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Governing Uranium

DIIS – Danish Institute for International Studies is currently leading a global project focusing on the governance of the production and trade of natural uranium. The ‘Governing Uranium’ project seeks to address the limited international guidance that currently applies to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle (up to the point of conversion) by providing policy recommendations for improving transparency, regulation and best practice. With researchers participating in the project from Washington D.C. to Islamabad and from Sweden to South Africa, the project is able to identify not only the national regulatory systems within major supplying and consuming countries but also industry best practice globally.

Ranger Uranium Mine, east of Jabiru, Northern Territory. Photo by Cindy Vestergaard, taken on 2 June 2013
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The project is significant as the geographies of uranium trade are shifting with new suppliers and consumers entering the market, creating new supply routes through countries that may or may not have a nuclear regulatory system in place.

Activities by DIIS and its partner organisationsand researchers include field visits, in-depth interviews and archival research from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014 in sixteen countries, providing a mapping and scoping of the current governance structure of the global natural uranium market, including unilateral, bilateral, regional, multilateral and international regulations and agreements.

The project is co-funded by DIIS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Governing Uranium Partner Institutions and Researchers

Co-partnering institutes involved in the Governing Uranium project include:

BSR (Business Social Responsibility)

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Stockholm, Sweden

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Research (CEIP), Nuclear Policy Program in Washington, D.C.

Along with supporting institutes:

Proliferation Prevention Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Washington D.C.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa

War Studies, Kings College London

South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) in Islamabad, Pakistan

Individual Researchers

Bruno Tertrais, Senior Research Fellow, Fondation pour la recherche stratégique, Paris

Rajiv Nayan, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi

Anton KHLOPKOV, Director, Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS), Russian Federation

Research and activites