Delegations from 56 nations are arriving in the American capital city to participate in the fourth Nuclear Security Summit.
Nuclear security tops the agenda for the meetings, but the talks will also center around the use of and nuclear energy as well as nuclear security.
Our U-S correspondent Priscilla Huff has a preview:
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In 2009, with a speech in Prague, President Obama first outlined his policy priorities for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, as well as nuclear security...
On the eve of the fourth, and expected to be final Nuclear Security Summit, President Obama remains committed to making the world safer
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And next week, dozens of world leaders will come here to Washington for a summit focused on nuclear security. We'll use that opportunity to also review our joint efforts against ISIL, and to make sure the world remains united in this effort to protect our people.
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Following The recent terror attacks in Brussels, U.S. officials confirmed that nuclear power installations in Belgium were surveyed by men with ties to the attacks.
And Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes has confirmed
"terrorist organizations have the desire to get access to these raw materials and their desire to have a nuclear device."
Sharon Squassoni is with the Centers for Strategic and International Studies
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"The news from Brussels about surveillance of personnel at nuclear facilities and then for example, one of the plants was sabotaged a couple of years ago, you probably wouldn't have even gotten a news story out of that but suddenly now, in the wake of, or in the context of these summits, people are paying attention and that's what we really need to do."
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North Korea's recent alledged test of a nuclear weapon is also a key item on the agenda for the more than 50 nations particiapting in the summit.
Pyongyang's threats are also on the agenda for bilateral and trilateral meetings at the White House.
U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with China's President Xi JinPing and then hold a trilateral with Japanese Prime Minister Abe and South Korea's President Park Geun-hye.
Victor Cha studies Asia for the Centers for Strategic and International Studies
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"The US, Japan and South Korea are going to have a trilateral summit, in which good part of the discussion will be about North Korea, enforcing of sanctions, the UN security council sanctions... the unilateral sanctions by each of the three countries. "
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While there are concerns about China's commitment to punishing North Korea for it's pursuit of nuclear weapons technology,
statements out of the American presidential race also have U-S allies worried.
Ahead of the summit,
Republican Presidential hopeful, Donald Trump recently made headlines .
he suggested that Japan and South Korea should build own nuclear arsenal to protect themselves rather than having the United States do it for them.
Darrell West is with the Brookings Institution.
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"That'a a very extreme type of appeal. Its going to be upsetting both to the people of Japan and South Korea who have felt like the United States as committed to protecting them should they come under attack, yet also it would concern the neighbors in that region."
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For the White House,
the big achievement heading into this summit is the agreement with Iran over it's nuclear programme.
Going forward,
the Obama administration is hoping to build on this and other commitments
to make a culture of securing radioactive and nuclear material second nature for the international community.
Priscilla Huff, Washington
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