President Barack Obama's nuclear security summit next week will target the "gravest danger to America " -- plutonium and uranium stocks which extremists could use for full-scale nuclear bombs, officials said Friday.

Though extremists are also seeking radiological elements to make "dirty bombs," the summit will primarily focus on the components of nuclear weapons, as the threat is viewed as so severe, the officials said.

The 47-nation-summit will seek national commitments to secure all nuclear materials within four years and is the biggest such gathering outside the U.N. on U.S. soil since the 1945 San Francisco summit on forming the United Nations.

"The focus of the summit is on materials that can be used for nuclear weapons, separated plutonium or highly enriched uranium," said Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control.

"We are focusing here on the most potentially catastrophic threat -- which is terrorist groups acquiring or manufacturing nuclear explosives," Samore said, ahead of the summit on Monday and Tuesday.

Another senior Obama aide, Ben Rhodes, voiced the administration's view of the gravity of the threat posed by nuclear proliferation.

"This summit is dedicated to what is really the most urgent and gravest danger to America and the global community," said Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications.

Rhodes warned there was no greater security threat to the United States than "that of a nuclear weapon that is in the hands of a terrorist, that could cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and widespread destruction."

Officials said the "dirty bomb" threat was one that would be addressed in the final summit communique to be released on Tuesday.

The final communique will recognize that nuclear terrorism is a "serious threat" and endorse Obama's four-year timeline, Samore said.

Leaders will also pledge national and international steps to prevent "terrorists or criminal groups" from securing nuclear materials.

"We know that terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, are pursuing the materials to build a nuclear weapon, and we know that they have the intent to use one," Rhodes said.

"This, of course, would be a catastrophic danger to American national security and to global security."

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