Opening the Nuclear Industry Summit

Toespraak | 24-03-2014

Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to the Netherlands. In our country, we owe many things to the nuclear industry. Like efficient solar cells, fast hard disks and sustainable electric cars. We use radiation to develop many new technologies. Doctors treat cancer with radioactive medication. And there are 1,500 people in the Netherlands working in the nuclear industry – not to mention all the jobs it creates indirectly. So our economy and our society have many reasons to be grateful to you.

But not everyone appreciates the nuclear industry, in the Netherlands or in other countries. People fear for their safety. They are afraid of accidents at nuclear power plants and of misuse of nuclear material. Companies and governments have to pay attention to these concerns. And we are all aware of the great responsibility that working with nuclear material entails. We have an obligation to ensure that our reactors, equipment and material are well secured. And that our knowledge and computers are well protected.

We know that nuclear material and knowledge are attractive not only to scientists, but also to people and organisations who mean to do harm. Even if the chance of a terrorist attack is slight, the consequences can be enormous.

So companies and governments should do their utmost to keep the nuclear industry safe and secure. I want us to do even more than the International Atomic Energy Agency requires. We should not be satisfied with meeting its minimum demands; we should aim higher. But in a way that allows the industry to keep innovating and developing.

So I’m glad you are here in the Netherlands to talk about nuclear security. In the two years since the Nuclear Industry Summit in Seoul, you’ve been engaged in in-depth discussions. And now you are on the verge of reaching conclusions. Today you will decide on a final declaration, and tomorrow you will present it to the Nuclear Security Summit. You will commit yourselves to higher standards for integrity, transparency and corporate social responsibility, setting the bar higher and higher.

The industry is taking the initiative for these necessary extra efforts. In fact, Dutch companies helped make this summit possible. That’s crucial, because the nuclear industry is our first line of defence. Only you can guarantee that tight security is an integral part of your daily business. That everyone, from the work floor to the boardroom, is fully aware of security risks. And that everyone knows the rules and sticks to them.

But we can only achieve the best results if government and business share experiences and learn from one another. Politicians make better laws and rules when they understand the day-to-day reality of the work floor. Businesses get better support from government when they are honest about the risks and problems they face.

We understand that you aren’t going to disclose all your information right away. It takes time to build a relationship based on trust. A relationship in which you are responsible for running your business, while government sets the parameters.

That’s why the companies at the NIS in Amsterdam and the governments at the NSS in The Hague should work closely together. One key goal of the NSS is to promote this partnership between government and the private sector. From the time summit organising began, the Netherlands pressed for as much contact as possible between NSS and NIS participants.

After all, here in the Netherlands we have good experiences with cooperation between government, business and researchers in the nuclear industry. Our nuclear sector is small but diverse. Every link in the nuclear chain – enrichment, research, power production and waste storage – is present within our borders.

Nuclear service provider NRG and the pharmaceutical firm Mallinckrodt are major suppliers of isotopes for hospitals worldwide.
Delft University of Technology has its own reactor and makes a big contribution to scientific research and education on sustainable energy and health. It even offers a special master’s course in nuclear security.
Urenco meets a big share of the world’s demand for enriched uranium.
And finally we have our own nuclear power plant, we store Dutch radioactive waste, and we are working to build a new research reactor.

All these Dutch companies and research institutes are good innovators and earn high scores in the nuclear security rankings. The Nuclear Threat Initiative gives the Netherlands a top ten ranking on its Nuclear Materials Security Index. We are also one of the first countries to have hosted the entire series of visits by the IAEA International Physical Protection Advisory Service. Dutch companies are among the world’s most secure, thanks mainly to the efforts of the industry – and to some encouragement and support from government of course.

Ladies and gentlemen,

All of you in the industry have an obligation to the world to handle and store nuclear material with the greatest possible care. More and more governments are also committing to ambitious security goals. We should let the general public know what you are doing and how hard you are all working. If people realised that, perhaps they would also see how your work benefits their daily lives.

Not many people know much about the nuclear industry. They don’t know that the industry has helped develop better batteries for their mobile phones and smarter technology for checking welded aircraft parts. That it also facilitates research in art history. To mention only a few examples.

Of course we need to talk about risks. But there’s more to your industry than risks. Your work is of great value to the economy and society. So in the interests of the industry, let’s work together to enhance nuclear security. Not only here today at the NIS in Amsterdam, but every day, in our companies, our ministries and our research institutes.

Thank you for your attention.