WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- The focus of next week's nuclear summit in Washington is narrow: securing nuclear materials and preventing them from reaching terrorists, the White House said.
"The summit is dedicated to nuclear security and the threat of nuclear terrorism," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said during a briefing Friday. "There's vulnerable nuclear material around the world."
Representatives from 47 countries, the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Council will begin arriving in Washington Sunday for a series of bilateral meetings and plenary sessions to discuss nuclear security. The summit ends Tuesday.
Since he was a U.S. senator, Barack Obama has focused on the issue of nuclear security, Rhodes said. During a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, a year ago, President Obama outlined his goal to aggressively push non-proliferation, including the goal of securing vulnerable nuclear material -- plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- in four years.
"Probably no one nation is capable of taking the action necessary to secure vulnerable materials worldwide," Rhodes said. "And no one nation is capable of enacting the security measures necessary" to block illegal transit of the material.
Separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium are the two materials that can be used for nuclear weapons, said Gary Samore, senior presidential adviser and senior director for non-proliferation.
"If we're able to lock those down and deny them to non-state actors, then we have essentially solved the risk of nuclear terrorism," Samore said during the conference call with reporters.
The primary responsibility for securing nuclear materials rests with individual countries, assisted by international protocols, Samore said, adding he expects some countries to announce their plans for securing loose nuclear material.
