2020 CSCAP Nuclear Energy Experts Group

Agenda
Singapore

Hosted in partnership with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

Session 1: Nuclear governance: Current work in an era of strategic competition
This session will review recent developments in nuclear governance. What has happened over the past year? What progress has been made to improve nuclear safety and security? Have there been lost opportunities? Looking ahead, what are the next steps to more progress? What are the challenges? To what extent do increasing competitive dynamics, notably between the United States and China, and between the United States and Russia, impact progress on nuclear governance?

Speaker: Manpreet Sethi

Session 2: ASEANTOM: Current work, next steps, and opportunities and challenges This session will explore the recent, current, future work conducted by ASEANTOM. What activities has ASEANTOM conducted over the past year? What challenges has ASEANTOM encountered to conduct such activities? How can these challenges be overcome? What are ASEANTOM’s plans for the future? Could, and if so how, ASEANTOM’s work be expanded and exported beyond ASEAN? What regional organizations could ASEANTOM cooperate with to do so?

Speaker: Yutthana Tumnoi

Session 3: Capacity-building and education on nuclear safety and security in the Indo-Pacific
This session will discuss ongoing (and planned) efforts to build regional capacity and education on nuclear safety and security. What are the current and planned efforts to build capacity and education on nuclear safety and security in the Indo-Pacific? What the main national programs and courses? What exists at the regional and international levels? What are the challenges? Specifically, are these efforts appropriately coordinated? What can be done to improve regional capacity and education in this field, particularly in the nuclear-security centers of excellence?

Speakers: Mely Caballero-Anthony and Julius Trajano

Session 4: The role of cyber and artificial intelligence in nuclear governance
This session will examine the role that cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) play in nuclear governance. What are the opportunities and challenges that cyber and AI technology present to nuclear safety and security? How can we leverage the opportunities and overcome the challenges? What are¾should be¾the “cyber-nuclear” and “AI-nuclear” priorities, in general and in the Indo-Pacific specifically?

Speaker: Margaret Kosal

Session 5: Mapping nuclear power development in the Indo-Pacific
This session will seek to map nuclear power development in the Indo-Pacific. Which regional countries rely on nuclear power? What are the growth plans of emerging nuclear-power users in the region? What are these countries’ plans to govern such growth in a safe, secure, and proliferation-resistant manner? Are these plans adequate? What are the challenges? What are the Filipino and Bangladeshi plans with nuclear power, and what are their governance mechanisms?

Speakers: Miles Pomper and Md Altab Hossain

Session 6: The future of small modular reactor technology in the Indo-Pacific
This session will analyze the future of small modular reactor (SMR) technology in the Indo-Pacific. What is SMR technology? Who are the main developers? Which regional countries have expressed interest in such technology? What are the potential advantages and benefits of SMR technology for the region? What are its potential risks and costs? What impact will the development of SMR technology have on nuclear governance?

Speakers: Dmitry Konukhov and Carson Kuo

Wrap-up and next steps
This session will summarize the meeting’s discussions, identify its key findings, and reflect on next steps for the dialogue.