1. INTRODUCTION

The Threat

International terrorism is more far-reaching, multifaceted, ruthlessly planned and well financed than ever before. Sub-State actors have shown that they are prepared to attack any target, sacrifice lives (including their own) and use any means to obtain their goals. Criminals have attempted to obtain nuclear and radioactive material. It must be assumed that sub-State actors or criminals may try to acquire weapons of mass destruction, improvise a nuclear explosive device or radiological dispersal device, or attempt to sabotage nuclear facilities, locations or transports. The international community is challenged to make every effort to prevent nuclear or other radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands. Based on a design basis threat (DBT), nuclear facilities and other places where radioactive materials may be located, as well as transport vehicles, must be protected against sabotage. The potential consequences of any malicious use could be catastrophic and could jeopardize the continued peaceful uses of nuclear technology and applications.

The International Framework for Nuclear Security

During the 1960s, the increasing number of nuclear weapon States was perceived to be a serious global security risk. The response by the international community included the conclusion in 1968 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which now has 182 States Parties. The awareness that sub-State actors could steal nuclear material for subsequent use in nuclear explosive devices gave rise to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, which entered into force in 1987. An increasing number of reports of illicit trafficking in nuclear material triggered an effort to consider the need to revise, and strengthen, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. The discussion on this was completed in 2003, when the Open-Ended Group of Experts agreed to consider this subject and reported their results to the Director General of the IAEA. In July 2004, the Director General, at the request of 25 States, circulated the proposed amendments to the convention to all States Parties. A number of States have now requested that the Director General, as the depositary of the convention, convene a diplomatic conference for the purpose of considering the proposed amendments. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, as well as other serious events both before and after, raised concern within the international community of whether enough was being done to protect nuclear and other radioactive materials from being used in malicious acts. Measures were taken to significantly strengthen the physical protection of nuclear installations. It could no longer be assumed that high activity of certain nuclear material and radioactive sources were self-protected. The Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources was revised to include, inter alia, strengthened security requirements. The implementation of the revised Code of Conduct and the implementation of a strengthened international physical protection regime became a top priority for the international community.

The IAEA Nuclear Security Plan of Activities

At its 2001 Regular Session, the IAEA General Conference requested the IAEA Director General to review the IAEA´s programmes with a view to strengthening protection against nuclear terrorism. The IAEA Board of Governors approved, in March 2002, a three year Plan of Activities for that purpose. The plan includes physical protection and other security arrangements for nuclear and other radioactive materials, accountancy of these materials, detection of illicit trafficking both domestically and at international borders, the response to such acts, and activities to facilitate information exchange. The plan is also aimed at supporting the development of a comprehensive and coordinated global nuclear security framework.

The activities foreseen in these initiatives build on international cooperation. The IAEA carries out core activities that are important for the implementation of these initiatives. In this, the IAEA works together with other international organizations with related responsibilities.

Extensive experience in developing and maintaining effective nuclear security regimes now exists in States and international organizations. Similarly, much experience has been developed in providing assistance to countries that lack the resources and personnel to install or upgrade their own nuclear security systems. After two years of implementation of the IAEA Plan of Activities to protect against nuclear terrorism, much relevant information has been gathered.

The time has come to examine all the experience gathered so far: how effective and efficient have the efforts been, and how well have they been coordinated. Policy makers and technical experts can share their experience to date and consider what can be learned from it to shape policy and guide future actions. To this end, the IAEA, together with the Government of the United Kingdom, will convene an International Conference on Nuclear Security: Global Directions for the Future.

Previous Conferences and Other International Initiatives

This International Conference on Nuclear Security: Global Directions for the Future is the first conference of its kind. In the past, conferences have been convened on related subjects:

• In May 2001 the IAEA conducted The International Conference on Security of Material: Measures to Prevent, Intercept and Respond to Illicit Uses of Nuclear Material and Radioactive Sources. This conference created an awareness of the consequences that might result from illegal activities involving nuclear and other radioactive material.
• In March 2003, the IAEA and its co-sponsors held an International Conference on the Security of Radioactive Sources. This conference resulted in a number of findings regarding the promotion of greater international cooperation in addressing the security concerns raised by insufficiently controlled radioactive sources.
• The International Conference on National Infrastructures for Radiation Safety held in Rabat, Morocco, in September 2003 provided a forum for information exchange on current issues related to the requirements for adequate national radiation safety infrastructures and their evolution towards sustainable and effective systems.

Other international initiatives to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and related materials to sub-State actors include:

• UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (28 September 2001): Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts;
• UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (28 April 2004), which delineates a number of actions that all States should take to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery;
• The G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (June 2002);
• The EU Strategy against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which includes support for nuclear security programmes (December 2003);
• US initiatives, including the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.

2. OBJECTIVES

The conference will aim at fostering a better understanding and awareness of the global changes since 11 September 2001 and future threats involving the malicious use of nuclear or other radioactive materials, including ways in which assistance and support to countries without the necessary resources can be more effectively provided and sustained. It will examine what has been achieved and how effective existing measures have been. It will consider what should be continued and how the international response might be altered to provide a more comprehensive and coherent approach. It will seek new ideas and foster cross-fertilization amongst States and international agencies to facilitate better and more deliberate planning. It will look at what is sustainable in the long term. In short, it will provide an opportunity to share information on how to most successfully combat sub-State and criminal threats now and in the future.

3. AUDIENCE

The conference will provide a contribution to international and national policy development. It is directed at Ministers, senior policy makers, government officials and technical experts in nuclear security.

Participation in the conference will be limited to a maximum of 200 to facilitate in-depth discussion.

4. THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE

Subjects to be addressed in contributed or invited papers

• Current policies and approaches to improve nuclear security
  Programmes and actions that have been taken to stem the risk of malicious acts.
• Actions and experience to date
  Effectiveness of the actions that have been taken; successes and disappointments, and the possible need for redefining the focus of the efforts, including ways of assuring the sustainability of these efforts; national experiences and experiences gained by international organizations.
• Going forward: How can we accomplish more and collaborate better?
  Future strategies and directives for nuclear security work based on past actions and new information; coordination and cooperation with Member States and international organizations; opportunities for cooperation.

The conference will feature a concluding session at which the session chairpersons will summarize the overall results and conclusions from sessions and panel discussions. The President of the Conference will highlight the recommendations for future actions through international cooperation.

5. PARTICIPATION

All persons wishing to participate in the conference are requested to complete a Participation Form (Form A) and send it as soon as possible to the competent national authority (see Section 8) for subsequent transmission to the IAEA. A participant will be accepted only if the Participation Form is transmitted through the competent official authority of a Member State of the IAEA or by an organization invited to participate.

Details on the logistics of the conference will be sent to all designated participants approximately two to three months before the meeting. This information will be posted on this conference web page.

6. CONTRIBUTED PAPERS AND POSTERS

Concise papers on issues falling within the scope of the conference (see Section 4 above) may be submitted as contributions to the conference. These papers will not be presented orally, but will be summarized by a rapporteur and included in a Book of Contributed Papers to be distributed free of charge to all participants upon registration. Authors of contributed papers may present the substance of their papers in the form of a poster, which will be exhibited in the poster area at the conference.

The contributed papers should not exceed four pages in length and must be submitted in English. Each contributed paper must be preceded by an abstract not exceeding 300 words. Authors should state to which of the above technical topics their contribution relates.

Authors are urged to make use the following IAEA´s Proceedings Paper Template in Word 2000:

Guidelines for the preparation of a contributed paper and poster are given in the attached IAEA Guidelines for Authors on the Preparation of Manuscripts for Proceedings and the IAEA Guidelines for the Preparation of a Poster.

intconf.sources@iaea.org

or sent on diskette/CD-ROM to the Scientific Secretariat (see Section 13). The diskette label should identify the paper, the proposed session topic and the software application used (the use of Microsoft Word is encouraged). To permit selection and review, the electronic version of the contributed paper must be received by the Scientific Secretariat not later than 10 December 2004.

In addition to the electronic submission, a copy of the contributed paper must also be submitted through one of the competent official authorities (see Section 8). The paper should be sent with a completed Form for Submission of a Paper (Form B) and the Participation Form (Form A) to reach the IAEA not later than 10 December 2004.

Only papers that have been received by the above deadline and through the appropriate official channels will be considered for inclusion in the Book of Contributed Papers. Final acceptance will occur after a peer review process. Furthermore, the Secretariat reserves the right to exclude papers that do not comply with its quality standards or do not apply to one of the topics in Section 4 above.

Authors will be informed by the end of January 2005 whether their paper has been accepted for inclusion in the Book of Contributed Papers and for presentation as a poster.

7. EXPENDITURES/GRANTS

No registration fee is charged to participants.

As a general rule, the IAEA does not pay the cost of attendance, i.e. travel and living expenses, of participants. However, limited funds are available to help meet the cost of the attendance of selected specialists, mainly from developing countries with low economic resources. Generally not more than one grant will be awarded to any one country.

If governments wish to apply for a grant on behalf of one of their specialists, they should address specific requests to the IAEA to this effect. Governments should ensure that applications for grants:

1. are submitted by 10 December 2004;
2. are accompanied by a duly completed and signed Grant Application Form (see attached Form C).

Applications that do not comply with the conditions stated under (a) and (b) cannot be considered.

The grants awarded will be in the form of lump sums and will usually cover only partial cost of attendance.

8. CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

The Participation Form (Form A), the Paper Submission Form (Form B) and, if applicable, the Grant Application Form (Form C) must be sent through one of the competent official authorities (Ministry of Foreign Affairs or national atomic energy authority) for transmission to the IAEA. Subsequent communications concerning technical matters should be sent to the Scientific Secretary and communications on administrative/logistical matters to the Conference Secretariat (see Section 13).

9. DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A preliminary programme of the conference will be sent to all officially designated participants well in advance of the meeting and will also be available on the IAEA conference web page (see Section 15).

The Final Programme and the Book of Contributed Papers will be available free of charge upon registration at the conference.

The proceedings of the conference, to be published by the IAEA, will contain welcoming addresses, overview presentations, rapporteur reports, invited keynote papers, session summaries, the conclusions presented by the President of the Conference on the last day and records of the discussions. The contributed papers will be included as a CD-ROM. The proceedings can be ordered, at a special discounted price, during the conference.

10. WORKING LANGUAGE

The working language of the meeting will be English. All communications, abstracts and papers must be sent to the IAEA in English.

11. ACCOMMODATION

Detailed information on accommodation and other administrative details will be sent to all officially designated participants approximately two to three months before the meeting. It will also be available on this IAEA conference web page.

12. VISAS

Designated participants who require a visa to enter the United Kingdom should submit the necessary application to the nearest diplomatic or consular representative of the United Kingdom as soon as possible. Please note that the procedure could take up to three weeks.

13. CONFERENCE WEB PAGE

Please visit this IAEA conference web page regularly for new information regarding this conference.

14. CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT

Scientific Secretariat of the Conference:

Mr. B. Weiss
Office of Nuclear Security
International Atomic Energy Agency
P.O. Box 100
Wagramer Strasse 5
A-1400 Vienna, Austria

Telephone No.:	(+43 1) 2600 21955
Telefax No.:	(+43 1) 2600 29299
E-mail:	B.Weiss@iaea.org
E-mail address for paper submission:	intconf.sources@iaea.org

Administration and organization:

Ms. R. Perricos
Division of Conference and Document Services
Conference Services Section
IAEA-CN-136
International Atomic Energy Agency
P.O. Box 100
Wagramer Strasse 5
A-1400 Vienna, Austria

Telephone No.:	(+43 1) 2600 21315
Telefax No.:	(+43 1) 2600 7
E-mail:	R.Perricos@iaea.org