nuclear terrorism.

”President Obama’s nuclear security initiative is important. We need to strengthen international efforts to prevent terrorists from getting hold of nuclear arms or material to make such arms”, says Stoltenberg.

Increased funding from Norway to the IAEA comes in addition to other Norwegian contributions, among them are:

• Means to Kazakhstan. Norway will contribute to improve Kazakh customs authorities’ ability to control goods and persons. The Caucasus region is the area with the highest number of attempts to smuggle nuclear and radioactive materials.
• Norway will moderate cooperation with Russia, Finland and Sweden to remove 87 large radioactive sources in lighthouses in the Baltic Sea, and replace them with solar panels. This will complete a programme to remove all such radioactive sources from Russia’s Barents Sea coast west of Novaya Zemlya, and from the Baltic Sea.
• Environmental programmes in North-West Russia are vital to world security. Russian icebreakers are powered by nuclear reactors, and waste nuclear material stored in the Andreyeva Bay is to be removed. Norway is following up on this in order to secure and remove the material.
• Norway has contributed to the scrapping of five submarines in North West Russia. This has removed large amounts of nuclear waste from the Russian coast.
• Norway will continue its efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from civilian installations globally, in cooperation with the IAEA.

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and US President Barack Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister. More photos here.