Hungary takes leading role in removing weapons-grade uranium
BUDAPEST (Yonhap) -- Hungary has taken active steps to reduce its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and will continue to improve the security of its nuclear materials and facilities in line with the spirit of the upcoming nuclear summit in Seoul, Hungarian President Pal Schmitt said.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the presidential palace earlier this week, Schmitt also expressed concern about North Korea's planned rocket launch, saying it would "clearly breach" a U.N. Security Council resolution that bans the North from any launch using ballistic missile technology.
The communist country announced last week it will launch a rocket in mid-April to put an earth observation satellite into orbit, a move seen as a cover for a long-range missile test.
"Whether this is a satellite or a ballistic missile, it is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Hungary urges North Korea to immediately stop this act and abide by international obligations including the UNSC resolution," Schmitt said.
Speaking about the March 26-27 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, the president said Hungary has a "keen interest" in safeguarding its nuclear facilities and materials to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.
"Nuclear terrorism is one of the most defiant threats to international security," he said, days before he is scheduled to attend the summit. "A global approach to this question is one of the most reliable means of preventing terrorists, criminal or other unauthorized entities from having access to nuclear materials."
The summit is expected to draw representatives from 58 nations and international organizations, including 45 heads of state. U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are among the top leaders scheduled to attend.
The inaugural summit was held in Washington in 2010 as part of Obama's goal to lock down all loose nuclear material by 2014.
"The Nuclear Security Summit provides an opportunity to enhance our standards, to work on possible ways of combating threats together, sharing our experience and improving joint preparations and efforts against possible attacks," Schmitt said.
He noted that Hungary operates an active peaceful nuclear program, with plans to expand its capacity, but the Central-Eastern European country is also committed to reducing its weapons-grade HEU that could be diverted away from its intended purpose of research.
"Hungary has taken a leading role in achieving the minimization and eventual elimination of stocks of HEU used at civilian facilities," he said. "As part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return program, the repatriation of spent fuel from the Budapest Research Reactor to Russia was successfully completed in 2008, with core conversion to be completed in a few years as well."
Hungary has also served as a transit country for the repatriation of HEU from Serbia to Russia, and is now working to boost the security of more than 30 sites in the country that use radioactive sources, according to the president.
Experts warn that terrorists could use radioactive materials to build a crude nuclear bomb, which would cause less damage than an explosive made from HEU but still trigger widespread panic and fear. (Yonhap)