ISTC contribution to the global challenge of illicit trafficking of fissile material: Unique technical solutions from the Russian Federation-CIS aiming at non-proliferation

The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) is an intergovernmental organization created in 1992 by the Russian Federation, the European Union, the USA and Japan, located in Moscow, for non-proliferation purposes, which the Republic of Korea, Norway, Canada and most of the former Soviet republics joined afterwards. The mission of ISTC is to support the non-proliferation of technologies linked to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by redirecting former Soviet weapons scientists, engineers and technicians to peaceful research, thus preventing the drain of sensitive knowledge and expertise from the Russian Federation and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries to countries of concern. The core activity of the Center consists of funding individuals performing science and technology projects in the Russian Federation and CIS covering different areas, to a large extent in nuclear energy, biotechnologies, physics, nanotechnologies and solutions to environmental problems. Among the wide range of funded projects and other supportive actions, a key topic has always been the improvement of nuclear safety, in particular, technologies aiming to mitigate and avoid illicit trafficking of fissile material. Based on proven internal strengths and enough critical mass, ISTC support to this global threat has been considered of prior interest to the parties and chosen security as a topic for the ISTC Programmatic Approach Initiative. It offers the opportunity to focus on S and T related to this specific field (there are nine more) and to employ best practices from the past to future ISTC activities. The development of a targeted initiative on security would provide resources to ease ISTC beneficiaries (i.e. the WMD complex personnel in the Russian Federation/CIS) to reorient their activity in a more sustainable way by facilitating a platform for collaborative research to solve global society needs. (author)