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Projev ministra Schwarzenberga na Summitu o jaderné bezpečnosti v Soulu

 

Projev ministra Karla Schwarzenberga na Summitu o jaderné bezpečnosti v Soulu z 27.3.2012 (v angličtině).

Mr. President,     

On behalf of my country, the Czech Republic, I would like to thank the government of the Republic of Korea for its hospitality and generosity in organizing this eagerly expected event.

Nuclear security reacts on the negative side of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy – terrorism, illicit trafficking or security and health hazards for citizens when nuclear materials and radioactive sources are mishandled. It should be a priority of all concerned parties to arrange efficient measures for all nuclear materials or radioactive sources – these highly exploitable items - to be kept under an appropriate control at all times.

Since the Washington Nuclear Security Summit the Czech Republic has come further again in its commitments to the non-proliferation regime and nuclear security. For example, the Czech Republic has formally accepted the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and deems it legally binding now.

As the highly enriched uranium is a material of the first choice to build a nuclear weapon, it is vital to prevent its potential misuse. The Czech Republic has finalized the process of converting its research reactors from the highly enriched to the low enriched uranium fuel. With a considerable assistance by the IAEA and the US Department of Energy the Czech Republic repatriated within the Global Threat Reduction Initiative all spent highly enriched uranium fuel from research reactors as well as the fresh fuel to the Russian Federation. Consequently, we have come to a decision that towards 2013 the remaining very limited quantity of a highly enriched uranium material will be removed from the Czech territory.

The process of repatriation is a very demanding one and requires an effective cooperation and support of those who are able and willing to do so.

Mr President,

The Czech Republic, in cooperation with the IAEA, supported the safe repatriation of the spent highly enriched uranium fuel from Vincha Research Reactor in Serbia to the Russian Federation. Aware of the importance of this activity, the Czech Republic has made a financial contribution of approximately 1 million US dollars to these ends. We intend to carry on these activities, including within the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.

We hope…more precisely…we encourage other countries to proceed with the minimization of their highly enriched uranium use. And we stand ready to offer our know-how and equipment to those who decide to dispose of their highly enriched uranium.

The Czech Republic cooperates with the Global Threat Reduction Initiative also in the area of security of radiation sources. We are well aware of the risk connected with radiation sources handling. An insufficient security of radiation sources may easily play the weak-link role in terrorism prevention measures.

Let me assure you that the Czech Republic considers the development of a proper security culture in the area of radiation sources, especially of high activity sealed sources, to be of major importance. This plays an essential part in securing the population against potential terroristic threats. Therefore, we also support the German initiative in that area.

In this context, the Czech Republic recognizes the problem of terrorism targeted at nuclear information security as a serious threat to global security. Therefore, we very much appreciate the efforts of the United Kingdom to prepare the working paper on this issue which sets out the key points for the topic. A support for a strong security culture in the area of information security appears to be precisely what is needed today. That is also why we have chosen this issue to be discussed as one of the main topics at the annual Prague Agenda conference organized in our capital this April.

Our commitment to the non-proliferation regime and nuclear security manifested itself recently when the Nuclear Threat Initiative ranked the Czech Republic at the third position among all other countries in its Nuclear Materials Security Index. The study confirms that we have not only implemented all relevant international legal commitments and have adopted the safeguards agreement that we fully comply with, but we have also engaged voluntarily in various international activities.

Mr President,

We jointly set the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material in four years. If we really mean it, much more needs to be done. Security issues cannot be tackled by any nation alone. This is even more true of nuclear security. Our experience shows that no state can rely solely on an increased physical protection of materials and facilities to ensure nuclear security. In our view, an enhanced international cooperation is essential, indispensable and deserves our undivided attention.

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