§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to combat nuclear smuggling. [38791]
§ Mr. Tony LloydWe believe strongly in the need for an effective and proportionate range of national and international mechanisms to prevent the theft of nuclear material and, on the rare occasions where this does occur, to ensure that there are effective mechanisms to combat nuclear smuggling.
This Department has focused on implementing the G8 Programme for Preventing and Combating Illicit Trafficking in Nuclear Material, agreed in 1996. We continue to encourage expanded participation in this programme. Most recently, the UK led a successful exercise to test a Points of Contact system which provides for the immediate exchange of information on those few cases where nuclear material of proliferation concern is smuggled.
The UK also works extremely closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which for some years has had a programme for collecting and sharing information on confirmed trafficking incidents. In the face of increasingly effective action by governments, the number of incidents has declined significantly over the last couple of years. None has been recorded in the UK.