Hawaii nuclear security efforts a model for entire U.S.

President Barack Obama heads to the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul today as the international community continues to grapple with nuclear security issues in Iran and North Korea.

But world leaders will be there to focus on a third issue of grave danger to the global community: securing nuclear and radiological materials worldwide from terrorists who want to create and detonate a nuclear or dirty bomb.

 The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction reported that terrorist organizations are intent on acquiring the material, technology and expertise needed to build nuclear weapons, and that nations must work together to secure that material before terrorists can steal it or buy it on the black market.

 In recognition of this threat, President Obama in his first year in office announced a new international effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide within four years. To further this initiative, the president hosted a Nuclear Security Summit in April 2010, which resulted in a joint communiqué regarding international cooperation, improved nuclear security standards, and the sharing of best practices to prevent nuclear terrorism.

 President Obama should be commended for making progress to secure nuclear weapons-usable materials, such as highly enriched uranium. Since the start of the president’s initiative, more than 31 nuclear bombs worth of material have been secured from 19 countries around the world. Most notably, Libya’s nuclear weapons program was dismantled and removed before the recent uprising began, preventing weapons from slipping into terrorists’ hands during the chaos.

The Seoul summit offers leaders a chance to build on this progress. The scope of the summit has been broadened to include radiological material security. These materials, while less destructive than nuclear materials, are much easier for terrorists to obtain because they are commonly found in medical, research, and industrial devices worldwide. In an age of terrorism, the fear that radiological materials could be used to build a dirty bomb that could have devastating, tragic, and lasting effects on human life, the environment, and the economy is a real and pressing threat. This is an issue in dire need of the world’s attention and the president’s continued leadership.

 At a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing I held this month, the Government Accountability Office testified that radiological materials in many U.S. hospitals are alarmingly vulnerable to theft. For example, investigators found one hospital where a radiation safety officer could not account for the total number of people who were allowed unescorted access to radioactive sources because the computer program used to track access did not count beyond 500. In another hospital in a major U.S. city,

cesium was kept in a padlocked room but the combination to the lock was written on the door frame in a busy hallway with heavy traffic. In yet another troubling case, radioactive material was stored in a room at a hospital with unalarmed and unsecured windows that looked out on a loading dock.

 GAO’s findings make it clear that we need to improve radiological security here in the U.S. A model exists that could enhance radiological security nationwide. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has successfully worked with partners in Hawaii to complete security enhancements on all high-priority radiological materials in the islands.  

Hawaii is now safer as a result, and I urge the Department of Energy to use this model and accelerate the implementation of this critical program to secure all high-risk sites across the country. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must also clearly outline and strengthen domestic radiological security requirements to prevent unauthorized access to these materials.

During President Obama’s trip to Seoul, the administration should explicitly expand its four-year nuclear material security effort to radiological materials and announce a new international initiative to secure all radiological materials in four years — beginning with the many high-risk hospitals across the country. The U.S. should lead by example to improve safety and security both here and abroad.

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U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii is a senior member of the Homeland Security committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management.