International commitment to safe nuclear reactors—Response | Science

In her Letter on behalf of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Marshall suggests that the United States should not unilaterally determine security policy with regard to high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). However, it is established by international treaty that nuclear security is the sovereign responsibility of individual states (1). It is also incumbent on the United States to help inform the development of international standards by carrying out early studies. This has historically been the case, as, for example, when the United States initially established standards to restrict the dissemination of HALEU to quantities less than the amount sufficient to make a nuclear weapon (2).