IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano will host a public event on 6 May to mark the entry into force of a landmark agreement aimed at strengthening global nuclear security and reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. The event will be attended by IAEA Member States.
The Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) takes effect on 8 May, 30 days after the number of countries adhering to this legal instrument reached the necessary threshold for its coming into force. One hundred and two countries have now adhered to the Amendment, which amount to two-thirds of the 152 States Parties to the CPPNM.
The Amendment expands the original Convention, adopted in 1979, to also cover the protection of nuclear facilities and nuclear material in domestic use, storage and transport. Countries will be required to establish appropriate national physical protection regimes for nuclear material and facilities. They also take on new obligations to share information on sabotage, and credible threats of such incidents. These and other measures under the Amendment will help reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility and prevent smuggling of nuclear material.
Director General Amano, who will address Friday’s event, has called the Amendment’s entry into force “the single most important step which the world can take to strengthen nuclear security.”
The Permanent Representatives to the IAEA of the Republic of India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America - Ambassador Rajiva Misra, Ambassador Song Young-wan, Ambassador Vladimir Voronkov and Ambassador Henry S. Ensher - will also make remarks. Ambassador Song co-chairs the consultations among Member States on a Ministerial Declaration expected to be adopted at the IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security in December 2016.
The event starts at 11:00 in the Rotunda of the Vienna International Centre (VIC) and is open to media.
At 10:00, a media briefing will be held in room B0438 on the fourth floor of the VIC’s B-building. Khammar Mrabit, Director of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Security, and Peri Lynne Johnson, IAEA Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of Legal Affairs, will discuss the significance of the CPPNM Amendment and future steps.
Accreditation: All journalists are requested to inform the IAEA press office of their plans to attend. Journalists with permanent credentials to the VIC need no additional credentials. We encourage those journalists who do not yet have permanent accreditation, to request it at UNIS Vienna.
Others should contact the press office for accreditation. Please email press@iaea.org or call [+43-1] 2600-21273.