IF POLITICIANS are serious about nuclear security, they should start listening to scientists. That’s the appeal from scientific groups as world leaders promised better security at a summit in Washington DC this week, but said little about how to achieve it.
At the summit, 47 countries pledged to prevent the theft of fissile material, which could be used to create a nuclear bomb, by securing all stockpiles within four years. Some of the world’s estimated 2100 tonnes of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) are kept in poorly guarded buildings, and there have been 18 known attempted thefts since…
