One of the main recommendations made by participants in an evaluation of the first Summer Programme in 2010 was that field visits should be organised to complement the classroom sessions. Taking that cue, the OPCW and Asser Instituut have added three educational half-day outings to relevant facilities in the 2011 programme:

Peaceful uses of nuclear technology
This pillar of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty will be demonstrated at the Research Institute Delft, which has unique measuring instruments and radiation facilities and boasts the most intense positron bundle in the world. On the research side it produces radio isotopes for application in many different fields and provides accredited activation analysis for the accurate measurement of element concentrations.

Non-proliferation of chemical weapons
Non-proliferation is one of the core objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW’s industrial verification regime will be examined with a demonstration of the full range of inspection equipment at its Rijswijk facility followed by a visit to an inspectable chemical plant site in Rotterdam.

Investigation of alleged use of WMD
A live exercise at the Dutch army training facility in Wassenaar will demonstrate techniques to investigate an attack with chemical weapons – reconnaissance of the affected area, identification and collection of CW samples, chain of custody, decontamination, documentation etc – accompanied by briefings on similarities/ differences of response to biological or radiological weapons.

---

REMINDER:  The Summer Programme on WMD Disarmament and Non-proliferation is co-organised by the OPCW and T.M.C. Asser Institute. Deadline for registering for this year’s Summer Programme is 30 July 2011. To register, please visit the Summer Programme webpage of the T.M.C. Asser Institute at www.asser.nl/wmd