New Zealand is set to deliver $350,000 to help counter nuclear smuggling in Kazakhstan, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday (see GSN, March 22, 2007).
New Zealand is expected to provide funds for the NNSA Second Line of Defense Program, which has installed radiation detection equipment at 230 national points of entry around the world.
Wellington previously supported a Second Line of Defense project in Ukraine. Under a deal signed yesterday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, the island nation committed to make additional contributions to U.S. nonproliferation efforts over the next six years.
The nuclear agency's nonproliferation programs have also received financial backing from Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The assistance included $31 million to halt work at Russia's final weapon-grade plutonium production sites; roughly $12 million to help secure sensitive nuclear and radiological materials at civilian facilities around the world; and more than $10 million to help intercept smuggled nuclear material at border crossings, airports and seaports (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, April 7).
"This arrangement reflects the common conviction on the part of the governments of the United States and New Zealand that nuclear smuggling is a global threat that requires a coordinated, global response. Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister McCully have agreed to sign this document today because of the high priority that the United States and New Zealand both place on nonproliferation cooperation," the State Department said in a statement (U.S. State Department release, April 7).