Q. Consider the following statements:
- The Nuclear Security Summits are periodically held under the aegis of the United Nations.
- The International Panel on Fissile Materials is an organ of International Atomic Energy Agency.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (UPSC Prelims 2017)
Answer:
Neither 1 nor 2
Notes: The correct answer is
[D] Neither 1 nor 2. Both statements provide incorrect information regarding the organizational oversight of these nuclear initiatives.
- Nuclear Security Summits (Statement 1 – Incorrect): The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) was a world summit aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism. It was not held under the aegis of the United Nations. Instead, it was a biennial summit initiated by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2010. Four summits were held in total (Washington 2010, Seoul 2012, The Hague 2014, and Washington 2016) before the process concluded.
- International Panel on Fissile Materials (Statement 2 – Incorrect): The IPFM is not an organ of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is an independent group of arms control and non-proliferation experts from both nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states. It was established in 2006 and is based at Princeton University, USA. It focuses on technical and policy basis for transitions to a world with much-reduced stocks of fissile materials.
- IAEA vs. IPFM: The IAEA is an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system that serves as the global center for cooperation in the nuclear field. The IPFM, conversely, is a non-governmental research and advocacy group.