Global Nuclear Materials Management: Summary of the Closing Plenary Session of the 40th INMM Annual Meeting

The theme for the Closing Plenary Session of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, held in Phoenix, Ariz., U.S.A., July 29, was global nuclear materials management. Tom Sellers of Sandia National Laboratories chaired the session and gave an introduction to GNMM. As our Institute name suggests, this is not a new topic; however, the dissolution of the former Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War have provided a new emphasis for addressing the weapon states’ excess nuclear materials and the threat of the loss of nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union. The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., has devoted two recent conferences — in December 1998 and July 1999 — to GNMM. These conferences focus on policy recommendations for the U.S. government regarding the growing threat of unauthorized use of nuclear material and on rebuilding the nuclear expertise that provides the basis for U.S. leadership in these areas. The INMM Closing Plenary provided overviews of the five CSIS working groups’ recommendations and broadened this dialogue to include international activities that might be undertaken on a global basis to address these problems.