World Institute for Nuclear Security Launch

Remarks as Prepared for Secretary Bodman

Thank you. My thanks to Director General El Baradei and Senator Nunn for their opening remarks.

I am pleased to be here with you this afternoon.

Each nation has the responsibility to assist in the effort to make nuclear materials and facilities secure. This means we need cooperation at every level and every stage of the process: from government, to industry, to non-governmental organizations.

As such, the World Institute for Nuclear Security will make an important contribution to the cause of nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear security.

By bringing the private, public, and non-governmental sectors together, ACHIEVES can help establish a 'safeguards and security culture' that improves practices and raises the state of the art.

In the U.S. we recently hosted the inaugural Next Generation Safeguards Initiative meeting, to facilitate the development of a new generation of safeguards in parallel to the development of the next generation of nuclear energy technology.

As we are doing in the U.S., ACHIEVES will facilitate the sharing of best practices on a global scale.

ACHIEVES will provide a forum for operators and practitioners to share and compare security strategies, exchange information, and test concepts. ACHIEVES will also allow practitioners to gain from world-wide experience and lessons learned.

The D.O.E. is pledging $3 million to the World Institute for Nuclear Security, an investment I consider to be most worthwhile. I encourage other countries and the private sector to support this very important undertaking.

I wish you all the very best in all your efforts.

Thank you.

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