Canada puts up cash to prevent nukes' proliferation

Canada announced Friday it would put up 180 million dollars (156 million US) to help prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons, expanding a Russian nukes decommissioning program.

"Terrorists are actively seeking weapons of mass destruction and the materials to make them," Cannon said. "The most effective way to prevent this is to tightly control access to weapons-usable materials.

"Projects under the Global Partnership Program will significantly reduce the threat that terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction poses to Canadians and to the entire international community," he said.

The funding announcement came on the sidelines of a G8 foreign ministers meeting in Trieste, Italy.

There, Canada and its allies discussed international security concerns such as non-proliferation and disarmament, terrorism and piracy, as well as regional concerns such as Afghanistan and Pakistan and their neighboring countries, Iran, the Middle East and North Korea, said a statement.

The funds, to be spent largely on securing nuclear and biological materials in Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, bring Canada's total pledge to the program to one billion dollars (868 million US) since 1999.

Specifically, it will be spent on upgrading seven nuclear facilities in Russia; designing a central repository for dangerous pathogens in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; redirecting 828 former weapons scientists to work on some 90 research projects; and dismantling five decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines in the Arctic and Far East.