Of the 32 nations that are known or believed to have a kilogram or more of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, Australia provides the best set of procedures and policies to prevent theft, according to a recent report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit nonproliferation advocacy organization. The US ties for 13th on the report’s nuclear security index; Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea fall at the bottom.
The comparison of security conditions in countries possessing weapons-usable materials gives the UK, tied for 10th place, the highest marks among nations known or widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. The US is next, and France, tied at 19th, is third among the nuclear powers. Most other weapons states rank far down the list (see the table).
“We hope that this index will help individual countries as well as the international community to set priorities and to determine what steps...
