Nuclear mattersU.S., Mongolia in nuclear smuggling agreement

The governments of the United States and Mongolia strengthened their joint efforts to fight nuclear terrorism. U.S. deputy secretary of energy Clay Sell and Mongolia’s minister of finance Nadmid Bayartsaikhan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which will usher in cooperation between the two countries to prevent illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material. The agreement calls for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to install radiation detection equipment at several of Mongolia’s border crossings and at the Chinggis Khan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar. NNSA plans to install radiation portal monitors on Mongolia’s main border crossings to detect nuclear and radiological radiation coming from vehicles, pedestrians, and railroad cars. Through its Second Line of Defense program, NNSA works with foreign partners to equip border crossings, airports, and seaports with radiation detection equipment — and also to provide training — so that the host government can assume operational responsibility for the equipment. Motre than 160 sites have been equipped to date under the program.

NNSA was established by Congress in 2000. It is an agency within the DOE and is responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA has several responsibilities: It is charged with maintaining and enhancing the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; it works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; it provides the U.S. Navy with safe nuclear propulsion; and it is responsible for responding to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.