The Joint Standing Committee on Nuclear Energy Cooperation between the Argentine Republic and the United States of America (JSCNEC) met in Livermore, California, United States, on 28-31 August 2017. This was its 14th meeting since its establishment in 2003, which reflects the keen interest of both sides in strengthening cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
At the meeting, both sides exchanged views on the nuclear non-proliferation agenda, nuclear energy research and development, nuclear and radiation transportation, nuclear waste security, nuclear and radiological security, export controls and international nuclear safeguards. They also discussed areas of potential cooperation and exchanged information on their respective cooperation programmes with third countries, with the International Atomic Energy Agency and with the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Argentina's recent accession to the OECD's NEA will provide a new framework for bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Both sides also highlighted the appointment of the Argentine Undersecretary for Nuclear Energy, Julián Gadano, as President of the Steering Group of the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation, stressing that this group will contribute to the promotion of international cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The Ministry of Energy and Mining, the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission and the Office of Nuclear Energy of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) reviewed the state and progress of the cooperation established by virtue of the United States-Argentina Binational Energy Working Group. Cooperation projects are geared towards the sustainability of light water reactors and advanced reactor technologies.
The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Argentine Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN) reaffirmed their commitment to continue cooperating on nuclear energy and on the exchange of computational tools for safety assessment.
Under a separate agreement reached by the ARN and the Department of Energy, the 20th Meeting of the Standing Coordination Group was held simultaneously with the 2017 JSCNEC Meeting. At the meeting, the ARN and the DOE addressed recent activities and planned several new cooperation areas.
Both sides underscored the importance of continuous cooperation on nuclear and radiological security and planned new activities intended to build capacity of Argentine response forces in that field, to develop nuclear forensic techniques, to enhance resource detection, to improve the security of radioactive sources and to plan actions to fight nuclear terrorism. In this regard, a wide range of activities have already been carried out as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in October 2016 between the Ministry of Energy and Mining and the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Both sides are looking forward to the next meeting of the JSCNEC, to be held in Argentina in 2018.
Press release No. 390/17
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