The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), along with the Moscow-based Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS), recently released a report highlighting 50 projects that advance key nuclear nonproliferation objectives for the United States and Russia across five thematic areas.
The report, part of a dialogue on potential U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation, includes a series of projects involving nuclear science, nuclear energy, nuclear safety, nuclear security, and nuclear environmental remediation.
When drafting the proposal, the report included four broad themes for each nation to focus on including ensuring that all nuclear talks are not stymied by political relations, that scientific engagement be used as a vehicle for rebuilding trust, that nuclear cooperation be used on the premise of mutual benefit, and that both nations have special imperative to work together to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism.
“Today, the danger of nuclear terrorism is real, serious, and growing,” Sam Nunn, former U.S. senator and co-chairman of NTI, said. “These dangers compel collaboration between the United States and Russia. Communication between scientists and technical experts in the U.S. and Russian nuclear complexes, which dates back to the 1980s, has been frozen. The benefits of cooperation can be significant for the United States and Russia and for the world.”
NTI is an independent group founded by philanthropist Ted Turner and Sam Nunn and aims to prevent catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass destruction and disruption.
CENESS is an independent, non-governmental think tank that aims to promote independent, unbiased, systematic, and professional analysis related to nuclear nonproliferation and atomic energy.