AUSTRALIA RATIFIES AMENDMENT TO PHYSICAL

UNCLAS CANBERRA 000726 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN, T, C/T AND EAP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PTER MNUC AS SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA RATIFIES AMENDMENT TO PHYSICAL PROTECTION OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL CONVENTION ¶1. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced July 18 that Australia had ratified the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. The instrument of ratification was lodged with the IAEA on July 17. ¶2. Australia becomes only the 17th state of the 136 that are party to the Convention to ratify the Amendment, which substantially strengthens security requirements for nuclear material and extends the existing provisions of the Convention to cover nuclear facilities and nuclear material in domestic use, storage and transport. Nations which are party to the Convention must apply thorough and systematic measures to protect their domestic nuclear activities against criminal or terrorist attack, and cooperate to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, as well as mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage. The amendments will take effect once they have been ratified by two-thirds of the States Parties of the Convention. ¶3. In his announcement, FM Smith noted the Australian Parliament had enacted legislation in 2007 to enable full legal compliance with the Amendment. CLUNE