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The United States and Japan are expected to hold meetings in Washington this month geared toward encouraging collaboration on nuclear forensics, government sources from the two nations told Kyodo News on Saturday (see GSN, Jan. 26).
Nuclear forensics employs a variety of scientific fields to analyze nuclear samples collected either after a detonation or seized in transit with the intention of tracing the materials back to their place of origin. The talks are would be the first joint discussions to take place on the subject between Washington and Tokyo.
The capability to determine which nuclear program produced a sample could be used to discourage nations from providing atomic materials to rogue states and extremist organizations.
Representatives from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration are expected to conduct discussions with officials from Japan's Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. An NNSA official told Kyodo that he was optimistic over the prospects for increased cooperation with Japan on nuclear forensics.
"While NNSA seeks to establish cooperation with foreign counterparts to strengthen the nonproliferation regime, the extent of our cooperation with [the Japanese ministry] on nuclear forensics has not yet been determined," he said.
An official with Japan's science ministry verified that the working-level discussions were to take place.
Japan "can contribute much (in the nuclear forensics field) with its high-level scientific and technological capabilities," according to one high-level Japanese Foreign Ministry official (Kyodo News/Breitbart.com, Jan. 30).