英语考研阅读素材

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考研阅读素材：《经济学人》核安全会议

2010-04-19 来源:网络 【大 中 小】 投稿 1

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Nuclear Security

Barack Obama brings the world to Washington to

try to keep track of loose nuclear material

IN 2007 armed gunmen attacked a nuclear facility in South Africa, breaching heavy security before they were chased off (and never caught). The incident illustrated that the possibility of nuclear materials falling into the wrong hands is far from an abstract one. The fears come in three separate but related forms: that nuclear weapons might fall into the wrong hands; that weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium that could be used to make nuclear bombs might go missing; and that larger amounts of other radioactive material, from discarded X-ray machines to spent fuel, might be used to make a dirty bomb. Securing nuclear material now means getting more states than ever to co-operate. This is what the nuclear security conference that opened in Washington, DC, on April 12th hoped to achieve.

With 46 countries attending, and many sending their leaders, Barack Obama’s administration sold the conference as the beginning of a new era. The last time America gathered so many world leaders gathered at the president’s invitation was when Franklin D. Roosevelt convened them to create the UN. Mr Obama’s more modest goal for the meeting was to produce some steps towards securing all nuclear material within three years.

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